Thread by @equalityAlec

Thread. What is happening right now at the New York Times is important and dangerous. I've tried to document it thoroughly below.

Last week, NYT published a major story that suggested falsely that police prevent murder and that one reason for increased murders during a global pandemic was civil rights criticism of police! The NYT did not disclose that the reporter was former CIA/Palantir/police/DA paid.

I wrote a thread criticizing a few of the most obvious flaws in the article, including the failure to disclose the writer's corporate and police conflicts of interest. Instead of engaging, the reporter just blocked me (after the article .

https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1441606685605326857

Imagine letting a reporter write about these issues and not disclosing this:

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1440787371285385218

Today, the NYT doubled down. They ran another major article on the same increase in murder. This time, they *quote as an expert* the same CIA/Palantir/police/DA person! Again, they do not disclose the conflicts of interest as they parade him as an expert. nytimes.com/2021/09/27/us/…

Today's @nytimes article is much worse. The very first quote is a police chief blaming rising murder on "bail reform." As @FWDus and I showed, this is false and disproved police union and for-profit bail industry hackery. It's like climate denial. fwd.us/news/new-repor…

Years of rigorous evidence and social science research show that reducing cash bail dramatically reduces crime for years to come. Here's one recent example of bail reforms from the very period NYT discusses without increase in even short-term crime.

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1441408000850341888

But the article by @NeilMacFarquhar gets worse. It cites a parade of police and paid police consultants to opine on the causes (all ---> more $$ for cops). This media practice has to stop: police officials and people who get paid by police are not the only "experts" on policing.

It gets much worse. The article twice quotes pro-police sources for the opinion that an increase in crime is the result of police "being less proactive." First, all "crime" other than murder is down. Second, it's pure copaganda that police reduce "crime."

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1440732131546726405

Also, the evidence-free euphemism of "being less proactive" is unreal. We're talking about the largest human caging force in modern history that handcuffs, kills, beats, cages, and separates families more than any society in modern history.

https://twitter.com/jbenmenachem/status/1441098349298343946

Then @NeilMacFarquhar goes off the rails. He repeats unnamed cops' false claim that "bail reform" in some places caused 'violent crime," but then rebuts it by saying "violent crime" increased everywhere. False. The same FBI stats and his own subheadline say violent crime is down!

NYT then lets @NeilMacFarquhar suggest to readers that reforms caused a "revolving jailhouse door" that "driv[es] up violence." This vivid imagery is classic Willie Horton reporting. What benefit is served by telling people a "revolving door' is spewing criminals into the street?

Almost every single quote in the article is a cop or a paid cop consultant, and every single intelligible place where "expert" opinion is sought suggests a huge connection between police and violence prevention. This is a political, anti-science view. Repeated with no skepticism.

Important institutions like @nytimes must confront their pro-police biases, and smart reporters like @NeilMacFarquhar must honestly and openly confront their own politics and biases. Many people's lives depend on it.

I've explained the problem with talking about "crime," with linking police to "crime," and how police and wealthy elites want people focusing on murders as a very tiny fraction of all preventable and intentional deaths caused by inequality.

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1422949466986921991

You can read more analysis of this reporting here:

https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1442540645021720578

UPDATE: The NYT has made weird modifications to the article, removing the first reference (of two total) by a police chief to "bail reform" causing homicides. No "correction" or other notation was made to the piece to indicate that the NYT had removed one of the falsities.

@npr has now gotten into the action, spewing the same police talking points and quoting (as only source) another pro-police "expert" spewing police union anti-science talking points without even noting there is another side to the story.

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1442859999953244164

@npr @UpFirst story is almost worse: a single pro-police source who opined that a reason for increased murders is civil rights criticism of police! This is not only a highly controversial and dangerous view, it's like climate denial...

There is not a shred of scientific evidence that this "Ferguson effect" (a talking point invented by police unions and popularized by James Comey) exists. It was alarming to see it so casually offered in NPR today without a hint of another point of view.

See more about the @npr piece here:

https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1442865362417061889