New+York+Times

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

NYTimes Admits Travel Writer Intentionally Lied About Economy in Article

October 22, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On October 13, The New York Times gravely informed us that the economy was causing stress for travelers. Not just the economy in general, but specifically that the “crisis on Wall Street was the No. 1 cause of anxiety” for travelers. And, they had a survey to prove it, too. Or so NYT writer Paul Burnham Finney claimed. But, on October 21 the Times was forced to issue a little correction to Finney’s tall tale. You see, it turns out writer Finney outright lied about some of his claims and quotes.

In fact, it turns out that freelancer Finney made up quite a few “facts” for his story. Finney claimed the survey he was citing proved that travelers saw the Wall Street crisis as the “no. 1” worry and claimed that the survey participants felt vulnerable “in the office and on a business trip.” However, the survey did not ask such questions of participants, so Finney could not have gleaned any such thing from it. Finney also quoted Nancy Molitor, a psychologist in Wilmette, Ill., as saying that she had “never seen such anxiety” from among her “banking and business patients.” But, the paper discovered that Dr. Molitor never made such a statement to Finney.

In other words, it appears that Paul Burnham Finney simply made up these “facts” to fit the theme he wanted to push in his story. Real anxiety wasn’t enough for Finney. Instead, Finney massaged the story to fit the day’s headlines about Wall Street in order to make his story more sensational.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

NYT Maureen Dowd Kicked Off McCain’s Campaign Plane: He’s ‘Dismissive of 1st Amend’

October 2, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, I guess the McCain campaign really did get tough on the New York Times. Yesterday, leftist columnist Maureen Dowd was told she was no longer welcome on McCain’s campaign plane and had to go home with her tail between her legs. Tim McNulty of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports that Mo’s parting shot was a charge that because of this incident McCain is somehow against the First Amendment like she imagines Dick Cheney is.

Rather amusingly, she was dumped in the middle of Pennsylvania, too. After an August 30 rally in Washington, PA, she was told she could not get back on the plane. The rest of the press corps loaded up and off they flew leaving poor Mo standing there in shock.

Naturally, instead of seeing this as just deserts, Dowd goes on to blame everyone else.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Even NYT Crossword Puzzles In Tank for Obama

September 29, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Even the crossword puzzles in The New York Times are biased in favor of Obama and Biden finds David Levinson Wilk in Politico. Wilk did a little research to see how many times McCain has been an answer in the NYT puzzle since 2005. He came up with zero entries. When he looked for Obama he found the name “regularly appeared” in the puzzle. Does this prove that the Times is “150 percent in the tank” for Obama as McCain adviser Steve Schmidt recently claimed?

I find it a bit amazing that neither McCain’s name, nor Palin’s name (unless it is referring to Monty Python alum Michael) appears in the Times puzzle. But, there you have it. Wilk gives us his findings but tries to make light of the whole thing.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

The NYT’s Most Anti-McCain, Misleading Headline of the Week

August 19, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Many of you are aware of the kerfuffle surrounding the “cone of silence” complaint being ginned up by the Obama campaign after the recent Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency on Saturday, August 16. The claim made by Obama and his willing accomplices in the Old Media (like Andrea Mitchell, not to mention the DailyKos) is that John McCain “cheated” by hearing the questions proffered to Obama, who was first up to be questioned by moderator Rick Warren. McCain’s answers were just too glib, the Obama meme posits, so he must have heard the questions ahead of time instead of being placed in an area off stage where he could not hear the proceedings. Yes, they are saying he cheated.

On Sunday, August 17, The New York Times did its level best to assist the Obama campaign to further that mistaken conception — well, all right, that outright lie — even as they debunked the story. How? By making their headline seem to support the Obama claim that McCain cheated, that’s how.

Now, remember, that the claim from the Obama camp is that John McCain somehow snuck out of the “cone of silence” he was supposed to be in while backstage. This so-called “cone of silence” was supposed to be an area backstage where McCain was not able to hear the questioning. Keep in mind that the Obama camp is saying McCain left this area unauthorized and that he, therefore, cheated. Now check out the New York Times headline:

Despite Assurances, McCain Wasn’t in a ‘Cone of Silence’

Now, if you were to read only this headline and skip the story, it would seem to verify that the Obama campaign was right. McCain was not in this “cone of silence.” It would be very easy to conclude that McCain then did hear the questions and did cheat.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - News - Patriotism - Religion - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

NYT Complaint: Not Enough Photos Of Mutilated American Soldiers in This War

July 28, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

** Now With Update… A Soldier Speaks **

The New York Times is miffed. They aren’t happy that there has been a dearth of news photos showing dead American soldiers in the war in Iraq. The Times is lamenting that there have been “4,000 U.S. Combat Deaths, and Just a Handful of Images,” so more carnage and death is their druthers. Well, more American dead, anyway. They aren’t interested in the dead of the enemy, to be sure.

Using the story of photog Zoriah Miller who had his embed status removed when he publicized photos of dead U.S. Marines after a suicide bombing, the Times reveals their pique over the fact that not enough dead Americans have been peddled to the American public. The Times denounces the military for protecting the troops and their families saying, “after five years and more than 4,000 American combat deaths, searches and interviews turned up fewer than a half-dozen graphic photographs of dead American soldiers.”

Complaining for opponents of the war that the lack of casualty photos has created a a situation where the “public portrayal of the war is being sanitized,” the Times wonders if the homefront is being badly served because we here are not seeing the “human cost of a war that polls consistently show is unpopular with Americans.”

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