Sadly, but not unexpectedly, the ‘Old Gray Lady” – The New York Times – has again acted in political bias and public opinion manipulation, rather than showing journalistic integrity and simply reporting the facts.
Old school journalism taught that you must verify things from three independent sources before you take it to print. Now, anything goes and anything published can be readily attributed to “anonymous sources.” CYA at it’s finest.
As Mollie Hemingway, Federalist Senior Editor, explains in this interview on Fox News, what NYT published wasn’t a simple error, which can happen, because we are all human and subject to error. It was done “for political purposes.”
It would be one thing for them to say they had an unconfirmed report from a source who wished to remain anonymous. Even that is putting rumor out there rather than fact. But at least that would inform the reader that what was being said was not confirmed and the source did not want to be named. Which means they may or may not be credible. You don’t know because you don’t know who they are.
The retraction the NYT had to publish (and did so quietly, unlike the fake news they promoted) states:
“UPDATE: New information has emerged regarding the death of the Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick that questions the initial cause of his death provided by officials close to the Capitol Police.“
But there is way more to this story of fake news.
The Tennessee Star notes that the NYT also revised the article, so anyone reading it now would not see the fake news they originally published along with a retraction that corrected it. Now readers only see a minimal retraction and the revised article that hides the fake news they promoted and was used by haters of President Trump and his supporters – media, celebrities, and politicians on both sides of the aisle.
From The Tennessee Star:
“The [New York Times] continued to revise its story within the body of the original January 8 story: “Law enforcement officials initially said Mr. Sicknick was struck with a fire extinguisher, but weeks later, police sources and investigators were at odds over whether he was hit. Medical experts have said he did not die of blunt force trauma, according to one law enforcement official.”
What’s missing, however, is how the Times first described what happened to Sicknick. ‘Mr. Sicknick, 42, an officer for the Capitol Police, died on Thursday from brain injuries he sustained after Trump loyalists who overtook the complex struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher, according to two law enforcement officials.'”
The Tennessee Star goes on to point out that “The account of Sicknick’s death was reported as fact, not speculation or rumor. Further, it appears that the anonymous sources were not law enforcement officials but people “close” to the police department—which means they could have been anyone from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to inveterate liar U.S. Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to the Democratic mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser.”
The Democrats, who may have actually given this fake report to the NYT about Officer Sicknick, tried using it as “evidence” against President Donald Trump in the sham impeachment trial. A fake report from an unnamed source, which the NYT then had to retract because it was a lie.
Meanwhile there are still people who believe this and the other fake “evidence” presented (and outed as fake by the defense team and others) against the president, and following the acquittal are raging mad. Mission accomplished, eh, NYT?
I worked in media for most of my almost 20 years as a professional writer and long before President Trump called out “fake news” I was doing it. It’s been a problem since long before he even ran for office and it has only gotten worse since there are far more enablers, co-conspirators, and sheeple out there than critics who call it out and thinking people who see through it.
THIS is our “new normal.” Lies, deception, and corruption all around us in media and politics.
It’s disgusting and depraved.
The only way it will stop is when enough people stand up against it, call it out, and stop feeding it. Part of that means to stop blindly reacting to and sharing the garbage on social media. Read it. Fact check it for yourself. Do they clearly identify sources? Does your verification support what they are claiming?
Identity which media sources repeatedly proved trustworthy and which ones don’t. Even within media outlets you may find many writers/reporters who are biased hacks and a few gems here and there who actually have integrity and do the work.
I’ve shared a portion of my personal list of who/what I find to be consistently trustworthy in media as a starting point for you to create your own.
There is also an app for Twitter users to block the NYT, which I wrote about in a prior post, for those who wish to avoid more of their biased hackery.
-Kara
Beautiful Dangerous Freedom 