The New York Times invited me to point out its failures

My video interview is on the NYT website. I denounced their normalization of fascism.

An email popped into my inbox a week ago. The subject line: “Hi Mark -- NY Times editor here - reaching out with a pitch to you.” It claimed to be from Patrick Healy, the Times’ assistant managing editor for standards and trust.

I was skeptical that it was legit. After all, I’ve long criticized the Times for sanewashing and normalizing the rise of Republican fascism. I’m not exactly their favorite person. So why would they want to talk to me? But after a bit of checking, I confirmed the email was authentic.

Healy wrote: “I follow your writing and analysis of Times journalism, and I wanted to reach out and invite you to be a guest on a new Times undertaking.” He invited me to talk with him for a 15-minute “Sound Off” video in which I could air my grievances with Times coverage.

Perhaps my past job as the Chicago Tribune’s metro editor gave me some credibility with him, perhaps not. Either way, he was offering me a forum, and I took it.

Healy’s outreach cited a complaint I had made on Bluesky and in my Stop the Presses newsletter about a Times article on former Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt joining Fox News. The story described her as “fierce,” “steely,” “nimble,” and a “homegrown star of the Trump White House,” but failed to mention that she routinely lied to the American public. In fact, the article didn’t mention a single negative aspect of her White House tenure.

In my interview with Healy, I started with the Leavitt story. I tied it to the Times’ overall failure to come to grips with the threat facing both the press and our democracy. I said the Leavitt story amounted to “awarding her style points” as a fascist liar.

I also criticized the cutesy euphemisms used by the Times, such as calling Trump’s authoritarianism his “expansive interpretation of presidential power” and describing his threat to seize the Panama Canal as a desire “to expand America’s footprint.”

Healy defended the Times’ hesitancy to use the word “lie” in its Trump coverage. He said frequent use of the word would change “the people’s sense of our own fairness” and ”lose the potency of the word itself.”

“So you’re saying you want to retain the potency of the word ‘lie’ by not using it?” I responded.

I also asked him, “Do you think that Trump is attempting to overthrow democracy? Because I do, and think it’s obvious that he is. And I think the fact that mainstream media won’t say it makes it more likely that it’s going to happen.”

The full interview is at this link.

I don’t understand why the New York Times let me rant against the Times on its own website. But I have to give its editors a sliver of credit for doing so. Healy seems like a sincere person who believes the Times is doing a fine job, but is open-minded enough to want to hear opposing views.

I expect more from the Times than some people do. It’s the nation’s most prominent newspaper, with a brilliant staff. It occasionally writes good headlines like “Trump Hands Victories to Putin, Who Offers More War in Return,” and when it does, I offer my praise. But it cares way too much about appearing nonpartisan and not enough about standing for decency and democracy.

The Times comes up with stories that document Trump’s deep corruption and cruelty. Yet it flinches at its duty to connect those dots and warn the public that Trump and his Republican co-conspirators are building a dictatorship.

I don’t want the Trump regime to shut down the Times before the Times wakes up to what a threat the regime is.

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