‘Bothsidesism Stalks The New York Times’

Josh Marshall, writing at Talking Points Memo:

Let’s start with the title: “Dropping of Flynn Case Heightens Fears of Justice Dept. Politicization”.

We are well past “fears of politicization”. When the President’s loyalist Attorney General intervenes on the President’s behalf in a case in which a defendant/loyalist has already pled guilty in order to short-circuit a prosecution about which no disinterested party has raised any substantial question … well, that is the definition of politicization. It also comes after numerous similar actions by the Barr Justice Department.

One good way to judge these questions is to imagine how the Times would cover a similar set of facts in another country. To suggest that this would be framed as leading to “fears of politicization” would be absurd.

When someone chops someone’s head off that does not lead to fears of people being killed. That is people being killed.

The perverse truth is that despite the right’s decades-long demonization of “mainstream media” as being unfairly biased against conservatives — and Trump’s turning that dial to 11, with his railing against “fake news” and repeatedly calling the news media “the enemy of the people” — the truth is that news analysis at premier outlets like The Times is biased toward the right in the way that they bend their coverage to appear “objective” to both sides, no matter how preposterous one of those sides has become.

“Views Still Differ on Shape of Planet” is no joke.

★ Tuesday, 12 May 2020