More NY Times Failures

I’ve already mentioned the overkill of coverage in the Times today over Hillary’s walking pneumonia. But I’d also like to point to the coverage of Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” remark not only in the Times but throughout the mainstream media as well. Clinton was roundly criticized for the remarks and, although she backed away from using the word “half” subsequently, she did stick by her point that Trump’s campaign has enabled racist and xenophobic elements in the country. By the time of her retraction, however, the coverage was mainly focused on whether the comment would hurt her in the horse-race coverage of the election.

But as Ta-Nehisi Coates points out, there was never any serious reporting on whether Clinton’s statement was actually true. In fact, some turned the tables on Clinton, calling her remarks bigoted. But the numbers do not lie – among Trump supporters, polls show 76% support a ban on all Muslims entering the country; 60% hold negative views of Islam; 40% believe that blacks are lazier, more violent, and more criminal than whites; over 60% believe that Barack Obama is not an American. In fact, Hillary was probably understating the case when she said “half”. But there was virtually no exploration in the mainstream press that explored that angle of the story. In fact, it was an immediate rejection of a comment that calls 20% of the electorate racist and xenophobic simply because that should not be mentioned in polite society. The fact that it is apparently true has no bearing and requires no investigation. Meanwhile, Mike Pence goes on TV yesterday and refuses to denounce former Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard David Duke, saying “I’m not in the name-calling business”. It was just another clear example of the Trump campaign playing to the racists and xenophobes that support them. But you won’t read about it in today’s Times and, in fact, the only mention of it at all on the Times’ website today is merely a short AP wrapup where Pence once again today refused to denounce Duke. How pathetic.

Finally, one last bash of the Times today. They finally got around to reporting on the outrageous fraud that was conducted at Wells Fargo over a five year period. Over 5,300 employees were fired over this fraud and it is clear that elements of senior management had to know what was going on. But the headline of the front page of the business section in the Times paper edition today reads, “The Brazen Sham No One Noticed”. That certainly gives the impression that no one knew the fraud was going on. However, when you follow the story to page B6, the headline now reads “Pervasive Sham At Wells Fargo, And No One Happened To Notice?” Gee, that question mark seems to imply that perhaps it was willful ignorance that allowed the fraud to continue. Too bad the editors couldn’t have added that question mark to the headline on B1 that most people see. There was plenty of room for it in the headline and it would have given the proper impression. But so it goes at the “newspaper of record”.