New York (CNN) 鈥� Editor鈥檚 Note: A version of this article first appeared in the 鈥淩eliable Sources鈥� newsletter.聽
The New York Times is facing a sustained wave of backlash.
The Gray Lady has for several weeks been in the crosshairs of a vocal set of critics and readers who believe that Donald Trump poses a grave threat to American democracy and that the influential news organization isn鈥檛 adequately conveying those stakes to the public.
Criticism of The Times is聽nothing new, but as it appears with each passing day that Trump has a real shot of recapturing the White House, the expressions of disapproval have become particularly pronounced.
In the view of its critics, The Times has been far too distracted as of late by worries over President Joe Biden鈥檚 age, allowing it to steal attention away from the larger and far more serious danger posed by a second Trump administration. Critics have also argued that The Times covers Biden and Trump with disproportionate standards, placing false equivalence on issues surrounding the current president to those of the former president, who is facing 91 criminal counts and fantasized about being a dictator on 鈥渄ay one.鈥�
The latest salvo in the now weeks-long stream of criticism against The Times burst into view over the weekend when the newspaper it conducted with Siena College that found a majority of Biden voters believe he is too old to be an effective president. That poll touched off a torrent of angry commentary directed at the outlet, with some readers even declaring on social media that they had decided to cancel their subscriptions.
鈥淭hat they even asked this question is evidence of the bias 鈥� the agenda 鈥� in their poll,鈥� Jeff Jarvis, the Leonard Tow Professor of Journalism Innovation at the CUNY Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, . 鈥淲ho made age an 鈥榠ssue鈥�? The credulous Times falling into the right-wing鈥檚 projection. This is not journalism. Shameful.鈥�
鈥淣Y Times, did you ask your random voters whether Trump is too insane, doddering, racist, sexist, criminal, traitorous, hateful to be effective as President?鈥� Jarvis asked, adding, 鈥淭his is not a poll. It is your agenda.鈥�
The Times is, of course, far from the only news organization that has faced criticism over how it has covered the 2024 race. But given the influence it casts over American journalism, and the fact that it serves as something of an avatar for the entire news media, it has found itself at the center of the storm.
Some of the complaints against The Times and other news organizations are certainly valid. As we have noted before, it is apparent that the U.S. media is still struggling immensely over how to cover Trump and the ongoing threats to American democracy. Years after Trump ascended to political power and started drowning the political discourse in dangerous lies and conspiracy theories, news executives remain confounded on the most effective approach to combat the deceit. CNN and MSNBC can鈥檛 even seem to arrive at a firm policy over how to cover Trump鈥檚 live remarks (at times, both networks have boasted about how they don鈥檛 air his lie-filled speeches live, and at other times, such as on Monday, they both did just that).
To be fair, however, not all of the conundrums confronting newsrooms are easy to solve for. There is a mountain of thorny issues at the doorstep of outlets like The Times 鈥� and often there is no clear answer. For example, after the 2020 election, the conventional wisdom was that the press should largely ignore Trump鈥檚 antics. Now, in the run up toward the election, that line of thinking has changed, with Biden campaign aides even privately encouraging newsrooms to place more of a spotlight on his unhinged behavior, various gaffes, and chilling vows to seek political retribution should he win in 2024.
Moreover, some of the more well-founded criticism against The Times has been misguided. For instance, when complaining about the poll The Times conducted with Siena College, some critics skewered the paper鈥檚 sample size of 980 registered voters, ironically echoing complaints that Trump and his supporters have previously made against political polls. But as Harry Enten, CNN鈥檚 senior data reporter, told me, such a sample size is 鈥渨ell within the norm鈥� for a scientific poll. And The Times/Siena College poll, as Enten put it, is 鈥渙ne of the best in the business.鈥�
鈥淧eople are upset today with the NYT because of鈥 poll?鈥� Clara Jeffery, the editor-in-chief of the progressive Mother Jones news outlet, . 鈥淭here鈥檚 sometimes reasons to be upset at the NYT. There鈥檚 reasons to doubt polling is still always/often accurate. But don鈥檛 conflate these things.鈥�
A spokesperson for The Times on Monday stood by its polling and coverage, telling me that its 鈥減olling and associated reporting captures and conveys public sentiment at a given moment in time.鈥� The spokesperson also addressed the greater backlash the paper has received as of late.
鈥淥ur commitment to readers is to report on the world as it is, without fear or favor,鈥� the spokesperson said. 鈥淎nything less, or advocacy in favor of one candidate, would run directly against the practice of independent journalism.鈥�
Bill Carter, a media critic who spent the bulk of his career as a media reporter for The Times, suggested to me on Monday that the newspaper is, of course, imperfect. Carter conceded that 鈥渢here are occasions when the paper鈥檚 coverage seems less attuned to the changing realities of our political dynamic鈥� and that 鈥渘ot enough is made of the fact that one side treats things like truth and science as opponents to be fought and denounced.鈥�
But Carter argued that The Times and other news organizations have thoroughly covered Trump鈥檚 many scandals at length, devoting significant coverage to fact-checking his lies, highlighting his ugly comments on a wide range of subjects, and perhaps most importantly, spotlighting his anti-democratic behavior.
鈥淭here might be some point to the accusation that the media have not sufficiently rung the alarms to alert the nation to an existential threat to democracy,鈥� Carter said. 鈥淏ut if Democrats lose to Trump after all THAT coverage, the fault will not be in the media, but in themselves.鈥�
The-CNN-Wire
鈩� & 漏 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
