Tweet

Eric Boehlert

10 May, 7 tweets, 1 min read

thread re: NYT and its awful, illogical fear of calling out Trump "lies" over the years.

and its sudden change of heart. 1/7 pressrun.media/p/no-longer-se…

in 2016, editor Dean Baquet *bragged* abt how the Times called Trump a liar and warned that using "falsehood" was giving him a pass. 2/7

when Trump claimed unexpected victory, NYT sprinted into a retreat and danced around "lies" while covering a pathological liar. 3/7

Suddenly Baquet said it wasn't fair to call Trump a liar bc the NYT couldn't read his mind, and that it wasn't the paper's "role" bc using "lies" might look like NYT was taking "sides" 4/7

for 4 yrs the paper burned through thesaurus creating nonsensical phrases like, — "Trump Misrepresents", "Trump Falsely Claims", "Trump’s Baseless Claim”, "Trump’s Falsehoods", "Trump’s False Claims", “Trump’s Inaccurate Claims"

when everyone at paper knew Trump was liar 5/7

Trump used that timidity to use lies for partisan gain and to attack, undercut democratic institutions.

the Times tho, led the media charge to normalize the radical behavior. 6/7

now, NYT has suddenly decided to refer to Trump election lies as "lies".....good news!

but will Times limit "lies" use to issue of election, or for all Trump lies?

and will NYT every explain its incoherent policy of the years? 7/7

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @EricBoehlert

Eric Boehlert

@EricBoehlert

12 May

quick thread on media claim that Biden sometimes wearing mask is driving vaccine hesitancy — that he's signaling there's no light at end of tunnel, and vaccine doesn't work

spoiler: it's a really dopey idea; pressrun.media/p/who-cares-if…

The evidence is overwhelming that the people who refuse to get vaccinated are made up largely of white, conservative, Trump supporters who have treated the pandemic as a partisan issue and who refused to wear masks last year.

Taking their cues from Trump who spent much of 2020 mocking people who wore masks as being "politically correct," they lean towards thinking the virus was a hoax.

Read 4 tweets

Eric Boehlert

@EricBoehlert

12 May

my latest—media keep pushing non-story; pressrun.media/p/who-cares-if…

“It's slightly jarring that in the wake of the Trump presidency, when Americans were urged to inject bleach as a way to combat Covid-19, that Biden sometimes wearing a cloth facial covering is treated as a pressing news story by the Beltway media. “

“wearing a mask while being fully vaccinated is a personal choice, and it's a choice that has no effective downside, so why is the press so focused on the topic?”

Read 4 tweets

Eric Boehlert

@EricBoehlert

6 May

four months after Trump leaves office, NYT puts “lies” in headline

progress, I guess....

it’s confirmation that NYT could’ve done this for 5 yrs.

it chose not to

funny what happens when NYT no longer seeks access

Read 5 tweets

Eric Boehlert

@EricBoehlert

6 May

my latest—a media low point from Trump era; pressrun.media/p/judge-confir…

“Now that a federal judge has confirmed that the press got played, badly, what's the media response going to be? Will there by any introspection, will editors and producers reflect on how and why they got taken for a ride on one of the most important news stories of 2019?”

“The likely answer is no to all those questions, because when it comes to being honest and open about grave blunders the press made while covering Trump, there's no appetite for it, except when the criticism comes from conservatives screaming "liberal media bias."

Read 4 tweets