Trey Paul, FISM News
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Starting today, The New York Times, one of America’s oldest and most influential left-leaning newspapers, will begin featuring a new beat that covers “right-wing media” as part of the paper’s so-called “democracy team.”
According to a news release from the Times, written by political editor David Halbfinger, longtime BuzzFeed reporter Ken Bensinger will be pioneering this new assignment after reporting on everything from Amazon’s delivery network to political “disinformation” and the January 6 Capitol riots. Bensinger is a Seattle native and Duke graduate and also spent time reporting for the Wall Street Journal.
Halbfinger claims Bensinger’s new task will be filled with reporting on people “who reject mainstream narratives and question the institutions that hold up our democracy.”
“Understanding the way information is developed, circulated, and absorbed on the right is vital at this precarious moment, and requires a healthy measure of patience, empathy, and understanding along with investigative chops, skepticism, and toughness,” said Halbfinger.
FISM News reached out to the Times to learn if the newspaper would also be creating a “left-wing” beat that conversely focuses on the way information is processed on the left. So far, our questions haven’t been answered.
Conservative commentators were quick to point out the Times’ apparent hypocrisy.
“This is how ‘journalism’ works these days: There are whole outlets with people who somehow refer to themselves as media reporters who are actually activists dedicated to watching and reading what they deem right-wing media and opining about what they disagree with,” media commentator and Fox News contributor Joe Concha said.
American chef and television personality Andrew Gruel tweeted a legitimate question:
Serious question: if this beat is specifically covering right wing media does that tacitly imply the remainder of NY Times is left wing?
— Chef Andrew Gruel (@ChefGruel) August 22, 2022
Another user on Twitter noted the Times’ long history of supporting Democrats.
NYT hasn’t endorsed a Republican for President since 1956. Suddenly they creates 'right-wing media' beat to see what's driving political decisions of 'many Americans' PHONEY!!!! https://t.co/Fu5ADXazWs
— David Loeffler (@loeffler) August 22, 2022
A spokesperson for the NYT told Fox News the beat was created “due to the volume of Americans who rely on alternatives to mainstream sources for their information” and further elaborated by saying:
Our media and technology desks thoroughly cover many aspects of hyperpartisan media and misinformation (when relevant). The Politics desk created a new beat on this topic because many Americans rely solely on right wing media for their information, which often bears little resemblance to what is being reported in mainstream media. We want our readers to be informed about what is driving the political decisions of many Americans.
According to a new Gallup poll and report, only 16% of U.S. adults say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers, noting a majority of Americans have expressed confidence in newspapers only once, back in 1979, when 51% did.
The Gallup report further broke things down with a look at trust among political parties citing Republicans’ (5%) and Independents’ (12%) confidence in newspapers is the lowest on record for these party groups. However, Democrats’ trust (35%) is higher than in some previous polls.
Gallup researchers noted that Democrats’ confidence in newspapers rose to the 42-to-46% range during the Donald Trump administration, but fell when President Joe Biden took office.