I'm angry at Kahn interview and what it (again) tells us, and that we have to assume the Times and other elite outlets might be preparing for the brave new world if Trump is reelected. I am nonplused by the utter lack of comprehension we see from Baquet, Sulzberger, Smith, Kahn, et al. it's kind of spooky, watching them go through their mental paces, translating a perfectly clear question into some weird mush in which defending democracy = shilling for Biden.
that these people have been warped by decades of GOP working the refs seems clear. they view tacking right as a course correction toward neutrality but tacking left is always, always a capitulation to partisans.
probably best to accept that this is, at least with this generation of top management, intractable and that we will see no shift before November. but long-term, we got to do everything we can to help the upcoming generation of reporters, editors (I'm talking humans here, not AI, natch) get some actual ethics and an understanding of their role in supporting freedom and the republic.
but this Kahn / Smith interview, as all such pieces do, feel like a massive and extremely consequential abandonment by those who don't take an oath but practice a profession that is central to the survival of democracy.
"they view tacking right as a course correction toward neutrality but tacking left is always, always a capitulation to partisans."
Very well said. There is not now, nor has there ever been a "liberal media". This trend has so metastasized that real journalism based in facts is not only portrayed as partisan by the cabal of liars in the Republican party, but that portrayal is taken to heart editorially by the New York Times and other corporate news.
Thanks for this. Eric Boehlert would agree! I think at least some of this is willful editorially on the part of the NYT. Ok, so given that the Republicans have open plans to roll out fascism on day 1 of the next Republican presidency, and given that Donald Trump emulates both Adolf H and US mob bosses, should we just be taking it as a given that the fascists are threatening some journalists into compliance to under report, or mis-report or refrain from comment, entirely, on certain issues? Someone please convince me that the party of Trump is not willing to make literal death threats in order to see that agenda satisfied.
My feeling is that corporate media is utterly compromised. We have slowly allowed every major media outlet to fall in to the hands of anti-Democracy oligarchs. With Biden maneuvered in to banning TikTok, is anyone else concerned that Steve Mnuchin is leading a group of investors to buy that platform and turn it into another Twitler-compliant, 4th Reich approved outlet? At the corporate board level, they're all-in for fascism. This same breed of corporate douche thought they could control Hitler, too. Any real reporters left are either threatened into compliance or fall in to line when they see colleagues forced out for real journalism. I think the fascists know this is an all-or-nothing move they're attempting. They do not intend to lose. Corporate USA is all in.
"should we just be taking it as a given that the fascists are threatening some journalists into compliance to under report"
I doubt it...It feels to me more like hubris and privilege blinding them to their dereliction of journalistic principles...because if enough of them WERE being threatened, then SOME of them would be brave enough to report it..,
Periodicals are like soccer (football) teams. I don't have blind allegiance to one of them, so what do I do instead? I decide which one deserves my loyalty based on who's playing (writing) for them, and that can change from season to season. For example, I used to love reading about politics in The New Yorker, but that's because Sy Hersh was writing compelling stories that I just couldn't find in print elsewhere.
With newspapers, it's more complicated, because as you know, there's the news side of the house and the editorials and Op/Ed. The NYT publishes some good material on both sides, but so does the WaPo, and thanks to Al Gore's invention, there's some amazingly good and insightful commentary from other sources: blogs, podcasts, etc.
To sum up, I'd ask anyone who persists with blind loyalty to a news "brand" why they're so narrow-minded, and gently remind them that it's 2024. The world has changed. Try to keep up, ok?
The position of Joseph Kahn, the editor of the New York Times, is nothing short of despicable. He may try to parse his position in any way he wishes, but it is a clear display of his moral degeneracy. Has he learned nothing from his paper's abject failure regarding the war in Iraq?
Taking a broader view, however, how can we expect anything approaching real journalism - where truth matters above all - when our media outlets here depend on advertising to stay afloat? Several are also owned by individuals with their own agendas (Twitter, Fox). The one exception, of course, is the Guardian: though it earns revenue from a worldwide subscription base as well as from advertising, it is owned by The Scott Trust, which "exists to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity."
e media awards courageous journalists in places like Russia or the Philippines for telling the truth about loss of freedoms, government corruption, and human rights abuses in countries like Russia or the Philippines. Would any of these journalists receive such accolades if they covered the rise of totalitarianism in the same “even-handed” way that The New York Times supports.
Not impressed with your link or Kahn’s nonsensical words. The border issue has become an issue because of right wing media and not because of what is portrayed. Even when a bipartisan group of Republicans and Democrats tried to push through legislation that gave the GOP everything they asked for Trump killed it because he needed something to run on! Trump had his chance and did nothing to solve any border issue on top of that. The real issue facing Americans today is a party that not only supports complete fascism but tried to overturn our election. A party that supports a murderous Autocrat and uses his own talking points, Putin remember?! The GOP has definitely lost its way and is taking America with it and all for money and power! Kahn is just part of that equation a complete lying coward hedging his bets that he’ll be benefit no matter who wins the election.
I encourage anyone reading this to re-read some of Eric Boehlert's reporting prior to his untimely death. His final piece demonstrates with cold, hard facts how truth is sidelined in the media for the "Both Sides" narrative, resulting in a clear bias against President Biden and by default, for the Republicans and fascism. Boehlert's reporting is irrefutable. He shows statistically how many times story "x" was mentioned versus story "b" Example: in his final piece, he notes that the press all but ignored the Biden administration's 11th straight job report showing 400,000+ jobs created, while ABC news had managed 19 references to the Hunter Biden distraction on the day prior).
Eric Boehlert was killed by a train while out riding his bike on the streets of Montclair, NJ where he lived and biked daily for years.
Thanks for saying what the NYT won't. I have spent a year of frustration listening to them try to "both sides" democracy and dictatorship, intelligence and idiocy, common sense and nonsense. Everything is bad for Joe Biden, even when it's good, and trump's outrageous behavior carries on without their comment. If they don't think they're taking a side here, they're truly delusional.
Mark, you clearly have no idea how either real democracy or real journalism work. Your kind of thinking has already destroyed the credibility and usefulness of most of the mainstream media in the U.S. Here is how a real journalist reported Joe Kahn's interview: https://www.racket.news/p/is-journalism-back-new-york-times
So, "saving Democracy or stopping an authoritarian from taking power" is a partisan view in your estimation, as with Kahn and that polemicist stooge, Matt Taibi. Got it. The NYT is failing the country in their steadfast refusal to simply cover Trump honestly. He is normalized in a bullshit both-sides narrative that will be the undoing of the country. That and the legions of idiot lemmings barking Putin-crafted talking points so often you'd think they have a Russian ventriloquist's entire arm up their arse.
I'm angry at Kahn interview and what it (again) tells us, and that we have to assume the Times and other elite outlets might be preparing for the brave new world if Trump is reelected. I am nonplused by the utter lack of comprehension we see from Baquet, Sulzberger, Smith, Kahn, et al. it's kind of spooky, watching them go through their mental paces, translating a perfectly clear question into some weird mush in which defending democracy = shilling for Biden.
that these people have been warped by decades of GOP working the refs seems clear. they view tacking right as a course correction toward neutrality but tacking left is always, always a capitulation to partisans.
probably best to accept that this is, at least with this generation of top management, intractable and that we will see no shift before November. but long-term, we got to do everything we can to help the upcoming generation of reporters, editors (I'm talking humans here, not AI, natch) get some actual ethics and an understanding of their role in supporting freedom and the republic.
but this Kahn / Smith interview, as all such pieces do, feel like a massive and extremely consequential abandonment by those who don't take an oath but practice a profession that is central to the survival of democracy.
"they view tacking right as a course correction toward neutrality but tacking left is always, always a capitulation to partisans."
Very well said. There is not now, nor has there ever been a "liberal media". This trend has so metastasized that real journalism based in facts is not only portrayed as partisan by the cabal of liars in the Republican party, but that portrayal is taken to heart editorially by the New York Times and other corporate news.
excellent post
thanks
Thanks for this. Eric Boehlert would agree! I think at least some of this is willful editorially on the part of the NYT. Ok, so given that the Republicans have open plans to roll out fascism on day 1 of the next Republican presidency, and given that Donald Trump emulates both Adolf H and US mob bosses, should we just be taking it as a given that the fascists are threatening some journalists into compliance to under report, or mis-report or refrain from comment, entirely, on certain issues? Someone please convince me that the party of Trump is not willing to make literal death threats in order to see that agenda satisfied.
My feeling is that corporate media is utterly compromised. We have slowly allowed every major media outlet to fall in to the hands of anti-Democracy oligarchs. With Biden maneuvered in to banning TikTok, is anyone else concerned that Steve Mnuchin is leading a group of investors to buy that platform and turn it into another Twitler-compliant, 4th Reich approved outlet? At the corporate board level, they're all-in for fascism. This same breed of corporate douche thought they could control Hitler, too. Any real reporters left are either threatened into compliance or fall in to line when they see colleagues forced out for real journalism. I think the fascists know this is an all-or-nothing move they're attempting. They do not intend to lose. Corporate USA is all in.
"With Biden maneuvered in to banning TikTok, is anyone else concerned that Steve Mnuchin is leading a group of investors to buy that platform "
TikTok is a MASSIVE chinese holding, I doubt the Chinese gvt would allow a controlling share to be outside of chinese interests
"should we just be taking it as a given that the fascists are threatening some journalists into compliance to under report"
I doubt it...It feels to me more like hubris and privilege blinding them to their dereliction of journalistic principles...because if enough of them WERE being threatened, then SOME of them would be brave enough to report it..,
Periodicals are like soccer (football) teams. I don't have blind allegiance to one of them, so what do I do instead? I decide which one deserves my loyalty based on who's playing (writing) for them, and that can change from season to season. For example, I used to love reading about politics in The New Yorker, but that's because Sy Hersh was writing compelling stories that I just couldn't find in print elsewhere.
With newspapers, it's more complicated, because as you know, there's the news side of the house and the editorials and Op/Ed. The NYT publishes some good material on both sides, but so does the WaPo, and thanks to Al Gore's invention, there's some amazingly good and insightful commentary from other sources: blogs, podcasts, etc.
To sum up, I'd ask anyone who persists with blind loyalty to a news "brand" why they're so narrow-minded, and gently remind them that it's 2024. The world has changed. Try to keep up, ok?
The position of Joseph Kahn, the editor of the New York Times, is nothing short of despicable. He may try to parse his position in any way he wishes, but it is a clear display of his moral degeneracy. Has he learned nothing from his paper's abject failure regarding the war in Iraq?
Taking a broader view, however, how can we expect anything approaching real journalism - where truth matters above all - when our media outlets here depend on advertising to stay afloat? Several are also owned by individuals with their own agendas (Twitter, Fox). The one exception, of course, is the Guardian: though it earns revenue from a worldwide subscription base as well as from advertising, it is owned by The Scott Trust, which "exists to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity."
e media awards courageous journalists in places like Russia or the Philippines for telling the truth about loss of freedoms, government corruption, and human rights abuses in countries like Russia or the Philippines. Would any of these journalists receive such accolades if they covered the rise of totalitarianism in the same “even-handed” way that The New York Times supports.
Not impressed with your link or Kahn’s nonsensical words. The border issue has become an issue because of right wing media and not because of what is portrayed. Even when a bipartisan group of Republicans and Democrats tried to push through legislation that gave the GOP everything they asked for Trump killed it because he needed something to run on! Trump had his chance and did nothing to solve any border issue on top of that. The real issue facing Americans today is a party that not only supports complete fascism but tried to overturn our election. A party that supports a murderous Autocrat and uses his own talking points, Putin remember?! The GOP has definitely lost its way and is taking America with it and all for money and power! Kahn is just part of that equation a complete lying coward hedging his bets that he’ll be benefit no matter who wins the election.
I encourage anyone reading this to re-read some of Eric Boehlert's reporting prior to his untimely death. His final piece demonstrates with cold, hard facts how truth is sidelined in the media for the "Both Sides" narrative, resulting in a clear bias against President Biden and by default, for the Republicans and fascism. Boehlert's reporting is irrefutable. He shows statistically how many times story "x" was mentioned versus story "b" Example: in his final piece, he notes that the press all but ignored the Biden administration's 11th straight job report showing 400,000+ jobs created, while ABC news had managed 19 references to the Hunter Biden distraction on the day prior).
Eric Boehlert was killed by a train while out riding his bike on the streets of Montclair, NJ where he lived and biked daily for years.
https://pressrun.media
Heard your chat with Fred Wellman. Excellent!
Thanks for saying what the NYT won't. I have spent a year of frustration listening to them try to "both sides" democracy and dictatorship, intelligence and idiocy, common sense and nonsense. Everything is bad for Joe Biden, even when it's good, and trump's outrageous behavior carries on without their comment. If they don't think they're taking a side here, they're truly delusional.
Mark, you clearly have no idea how either real democracy or real journalism work. Your kind of thinking has already destroyed the credibility and usefulness of most of the mainstream media in the U.S. Here is how a real journalist reported Joe Kahn's interview: https://www.racket.news/p/is-journalism-back-new-york-times
MattTaibi? That weasel? Spare us.
This comment proves his point. Thank you!
So, "saving Democracy or stopping an authoritarian from taking power" is a partisan view in your estimation, as with Kahn and that polemicist stooge, Matt Taibi. Got it. The NYT is failing the country in their steadfast refusal to simply cover Trump honestly. He is normalized in a bullshit both-sides narrative that will be the undoing of the country. That and the legions of idiot lemmings barking Putin-crafted talking points so often you'd think they have a Russian ventriloquist's entire arm up their arse.