Tag: media

New York Times Writers May Have Deceived Readers in Stories About Project Veritas: Court

Writers for the New York Times may have spread deceptive claims about the nonprofit journalism group Project Veritas, a judge ruled this week.

In stories from 2020 about Project Veritas videos, writers Maggie Astor and Tiffany Hsu inserted sentences that were opinions despite the articles being billed as news, New York Supreme Court Justice Charles Wood said.

“If a writer interjects an opinion in a news article (and will seek to claim legal protections as opinion) it stands to reason that the writer should have an obligation to alert the reader, including a court that may need to determine whether it is fact or opinion, that it is opinion,” Wood wrote in a 16-page decision denying the paper’s request to dismiss a lawsuit from Project Veritas.

“The Articles that are the subject of this action called the Video ‘deceptive,’ but the dictionary definitions of ‘disinformation’ and ‘deceptive’ provided by defendants’ counsel certainly apply to Astor’s and Hsu’s failure to note that they injected their opinions in news articles, as they now claim,” he added.

At issue are five articles that Project Veritas alleges contained false and defamatory information. All five were about a 2020 video report from the journalism group on alleged illegal voting practices in Minnesota.

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“A Threat to American Democracy” – Federal Judge Warns About Dangers of Democrat Media Complex

“Although the bias against the Republican Party—not just controversial individuals—is rather shocking today, this is not new; it is a long-term, secular trend going back at least to the ’70s,” Silberman wrote. “Two of the three most influential papers (at least historically), The New York Times and The Washington Post, are virtually Democratic Party broadsheets. And the news section of The Wall Street Journal leans in the same direction. The orientation of these three papers is followed by The Associated Press and most large papers across the country (such as the Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, and Boston Globe). Nearly all television—network and cable—is a Democratic Party trumpet. Even the government-supported National Public Radio follows along.”

Silberman then took on Big Tech:

He accused Silicon Valley of filtering news “in ways favorable to the Democratic Party” and fueling censorship, citing the suppression of the New York Post’s bombshell reporting on Hunter Biden in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election.

“It is well-accepted that viewpoint discrimination ‘raises the specter that the Government may effectively drive certain ideas or viewpoints from the marketplace,’” Silberman said. “But ideological homogeneity in the media—or in the channels of information distribution—risks repressing certain ideas from the public consciousness just as surely as if access were restricted by the government.”

Finally, Silberman took on the current one-party control of the press and media:

“It should be borne in mind that the first step taken by any potential authoritarian or dictatorial regime is to gain control of communications, particularly the delivery of news. It is fair to conclude, therefore, that one-party control of the press and media is a threat to a viable democracy,” the judge continued. “It may even give rise to countervailing extremism.

“The First Amendment guarantees a free press to foster a vibrant trade in ideas. But a biased press can distort the marketplace. And when the media has proven its willingness—if not eagerness—to so distort, it is a profound mistake to stand by unjustified legal rules that serve only to enhance the press’ power.”

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Reporter: Saying ‘Biological Males’ Is A ‘Serious Anti-Trans Slur’

A reporter urged other journalists Wednesday to stop using the term “biological males,” deeming the scientific term a “serious anti-trans slur” that is hateful to use.

“It’s totally okay to have debate and disagree, but folks in media, the term ‘biological males’ is a serious anti-trans slur,” LGBTQ+ reporter for The 19th Kate Sosin tweeted.

“You should not use it without noting that,” Sosin added.

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The Root accused of racism after piece by New York Times contributor declares ‘Whiteness is a Pandemic’

The digital magazine The Root was accused of racism Wednesday after publishing an article declaring “Whiteness is a Pandemic” in response to Tuesday’s deadly shootings in Georgia.

There was a rush to conclude that the shootings that killed eight people at three Atlanta-area massage parlors were hate crimes after officials confirmed that six of the eight victims were Asian-Americans. Investigators said Wednesday that the suspected gunman, 21-year-old Robert Long, told them he was motivated by a “sexual addiction”. They added that racism “did not appear to be the motive”. Long has since been charged with multiple counts of murder and assault.

In the piece, Root senior editor Damon Young argued that “Whiteness” is a “public health crisis.”

“It shortens life expectancies, it pollutes air, it constricts equilibrium, it devastates forests, it melts ice caps, it sparks (and funds) wars, it flattens dialects, it infests consciousnesses, and it kills people—[W]hite people and people who are not [W]hite, my mom included,” Young began. “There will be people who die, in 2050, because of white supremacy-induced decisions from 1850.”

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