The New York Times’ Journey From Paper Of Record To Home Of The 1619 Project

The New York Times has been long considered America’s newspaper of record. However, some critics feel that it has moved too far to the right in their eyes. The most striking example is their support for the 1619 Project.
The 1619 Project, led by Nikole Hannah Joness, aims to “reframe America’s history” through the lense of slavery. Although it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, critics have criticized it for historical inaccuracies. Bret Stephens of The Times called it a “thesis seeking evidence”. Hannah-Jones is outspokenly left-leaning and has taken a defensive stance against any criticisms of her work.

Although “activism” isn’t traditionally associated with journalism, Hannah-Jones, the author of the 1619 project says they are one and the same. She said that activism is the basis of all journalism last year to CBS News.

Newt Gingrich described the project as a “propaganda camp on race” while George Will, a Washington Post columnist, said that the project was “malicious and historically illiterate.”

Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at Hoover Institution, said that the 1619 Project revealed the New York Times “doesn’t care about truth” but instead “hires or promotes its journalists and editors on woke criteria – race/gender – rather than reporting excellence.”

Hanson said, “It’s the CNN of print journalism” and added that it had done to its reputation “what CNN did to itss – ruin it for short term political expediency.”

Hanson stated that the New York Times used to be a liberal newspaper, but it has become “hardcore progressive”.

He stated that the organization no longer believes in reporting factual events and is open to a free exchange. However, it has turned into a propaganda apparatus to pursue left-wing agendas using any means necessary.

The New York Times staff rebelled against a Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) opinion piece in which he called for the use of the military to stop violent protests after George Floyd’s death.

Later in the summer, Bari Weiss, columnist and opinion editor at the Times, quit. She released a harsh letter stating that “a new consensus had emerged in the media, but perhaps particularly at this paper: That truth isn’t a process for collective discovery but that it is an orthodoxy that has been known to an educated few whose job it is to inform everybody else.”

Weiss stated in her resignation letter that Twitter had become the paper’s “ultimate editors,” with stories “chosen to please the most narrow of audiences rather than to let a curious public read about the world and draw their own conclusions.”

He said that the newsroom had “kind of understood” that it has the power to influence journalism. For example, they protest Tom Cotton’s oped. “The New York Times management is now chasing down their staffers and any rapidly-evolving ideologies or beliefs they may have. They’re in an ideological death spiral that will be difficult to escape from.

Rindsberg stated that one reason the New York Times has changed is because it is marketing itself to a younger, more millennial-oriented audience who are on the hard-left.

Pew Research 2020 found that more than 90% of people who claim they get their news mostly from the New York Times identify themselves as Democrats. Nearly two-thirds of them are younger than 50.

Rindsberg stated that the New York Times’ shift toward biased journalism has led many long-time readers to question the objectivity and objectivity of their paper.

“People have completely lost trust in the Times, and that’s not just people that are more conservative-minded,” he said. I know many self-described New York Times readers who stopped paying their subscriptions due to what they perceive as naked activism. They see ideology plastered all over the New York Times front page. That is a significant shift.

Hanson and Rindsberg both said that the New York Times should not be considered a newspaper of record due to its liberal bent.

Hanson stated that half of the country had not made it the paper record for some time due to its sins of omission and commission.

Americans are losing faith in the New York Times, but it’s not only them. Gallup’s 2021 survey found that 36% of Americans trust the media less than “a lot” or “a fair bit”. This is the second-lowest level ever recorded.