A.G. Sulzberger, chairman and publisher of The New York Times, said on Wednesday The Washington Post On the fate of press freedom in President Trump's second term.
The billionaire newspaper journalist suggested that unlike last election, this time Trump may resemble the caricature painted by the Times and other establishment newspapers. I compromised. In the past, this was done by certain three-letter agencies.
As part of his mental exercise, Sulzberger tried to draw parallels to real or supposed attacks on press freedom in countries like India, Hungary and Brazil, but he never mentioned the Biden-Harris administration’s successful efforts in recent years to force corporations to stifle and censor Americans’ speech. Jim Hoft Gateway Pundit's.
After implying that his paper was neutral and had no interest in “interfering in politics,” Sulzberger argued that “wannabe dictators” abroad were encouraged by their own media crackdowns, not by President Obama's policies. The War on Whistleblowers or the Department of Justice Targeting The problem isn't the Julian Assange case, but Trump's description of the mainstream corporate media as “fake news.”
“In much of the world, trust in the press is at a historic low.”
Sulzberger argued that Trump used the term as “a bludgeon to dismiss and attack journalism that challenges him,” without addressing why Republicans used the term or why it ultimately resonated so well with the American public.
The context that seems to be missing is that some of the obvious targets of Trump's branding are loyal Suggested British spy Christopher Steele's Democratic-funded dossier was legitimate, and Trump and his team Conspired with the Russians In an effort to ensure victory in the 2016 presidential election, he joined the Biden campaign in falsely suggesting that the Hunter Biden laptop story was a Russian disinformation campaign. False claims Trump said all Mexicans are rapists.
Sulzberger's own publications are also beyond reproach. index Falsely accused of Russia collusion Claimed A Trump supporter killed US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick with a fire extinguisher. False reporting Based on terrorist propaganda that Israel bombed hospitals in Gaza, and Suggested The satirical website Babylon Bee was a “far-right misinformation site.”
Sulzberger portrayed the corporate media as victims of Trump's hostility, but failed to mention that this hostility was directed both at themselves and at Trump. Profitable And it's mutual.
According to According to the Pew Research Center, 20% of coverage during President Obama's first 60 days in office was negative and 42% was positive. During President Biden's first 60 days in office, 19% of coverage was negative and 27% was positive.
During the first 60 days of Trump's presidency, 62% of coverage of his presidency was negative and only 5% was positive.
Harvard University study The study found that 80% of coverage of Trump during his first 100 days in office was negative, including in the New York Times. “Trump coverage was relentless; no week was below 70% negative, and at its peak it reached 90% negative coverage,” wrote Thomas E. Patterson, a professor of politics and journalism at the Kennedy School.
The only time negative sentiment dropped significantly was when Trump ordered missile attacks on Syria following allegations that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had gassed his own people.
The corporate media's attacks on Trump have continued during this election cycle.
The Media Research Center found last month that Kamala Harris was portrayed favorably 84% of the time in coverage by CBS, NBC and ABC, while Trump was portrayed unfavorably 89% of the time. Reported New York Sun.
Sulzberger acknowledged that “trust in the press is at a historic low in many parts of the world,” but did not believe that partisan hacking was to blame.Intense, but mostly peaceful” or the costly 2019 report surrounding former Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann smiling innocently near the Lincoln Memorial, a spate of media hoaxes.
Instead, Sulzberger suggested the decline was due to “a deluge of misinformation, conspiracy theories, propaganda and clickbait on social media.”
The article, in which Sulzberger appeared to make disparaging remarks about the free flow of information online, was published on the same day that social media users pressured the Associated Press to correct its most recent misleading article.
According to the Times' publisher, Trump's anti-press actions “probably [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban.”
According to Sulzberger, the playbook typically includes five steps:
- “To create a favorable environment for policing the media sow public distrust in independent journalism And it normalizes the harassment of those who produce it.”
- “It manipulates its legal and regulatory powers, including taxation, immigration enforcement, and privacy protections, to punish journalists and media organizations that violate them.”
- “They use the courts, most often through civil lawsuits, to effectively impose additional logistical and financial penalties on objectionable journalism, even when there is no legal basis for doing so.”
- “It will encourage other powerful public and private sector allies to adopt variations of these tactics, thereby increasing the scale of attacks against journalists and their employers.”
- “Instead of just using the instruments of power, punish Independent Journalist It is also to reward those who have shown loyalty to the leadership. Support from Supporters Lawmakers from the ruling party have gained control of media outlets that have been financially weakened by these efforts.”
Sulzberger believes Trump has proven willing to go along with this strategy. Sued Sue a company for defamation Showed interest defunding NPR, blocking Amazon's defense contract over Jeff Bezos' “repeated complaints” against the Washington Post; I tried Corporate Media Company Licensing.
The Times publisher concluded by recycling the essay. Cliches He has relied on his publication in recent years in multiple paragraphs characterizing it as a bulwark against imagined threats from future administrations and state advertising revenues.
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