NYTimes Biased Coverage of the Edwards Affair

The Public Editor of the Times gently criticized the paper's suppression of the Edwards affair today:

I do not think liberal bias had anything to do with it. But I think The Times — like The Washington Post, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, major networks and wire services — was far too squeamish about tackling the story. The Times did not want to regurgitate the Enquirer’s reporting without verifying it, which is responsible. But The Times did not try to verify it, beyond a few perfunctory efforts, which I think was wrong. Until the ABC report, only one mainstream news organization, McClatchy newspapers, seemed to be making headway with the story.

Click here to see the column.

But the Public Editor failed to acknowledge the two most serious problems. First, the unfortunate fact is that the Times' editorial views have infected the paper's news coverage. Purported "news" is biased and slanted. Second, there is an incredible double standard. The paper did not hestitate to put a completely unsourced article about John McCain's alleged improper personal relationship on the front page, but it ignored and suppressed an indisputably improper relationship by former Senator and Presidential candidate John Edwards.

The Times has about the same journalistic integrity as Pravda.

New York Times Bias - Failure to Publish the John Edwards Story

Set forth below is a copy of an email that I sent to the Public Editor of the New York Times. I doubt that there will be a response, but if there is, I will post it.

From: "Bert Slonim" [bert.slonim@gmail.com]
Sent: 08/08/2008 11:14 PM AST
To: public@nytimes.com
Subject: NYTimes and the Edwards Affair

Dear Public Editor:

Why did the New York Times suppress the Edwards story? A few months ago, the paper smeared John McCain with unsourced allegations of an improper personal relationship but published nothing about the well-documented Edwards story until today. It appears that "all the news that is fit to print" now comes from alternative media such as the National Enquirer, while blatantly biased editorial opinion now dominates the front page of your paper.

Last month the Times reported that " its second-quarter earnings fell 82 percent from the year-ago quarter boosted by a one-time gain. Meanwhile, print advertising revenue continued to shrink." It is good to know that the market works.

Very truly yours,

Bert L. Slonim

Cherry Creek

Golf does not come naturally to me. It is rare that I break 100. But I was pleased with this shot onto the green at the 12th hole at Cherry Creek in Riverhead on a beautiful day in early August 2008. Many thanks to Ron Ramirez for taking this short video clip.

He's Not The One

Check out John McCain's new commercial which strings together clips of Obama talking about himself. He is seriously delusional. Click here to see the video.