I’ve been disturbed at the coverage of Joe Biden in recent months in the New York Times. The coverage has seemed unduly negative, especially in comparison with the same paper’s coverage of Donald Trump. This negativity shows in the choice and focus of stories, in their placement, and in their headlines.
There was another recent incident of this that provoked me to write a letter to the New York Times. Here’s the headline on the back page of the front section of my copy of Monday’s Times:
I wrote a letter to the editor. And then, still infuriated, sent a copy to Margaret Sullivan, now Executive Director of the Craig Newmark Center at Columbia University. A few years ago, she did a stint as Public Editor at the Times. And she also now has a Substack Podcast, “American Crisis” subtitled “can journalism save democracy?”
This morning, I get, courtesy of Margaret Sullivan, a few more seconds of my fifteen minutes of fame. Her column starts with some thoughts on tonight’s Biden-Trump debate, but then turns to what I’m upset about. Here’s what she writes. (I don’t need to reprint my letter to the Times, because she pretty much quotes the whole thing.)
“But while we’re here, I also want to draw your attention to an ill-advised article this week in the New York Times: “Trump Suggests Biden May Get ‘a Shot’ Before the Debate.” Commenting on this in an email to me, Doug Bennett, president emeritus of Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, said he was “beyond disgusted” by the piece, observing: “There is not a scintilla of evidence to support this accusation provided by Trump and none by the Times.” He goes on (and I can’t resist quoting him at length here, while noting that the tepid term “baseless accusation” does now appear in the online version of the story):
“Nothing in the New York Times article informs readers that this is an allegation made by a beyond-proven serial liar for whom smears are an everyday tactic. Nothing in the New York Times article informs readers that this is an allegation made by someone who oversaw a White House that was awash in overly-available opioids and uppers as documented by a Department of Defense’s Inspector General report in January 2024.
“Well said, President Bennett. In the old days, newspaper editors’ desks included a spike onto which stories that were rejected or found unworthy could be stabbed and forever put out of their misery. So, using that old expression, this Times piece clearly should have been spiked.”
My letter probably won’t appear in the NYTimes, now. They are clear they don’t want to publish things that have been published elsewhere. At present, I’m happier to appear in Margaret Sullivan’s Substack.
The Observatory 