This Might be The End
For over 40 years I have subscribed to the New York Times. At first, I felt it was important to understand what is happening around the World. Even though I knew very little of it would impact me directly, I always felt it was better to know than not to. The Times had coverage everywhere and covered almost everything that was important. It reported, for the most part, fairly and objectively. “All the News thats Fit to Print” really meant something. At some point, probably back in the mid ‘80’s, things began to change. Reagan was President and extremely popular and the Times was going to have none of that. A popular, well respected Republican President was not going to get off easy and the Liberal overlords at the Times started reporting full scale on things that really had no bearing on how Reagan ran this country. He fell asleep during briefings, Nancy had too much say in policy decisions, Nancy had Tarot card readers come into the White House. You get the picture. Reagan was not one to be pushed around by the press and the Times and WashingtonPost felt his contempt. He turned out to be one of our country’s greatest Presidents despite his foibles and Bush Sr and Bill Clinton benefitted from policies he put in place. The Times got it wrong and from then on, they had an agenda.
A good friend of mine on the trading floor once said “I hate the F___ng Times but I read it everyday so I know what the other side is thinking.” That stuck with me and I stuck with the Times for years thereafter. The reporting was still excellent. The writing was superb. The content and direction moved further and further left and I stayed with them. Knowing their political leanings and discounting some of the reporting as partially biased was easy.
However, Donald Trump got elected and the paper slipped into the quicksand of Liberal bias that has not been seen since the muckraking days of the ‘20’s.
Their hate of Donald Trump can only be matched by the disdain that all of the major networks have of the man and that may be one of the main reasons Trump was not reelected last year. Political scientists will probably blame his handling of the Covid crisis as the main reason or possibly his lack of empathy for the racial strife in this country but when all the media outlets that people rely on have an unspoken agenda, it is hard for fair and factual reporting to take place. The media is the message as they say.
Again, I was not a big fan of President Trump but I am smart enough I think, to see that his administration helped put this country on an unprecedented path of growth. Where all socio-economic levels were growing and everyone was doing better. He also started and implemented Operation Warp Speed which got the wheels turning and has more than half of this country completely immunized. Thats a fact that it seems the Biden administration is taking credit for incorrectly. But, I digress.
Getting back to the New York Times. Their agenda has only gone further to the left and I think I have had just about enough. The reporting initially on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict started out blaming the Israelis for defending their country. The way the reporting initially went you would think it was the German army marching in and crushing Poland in 1939. The facts came out in later editions and things seemed to be a little more balanced until the Times spent considerable space reporting about how there were several Democrats that wanted to reduce or kill aid sent to Israel. This “Gang of Four” got the coverage they wanted and very little was said about the fact that Israel is our number one ally on the planet and with US help, they have helped maintain peace in the Middle East. They are the firm counterbalance to Jihadists that want nothing more than the destruction of the West. You wouldn’t know that or believe that if you read the Times in the last few weeks.
Another failing of the Times is that they still have Trumpophobia. There are articles that have nothing to do with the past President but yet they somehow will bring his name into it. As if his administration was the reason that the Military Junta took back Myanmar. Climate change was caused by Trump. The juiced up baseballs in 2019 were caused by Trump. The drought in the Far West was caused by Trump. You get my point.
I have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal and I think they run a little right at times but for the most part, their reporting is fair and balanced.
It’s not President Biden’s fault that baseball averages are way down.
The paper’s editorial pages may be strictly right wing but thats ok, thats where opinions should be, not in general reporting.
So, I will be cancelling my subscription to the New York Times and save myself eight dollars a month. If I want a liberal, unbalanced story I can just turn to CNN.
Oh wait, I ditched them too…