Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

When I was faster i was always behind.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

No one could have predicted…

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: The NYTimes & the GOP, Hand in Glove

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: The NYTimes & the GOP, Hand in Glove

by | 96 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

But it’s fantastic *content*!…

2/One of the reporters was like “uh, wtf? I’ll be writing about news that happens & working sources for ideas of what to write. How TF can I predict the next six months of news?”

Can’t vouch for the credibility of those sources (or precision of my memory) but reading that…

3/…made me see the reporting in the NYT in a new light. If you look closely you can start to see the same themes over months, even when the fundamental premise is bullshit, & especially when the premise may have seemed plausible but subsequent events showed it to be wrong…

4/…yet the NYT keeps pumping out pieces based on the now discredited premise. (The failed Biden economy is a great example.) There are also the cases where it appears they’ve decided to pursue a subject & give it outsized attention, like back in the 90’s w the racist…

5…country clubs, or “her emails,” or of late the free speech on campus bullshit, their scaremongering about trans kids, or their Carrie Nation-ing of the danger of alcohol.

I can’t give a strong empirical basis for this, but the NYT isn’t the only paper I read regularly…

6/…& I don’t get this same sense of “pursuing themes” in the Washington Post, Chicago Sun-Times, Detroit Free Press, or Detroit News.

Sticking w a story, out of proportion to what the rest of the press is covering, isn’t inherently bad; two of the greatest films…

7/…about journalism (All the President’s Men [from the book] & Spotlight) are stories of just such pursuits of stories missed or ignored or not emphasized by the rest of the press. But in those & similar cases they weren’t writing from a plan, they were follow tips, finding…

8/…clues, & following & assembling the story, rather than starting with the story & working backwards from the conclusion.

Again, I may have some of this wrong—I’d love to hear from former reporters/editors whether what I’m saying is consistent with their experiences…

9/…at the NYT; I’ll update this thread if I learn anything that confirms or casts doubt on the notion that the NYT plays off themes at the expense of sound reporting & analysis. But like I said, if you look for evidence of story arcs even if the premise is flawed or…

10/…just plain wrong, I suspect that like me you’ll find many examples at the NYT, and no comparable pattern at many or any other major newspapers.

I’ve said this before: Then-editor Howell Raines personally hated Bill Clinton with every fiber of his being; Raines wanted the ‘poor boy from Little Rock makes good’ narrative all to himself, and never stopped resenting that Bad-Boy Bill stole *his* spotlight. Institutional inertia and the anti-Democratic bias of its owners has kept that reputational mudslide going ever since…

Reader Interactions

96Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    While back I saw two different ex-NYT reporters describe mtgs w editors who asked the reporters to lay out the themes they would be emphasizing over the next 6 months

    Whoever picked EMAILS won the lottery.

  3. 3.

    Leto

    OT: JPL cuts 8% of its staff

    Workforce statement and memo to employees.

    JPL statement issued on Feb. 6, 2024:

    After exhausting all other measures to adjust to a lower budget from NASA, and in the absence of an FY24 appropriation from Congress, we have had to make the difficult decision to reduce the JPL workforce through layoffs. JPL staff has been advised that the workforce reduction will affect approximately 530 of our colleagues, an impact of about 8%, plus approximately 40 additional members of our contractor workforce. The impacts will occur across both technical and support areas of the Lab. These are painful but necessary adjustments that will enable us to adhere to our budget allocation while continuing our important work for NASA and our nation.

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    Speaking of Tucker, Columbia Journalism Review ponders his Putin trip in comparison to William Randolph Hurst’s journey to Germany in order to fawn over that Hitler person.

    Historical parallels, while often seductive, are, of course, never exact. Carlson does not have Hearst’s power or reach—certainly not in his post-Fox days. (Hearst would likely be confused by the concept of a visual media venture based partly on a declining social platform, as, indeed, am I.) Hearst was circumspect about his visit to Hitler. (“Visiting Hitler is like calling on the President of the United States,” he told the AP, when asked for comment. “One doesn’t talk about it for publication.”) It would be unwise to expect similar discretion from Carlson. And—if we are to compare the arc of Hitler’s Germany with that of Putin’s Russia, which is itself a fraught task—Carlson would seem to have gone to Moscow at a later point than Hearst’s trip to Berlin. If that trip looks terrible in the harsh glare of hindsight, Carlson’s might come to look even worse.

    https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/tucker_carlson_putin_interview_moscow.php

  7. 7.

    cain

    Just goes to show how much shit these assholes throw at us – they want us to fail, they want the economy to fail – they are dangerous partisans.

    I think most of us do not subscribe to the NYT. Is anybody here still subscribing?

  8. 8.

    BlueGuitarist

    Looks like Jesse Kelly, taking a victory lap re Lankford, is the current right wing hack in the Rush Limbaugh time slot.

  11. 11.

    bbleh

    Here’s one theory about TNYT: they’re asking for consistency in “brand” — ie, message — as part of a long-term business strategy to come out of the current cataclysm for newspapers in as strong a position as possible, and they want journalists who will support that strategy.  One might expect as a corollary that those journalists who decline to map out a brand/message strategy for the next 6 months — ie until the election is an all-consuming extravaganza — will find themselves on the losing end of regrettable-but-necessary business downsizing decisions.

    Exactly what that overall business strategy might be, and to what extent it is overtly pro-Trump, I don’t know.  I would guess at this point that it’s a strategic straddle intended to alienate as few readers and advertisers as possible until it’s clear which way the wind is gonna blow.  But I don’t think reporting actual news as volatile situations evolve is very high on their list of business priorities.

  15. 15.

    counterfactual

    @trollhattan: All SpaceX contracts are fixed-price fee-for-service contracts, and have been assigned years ago. They currently have Commercial Resupply Services, Commercial Crew Program (both for the space station), and Human Landing System (for the Artemis program) along with the normal as-needed NASA launches.

  17. 17.

    Steeplejack

    Dagnabbit. Got word of two fraudulent charges, or charge attempts, on my bank card via Yelp/​Grubhub in New York City—about $215. Bank of America caught them right away and alerted me. I answered some security questions on line and filled out a form, and it looks like it will get sorted out. No problem there.

    But BoA canceled the card and told me they’d get me a new one in “five to seven business days.” Yikes, that could be a problem. I’m okay on the day to day, but I realized I’ve got a raft of accounts linked to the card, everything from Amazon to streaming services to subscriptions, etc., all of which will have to be redirected to the new card. (My initial count is 19.) I don’t have any charges due this week, but next week will be cutting it close. So I guess tomorrow I’ll put on the tactical gear (pants!) and head over to my local BofA office to see about getting a new card immediately. A hassle but necessary.

    P.S. I have no idea how my card info got out into the wild—especially Grubhub. I have never used that service.

  18. 18.

    PAM Dirac

    @trollhattan: What I heard is that a large chunk of the cutbacks is due to a big slash in the budget for Mars Sample Return. The latest reviews were very negative and instead of ramping up the activity there is about a 60% cut.  A decent chunk of the astronomy community thinks Mars is hogging far more of the exploration budget than it deserves.

  19. 19.

    cain

    @Alison Rose: Watching them fight amongst themselves. There are some other vids about one guy confronting another guy for being a pedophile. Another woman lamenting that crooks are joining up their precious cause and tearing up.

    They sound pathetic.

    Their leader literally is a rapist.

  22. 22.

    JustRuss

    “Now look Paul, sure, the economy’s looking pretty good if you believe in “numbers”….but some people in an Ohio diner are saying…”

  24. 24.

    bbleh

    @Steeplejack: when my card was hijacked, it almost certainly was via a sandwich shop / deli in Chicago, and more likely an employee stealing numbers of people from out of town than from some kind of systematic hack.  The first thing they did was try a couple of SMALL purchases at various stores and services in the area.  I was advised at the time that, had those not been caught, the big charges would have come quickly afterward.

    I’d ask your card provider to move automatic charges from your old card to your new one immediately. Go over them one by one if necessary.  I’d push on this, tho YMMV.

  26. 26.

    Old School

    editors who asked the reporters to lay out the themes they would be emphasizing over the next 6 months

    Balloon-Juice doesn’t do this?

    ”I’ll write about insurance.”

    ”I’ll emphasize how big of an idiot Ron DeSantis is.”

    ”I’ll post paintings and about how far behind on my next book I am.”

  28. 28.

    Quinerly

    @Steeplejack: almost the same thing happened to me Sunday. Wells Fargo caught 3 fraudulent charges to Temu (I didn’t even know what Temu was) and 3 fraudulent charges to Google. Wells texted and called me; reversed them and closed the acct.  Sending me a new card I should have by Tuesday. I’m leaving Thurs for Las Cruces, NM; Willcox and Bisbee, AZ. The Wells card is my traveling card tied to hotel points. Fingers crossed it gets here before I leave.

  31. 31.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Steeplejack: the last time this happened to me, the bank card issuer charged the web transactions that had used the old account number to the new account number before I got my new card—they didn’t “bounce” them. That card was with (bad boy) Chase, not (bad boy) BOA.

  32. 32.

    Josie

    OT, a dear friend lost her kitty of 17 years this week. I’d like to give her a copy of the poem that Raven usually posts about the loss of a beloved pet. I have searched but cannot find it. Does anyone have a copy or know where I can find it? TIA.​

  34. 34.

    Steeplejack

    @bbleh:

    I’d ask your card provider to move automatic charges from your old card to your new one immediately. Go over them one by one if necessary.

    BoA seems to be handling this well so far. They have already nuked the current card, so I don’t see how there can be any more spurious charges. (But I am monitoring my BofA account page closely.)

    But I don’t see how BofA can move the automatic charges. They’d have to distinguish between “automatic” and “ordinary” transactions, and I don’t know if they could even do a “group forwarding” maneuver. There are automatic charges that occur every month, some that occur once or twice a year and at least one (looking at you, E-ZPass) that occurs intermittently at wide intervals (currently over a year).

    I am remembering from the last time I got a new card—when the previous one expired—that I also got a new card number and I had to do the “inform everybody” thing. I am okay with that; I just want to get on it now to get ahead of upcoming charges. (Currently Apple TV+ next week.) Can’t do that without the new card number (and expiration date).

  35. 35.

    Alison Rose

    @Josie: Do you mean this one, perhaps?

    We who choose to surround ourselves
    with lives even more temporary than our
    own, live within a fragile circle;
    easily and often breached.
    Unable to accept its awful gaps,
    we would still live no other way.
    We cherish memory as the only
    certain immortality, never fully
    understanding the necessary plan.
    — Irving Townsend

  36. 36.

    Gvg

    I got a letter from my bank that thanked me for signing up to google pay…which I had not, so mine got cancelled Monday night. I should have kept a list of what was on auto pay for that. I know it means I can’t do curbside groceries. Not willing to put in a debit card for that. There are a lot fewer protections for debit.

    There was also a phishing attempt today. And we had to evacuate the building because of a suspicious package. That was a false alarm of course, but not a productive day.

    Hope my card comes soon.

  38. 38.

    dmsilev

    @PAM Dirac: Yeah, that’s pretty much the story. NASA is waiting on Congress (i.e. the House Republicans) to pass an actual appropriations bill rather than an endless series of Continuing Resolutions, and until that happens there are more commitments than funds. Mars Sample Return is an easy target for the agency to cut, because there have been some serious management problems identified. Personally, I think NASA should have instead cut the budget for the SLS rocket (technically Space Launch System, but often called the Senate Launch System because Richard Shelby in particular insisted on it, and it’s built by contractors scattered all over the country pretty much just for political reasons). SLS is enormously expensive, takes forever to build each rocket (for both of those, you can thank/blame lead contractor Boeing), and currently only has one vaguely viable mission (Moon landings). Still, pork-barrel politics, so it stays.

  44. 44.

    Hoppie

    @eclare: NYTimes puzzles are crap.  Cryptics for the win!  Will Shortz tried to introduce dumbed down cryptics in the Times and failed miserably.  Times puzzles are write-downs, not puzzles.

  47. 47.

    smith

    @dmsilev: NASA is waiting on Congress (i.e. the House Republicans) to pass an actual appropriations bill rather than an endless series of Continuing Resolutions

    With all the fun of Preacher of the House Johnson presiding over GQP chaos and TFG  going down in flames, there doesn’t seem to be much attention being paid to the fact that we’re going to need a new CR right quick, like in less than a month. With Johnson unable to organize a one car funeral, it could get pretty messy.

  48. 48.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Steeplejack:

    But BoA canceled the card and told me they’d get me a new one in “five to seven business days.”

    I got hit by some fraudulent activity over the weekend, the card is closed, and the credit union said the new card would take 10-14 business days to get here.

    At least I have a backup credit card, having been through this before.

    Yikes, that could be a problem. I’m okay on the day to day, but I realized I’ve got a raft of accounts linked to the card, everything from Amazon to streaming services to subscriptions, etc., all of which will have to be redirected to the new card. (My initial count is 19.)

    Yeesh. At least I didn’t have that problem.

  49. 49.

    dmsilev

    @smith: The current one expires right around the time of the State of the Union address. Which a lot of people still watch. Do they really want to give Joe Biden an easy “Republicans suck and can’t do their jobs” angle?

  52. 52.

    karen marie

    @Steeplejack:   I cannot imagine trusting a fucking bank to transfer automatic billing payments from a stolen card number to the replacement card number.   That is just insane.   But I also think using an app on one’s phone to transfer money out of one’s bank account is insane too, so …

    Because a phone is easily lost, I do no banking on it.  I don’t even have my email login info on my phone.  Shit be lost, you be fucked.

  54. 54.

    Jeffro

    I can’t imagine being part of a party whose elected officials jump when Jesse Kelly cracks the whip.

    Gobs Of Pathetic(ness)?

    I can’t make it work well, so let’s just call them the Loser Party.  After all, trump IS their leader.

  56. 56.

    Leto

    @trollhattan: @counterfactual: maybe some of them land up there, but it’s another self-inflicted shot in America’s junk. I’m mad because JPL usually does work that heads back to the civilian population in a myriad of ways that beneficial to us all. I hate conservatives. That’s it.

  57. 57.

    Steeplejack

    @karen marie:

    I don’t do any banking on my phone, and I don’t have my BoA log-in saved on the phone. I do all my banking on the home computer (or with the bank card when I’m out and about.) I do use email on my phone, but I have the phone’s lock screen activated.

  58. 58.

    Jackie

    @Alison Rose: Do you have a link to that poem that could be bookmarked? My daughter’s senior pup has been having health issues and he’s slowing down. That would be perfect to send to her when the time eventually comes.

  60. 60.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Josie:

    We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan. — Irving Townsend

     

    (Apologies if others have posted it — I haven’t been through all the comments, but I knew I could find it easily. I hope it provides comfort to your friend.)

  61. 61.

    JMG

    I had a 30 year career in journalism. In my experience, there is no incident of “Bias”or of distorted coverage that wasn’t directly traceable to the publisher/owner of the paper, radio, TV station, network or webiste. The Sulzberger family is pro-Trump because that’s what they want. Commercial motives have nothing to do with it except they know a outright Trump endorsement means instant commercial death due to a 75 percent subscription loss.

  62. 62.

    Steeplejack

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I think you’ve got it right. I don’t think it’s actually a poem, although it is often quoted that way. I used to have a copy of the book, but no longer.

  63. 63.

    CaseyL

    Want to read a mind-blowing, amazing, speech about race? By John S. Rock, the first African-American person admitted to the Supreme Court bar?

    Highlighted by David Nathanson on Mastodon, who said, “John Rock chewed them up and spat them out. Holy moly.”

    Here it is.  Unfortunately, an awful lot of it is still applicable today. This paragraph particularly caught my attention:

    But some men are so steeped in folly and imbecility; so lost to all feelings of their own littleness; so destitute of principle, and so regardless of humanity, that they dare attempt to destroy everything which exists in opposition to their interests or opinions which their narrow comprehensions cannot grasp.

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    I feel your agita. Went through the same dance twice</em. within the space of a month in , IIRC, 2022. Original card axed, new one to be sent out Canceling the first replacement card over fraudulent changes remains a puzzlement as I received a phone call about suspicious changes on it before it had arrived in the mail, thus also before I’d called the number on the new sticker to activate it.

    Fortunately, none of the bogus activity ended up costing me a penny.

  67. 67.

    Shalimar

    @Steeplejack: BoA should let you view a virtual version of the new card in their app before you get it in the mail.  You can use that for any online/recurring payments.

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    Stupid fingers. Italics fix.

    @Steeplejack

    I feel your agita. Went through the same dance twice within the space of a month in, IIRC, 2022. Original card axed, new one to be sent out. Canceling the first replacement card over fraudulent changes remains a puzzlement as I received a phone call about suspicious changes on it before it had arrived in the mail, thus also before I’d called the number on the new sticker to activate it.

    Fortunately, none of the bogus activity ended up costing me a penny.

  75. 75.

    Percysowner

     

    The kitties have landed! They are currently being cats and hiding. I have been warned it that they are traumatized and shy, so it may be a while before they come out.

    There was a slight disaster. They brought me tons of food treats, toys and litter. Sadly the litter was scented and immediately started triggering a migraine. The good news is that I was able to get to Petco and get unscented litter for now. The rescue is going to order from Amazon and ship me unscented ASAP, so things should work out. I’m huddled under an electric blanket with all my windows open to get out the smell. Life is an adventure. I’m going to bed soon, but I’ll update over the next few days.

  80. 80.

    rivers

    @cain: I subscribe still despite my belief that the political reporting is  biased, superficial, sclerotic and focuses on the “odds and not the stakes.” The reason I continue is simple. The NYT is virtually alone in having the resources to do deeply researched important stories that require time, several reporters and institutional support. A really good recent example was a piece on the high rate of maternity deaths among African-American women and the reasons for it. I also subscribe to the Washington Post whose political reporting is clearly superior.

  81. 81.

    wjca

    @smith: there doesn’t seem to be much attention being paid to the fact that we’re going to need a new CR right quick, like in less than a month.

    Why pay attention to it right now?  After all, they’re about to leave town for 2 weeks recess….

  82. 82.

    CaseyL

    @Percysowner: Congrats on the new roomies! …and eek! for the allergic reaction to the scented litter.  Seems like you know what to do: let them be for now as they explore the house and get accustomed to the new digs.  I hope you can give us updates!

  83. 83.

    Kristine

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: @Quinerly: My most exciting fraudulent charge was $1000 at a posh London nightclub. Bank quickly blocked it and canceled my card. Unfortunately this happened on a Sunday afternoon at an SF convention—I tried to get money from an ATM and it was declined. Then I received the fraud alert.

    Prior to the nightclub charge, the thief tried to buy $200 worth of clothing from a UK store.

    I assume they bought the number from a darkweb site.

  85. 85.

    Nelle

    A little late to the thread and a bit repetitive from past postings, but for those who are newer…my daughter (MA in journalism) was a stringer for the NYTimes from about 2013 to 2020.  I was horrified by the times she was asked to get “someone” to say “xyz.”  The assignment editor had a story line and just needed names to attach to the story.

    Only a few times was she asked to find a Hillary supporter or a Democrat.  One time was when she was asked to find some women who had marched against Trump to see if they were now disappointed in Biden.  Mostly, she was asked to find Trump supporters.

    She is no longer a practicing journalist.

  87. 87.

    BlueGuitarist

    @raven:

    speaking of Kind of Blue, there’s an interview somewhere with Walter Becker in which he expresses dissatisfaction with the sound of some steely Dan albums and the interviewer asked something like, is there an album you’re satisfied with?
    Walter answered, Kind of Blue.

  88. 88.

    TBone

    @karen marie: While it may appear to be puzzling, it’s not mysterious in any respect.  It’s a clumsy attempt to prevail upon the Supremacists he appointed to the court to do him a favor in exchange for their positions.  Ginni Thomas has prolly been doing extra favors for Clarence in this regard.  An orange jumpsuit without the orange makeup and cotton candy hairdo would pierce his ego!

  89. 89.

    raven

    @BlueGuitarist: And they say that Duane Allman listened to it for inspiration.

     

    Duane was a rare melodist and a dedicated student of music who was never evasive about the sources of his inspiration.” Palmer wrote that Allman told him, “That kind of playing comes from Miles and Coltrane, and particularly Kind of Blue. I’ve listened to that album so many times that for the past couple of years, I haven’t hardly listened to anything else.’”
     

  93. 93.

    Soprano2

    @Steeplejack: My husband’s Discover card had several Grubhub charges on it. We had never used them. I think his card# was stolen online. We didn’t have to pay for them.

  95. 95.

    ColoradoGuy

    @Nelle: Pravda on the Hudson. Filling in the blanks on a pre-written story … how is that news?

    I guess when all TV networks become Fox, maybe the NYT hopes to become the one remaining authorized newspaper?

  96. 96.

    Chris Johnson

    @rivers: So. If you knew that the NYT was in fact an unofficial organ of Vladimir Putin dating back to the compromise of some of its leaders, resulting in them bringing as much intelligence to bear as they could on the problem of ‘how to in turn compromise the United States and take it down without being caught doing so’, would you continue to respect the Times’s institutional aims?

    I’m not sure there’s ever been a better target for MICE (as a weapon for flipping people into being agents of an enemy power). All newspapers ended up desperate for money, they’re owned by fellow oligarchs who are calling the shots so the ideology might be indistinguishable, compromise is easy for people moving in these circles, and there’s nobody more full of ego than former masters of the world in a dying industry.

    And controlling the Times is a great way to insinuate the concept that the media is controlled by hostile forces, because it’s taking a whiff of reality and then repurposing it to say ‘yes, the media is all corrupt and controlled by enemies… to wit, the liberals!’ in a neat bit of DARVO. It’s extremely useful to the cause.

    So what’s it gonna take for you to abandon the NYT and be wary of basically everything compromisable that is also a way of wielding media power? ‘cos the people doing this mean business and have been at it for a long time.

    Also note a story on African-American maternity deaths can be carrying the subtext ‘the Democrats are failing you and trying to hurt you’.

Comments are closed.