New York Times’ AG Sulzberger gives us another reason to search elsewhere for fairness. 1/2 or 3
Sep. 7, 2024, 8:47 p.m. ET. By Michael Goodwin
‘Caution: Those with sensitive stomachs or respect for the truth should stop here.”
That’s the warning label The Washington Post should have slapped on a recent essay.
Unfortunately, it didn’t and let the writer gas on as if his fabulist claims were grounded in reality.
The op-ed was doubly dispiriting because, although it appeared in The Washington Post, it was written by the publisher of The New York Times.
Both outlets likely thought the joint imprimatur would increase the audience and impact. Instead, the resulting flop magnifies their effort to spread misinformation.Both outlets apparently still think Americans are foolish enough to trust Big Media to tell them the truth.
Author A.G. Sulzberger’s effort to inflate what was little more than another vicious attack on Donald Trumpinto a rallying cry for press independence is noteworthy for all the wrong reasons.
His farrago of leftist partisanship, self-aggrandizement and fearmongering comes disguised as an appeal for freedom of the press.
The transparent motive gives readers yet another reason to search elsewhere for facts and fairness.
Of course, nobody can argue with such truths as “The flow of trustworthy news and information is critical to a free, secure and prosperous nation.”
Or the claim that “defense of the free press has been a point of rare bipartisan consensus throughout the nation’s history.”
The author wraps his argument in red, white and blue by quoting President Ronald Reagan as saying, “There is no more essential ingredient than a free, strong, and independent press to our continued success in what the Founding Fathers called our ‘noble experiment’ in self-government.”
Bias papered over
Citing Reagan is an obvious tease to draw in conservatives and Republicans.It’s also a fig leaf to cover the Big Lie about the Times built-in bias.
It hasn’t endorsed a Republican for president since Dwight Eisenhower in1956.Up and down the ballot, year in year out, no matter the office and the candidates, it would endorse a dead raccoon if it was running on the Democrat line.
The more recent and greater sin is that the paper’s radical narratives are no longer limited to opinion pages.
Nearly every article on every topic reflects a scolding, far-left view, whether it be on race, Israel, markets, the weather, books, films, theater or even sports.
The hyperpartisanship has reached new depths in the Trump era, with the Times a chief player in fomenting the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.
And don’t forget that Sulzberger fired his opinion editor for publishing an op-ed from GOP Sen. Tom Cotton urging Trump to use the military to quell the 2020 urban riots.
The fifth male in his family to hold the title of publisher — no outsiders need apply — Sulzberger uses his essay to charge that Trump “and his allies have declared their intention to increase their attacks on a press he has long derided as ‘the enemy of the people.’ ”
He even blames Trump for anti-press crackdowns in Brazil and India and adds that the former president’s use of the term “fake news” caused global harm, writing “around 70 countries on six continents have enacted ‘fake news’ laws.”
The implication is thatthe president shouldn’t enjoy freedom of speech if it involves criticism of certain media.
Yet the author still has the nerve to claim that “I have no interest in wading into politics” and insists he will not let the Times “cast aside neutrality” in its election coverage.
Oh, please, does he even read his paper?
https://nypost.com/2024/09/07/opinion/a-g-sulzberger-is-unfit-to-run-the-new-york-times-as-latest-op-ed-spreads-misinformation/