According to CNN Senior reporter Oliver Darcy, left-leaning Americans are upset with the New York Times for allegedly portraying former President Donald Trump favorably while critically covering Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Darcy claimed that the mainstream media is “struggling” to determine how it should report on Trump, claiming that he is a “threat to Democracy.” According to an excerpt from Darcy’s “Reliable Sources” newsletter, he explained that the GOP presidential candidate has a legitimate chance at reclaiming the White House from Joe Biden. Subsequently, many are calling for the New York Times to be more firm in denouncing Trump.
“Criticism of The Times is 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,” Darcy wrote. The reporter further suggested the outlet is “far too distracted as of late by worries over President Joe Biden’s age.” According to Darcy, the fixation on Biden’s age draws “attention away from the larger and far more serious danger posed by a second Trump administration.”
He then addressed a recent poll that found a majority of Biden voters believed he was too old to fulfill his duties as president of the United States. “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,” Darcy continued.
He also quoted an opinion from CUNY journalism professor Jeff Jarvis, who criticized the New York Times for its coverage of Trump. “That they even asked this question is evidence of the bias — the agenda — in their poll,” Jarvis said. “Who made age an ‘issue’? The credulous Times falling into the right-wing’s projection. This is not journalism. Shameful.”
Darcy played on a pervasive narrative within the Democratic party that Trump is a “threat” to Democracy. “It is apparent that the U.S. media is still struggling immensely over how to cover Trump and the ongoing threats to American democracy.”
The senior reporter even asserted that his own network isn’t doing enough to condemn the former president amid his chance at reelection. “CNN and MSNBC can’t even seem to arrive at a firm policy over how to cover Trump’s live remarks (at times, both networks have boasted about how they don’t air his lie-filled speeches live, and at other times, such as on Monday, they both did just that).”
However, in this week’s edition, he seemed to give the NYT the benefit of the doubt, claiming there isn’t a clear issue on how to report on the presidential candidate. “There is a mountain of thorny issues at the doorstep of outlets like The Times — and often there is no clear answer.” He added, “For example, after the 2020 election, the conventional wisdom was that the press should largely ignore Trump’s antics. Now, in the run up toward the election, that line of thinking has changed.” Darcy wrote that Biden’s reelection campaign has urged the media to cover Trump’s conduct.
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