THREAD: Yesterday, the New York Times published a headline it knew was false. The implications of this are dangerous for everyone who cares about an informed public. Here’s what happened:
The NYT wrote another pro-police propaganda piece that had all of the usual problems I’ve discussed before (more on that below). But the editors chose to add a headline that stated that “murders ‘doubled overnight’” in the Bronx, New York. Here’s where it gets devious.
Notice that NYT editors chose to put the “doubled overnight” in quotes. Why? It's a signal they aren’t reporting it as a verified fact, but as a quote from a source. In the article body, we learn they are quoting a former cop turned local professor. Here it gets more devious.
In the article body, it’s not “murders” that the former-cop expert is saying “doubled overnight.” He is actually claiming that police (detective) “caseloads” doubled overnight. nytimes.com/2021/11/26/nyr…
Let me note here that this “expert” is wrong. It isn’t true that caseloads “literally doubled overnight.” NYT didn’t quote an opposing expert, show stats, tell readers that the person they quoted was wrong (it’s verifiable with some reporting), or disclose he was a former cop.
The NYT even let this former police officer “expert” add “That’s the unfortunate truth.” (It’s not the truth.)
Here it gets worse. See the sleight of hand? NYT editors took the (false) "caseloads" quote, put it in quotes, and then put it in the headline as applying to “murders”! They did this b/c a larger number of people will see the headline. They did it to create clicks and outrage.
It’s all false. Murders didn’t “double overnight.” Not even close, as others have noted. The NYT editors knew that, hence putting it in quotations so they could deny making the assertion themselves.
Note that the insertion of the quotes, the easily available homicide data that NYT has itself reported on before, and the many people pointing out the lie make it clear that editors chose to print this falsity intentionally, and it's still up online and twitter a day later.
As an aside, the "expert" point about caseloads was also silly. It's an NYPD choice to devote smaller numbers of cops to serious crimes, and most cops to arresting very poor people for drugs and minor stuff. 96% of all police time nationwide is on what cops call "non-violent."
The rest of the article is outrageous. Here are the “expert” sources it quotes, supposedly to help explain what’s happening.
The article is copaganda. Without contrary views, experts, civil liberties advocates, crime survivors who disagree, etc., article lets cops call for more surveillance in most surveilled communities: “the police say some of the city’s most dangerous pockets do not have enough.”
But what do the mostly poor, mostly people of color who’ve been organizing across NYC against NYPD’s expanded and profitable corporate military-contractor surveillance programs think? We aren’t told, because the NYT chooses to leave out their voice. That’s an editorial choice.
It gets worse. NYT then lets anonymous “police” spew a discredited police union talking point that these issues are caused by new laws requiring sharing of basic info with defense lawyers to bring NY state in line with rest of the country (e.g. Texas) and the Constitution.
That claim is garbage @AliWatkins. It’s astonishing that NYT lets anonymous police sources blame this on basic discovery laws that exist across the country and are a basic component of truth in trials. There is no evidence to support it, and no contrary point of view printed.
Even worse, NYT then lets a lieutenant blame poor communities of color for not cooperating with cops! Laughably, lieutenant blames a lack of desire to work with cops on due process “discovery laws” not on decades of corruption/brutality /ineffectiveness in making people safe.
NYT editors chose not to print a contrary point of view to explain why poor communities might not like cooperating with the largest and most racially discriminatory human caging bureaucracy in modern world history that many believe has not kept them safe but made them less safe.
This is part of at least three broader patterns. First, the NYT has a long and disturbing recent history of copaganda.
Second, corporate news in general often disproportionately covers and creates a sense of urgency about certain kinds of “crime,” but does not create the same urgency around objectively larger threats to public health and safety.
Third, when it does cover a narrow range of “crime,” NYT often links problems to police talking points: need for more cops/weapons/surveillance/human caging. This link is profitable to corporations, but it’s like climate denial given the available science.
There are many wonderful journalists working to shed light on the great issues of our time, like the things that threaten our survival as a species and that make society less safe/just. But this threatens that work by boosting police repression and reducing trust in the media.
UPDATE: Here is a (profanity laden) tirade by the ex-cop professor quoted in the NYT piece confirming that the headline is false. The headline is still up even though yesterday the person quoted said publicly he was misquoted. Great work by @jbenmenachem
UPDATE: The @nytimes has now changed the headline to remove the false claim. Will be interesting to see if paper issues a correction explaining who made the decision to print the knowingly false claim, how the decision was made, and why.
UPDATE: the former police officer turned professor who NYT chose to quote has now blocked me for some reason (I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to him online or otherwise). Here’s a screenshot of the relevant portion of his tirade where he agrees the headline is false.
UPDATE: others have pointed out that I missed another blatant pro-police lie in the NYT article: that NYPD had been solving 90% of murders. Again, public data is easily accessible.
NYT reporter repeated false claims on twitter. So far the paper has issued no explanation of how this could happen and what kinds of accountability there will be. This stuff matters, esp to those who will be targeted if the cops quoted get what they want.
UPDATE: nyt reporter @AliWatkins has not corrected the tweets about this. I've commented on this reporter's bias before, but at this point, we need to understand from the editors how this is allowed to continue. Here is a piece I hope they grapple with: thenation.com/article/societ…
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THREAD. I don't know what there is left to say about the New York Times and Democrats, but documenting their support for fascism still feels important. If there's any chance to walk back from the fascist cliff, we must see why things like today's article are so dangerous.
The article today is premised on the idea that--while some Dems are uncomfortable with Trump deploying military to cities without consent--they want more federal resources (even military) to flood their cities for surveillance, police, prosecution, and prison.
As with any article, ask yourself: Why is this a news story? Who benefits from it being news, from how it's framed, from what info is included and what is ignored? Always look: who are sources quoted, and which perspectives are ignored? Take a look at the sources in order:
THREAD. For over a decade, I've been working across the country to challenge unconstitutional cash bail. So, why is Trump trying to entrench it?
The for-profit cash bail industry exists only in U.S. and Philippines. Even though you're presumed innocent, you're stuck in a jail cell while you wait for your day in court if your family doesn't have cash to pay a private company to secure your release.
Basing bodily liberty on a person's access to cash destroys millions of lives. It makes us all less safe. It's unconstitutional. But it makes a lot of people a lot of money, and it gives huge leverage to prosecutors and police to force people to plead guilty in low-level cases.
THREAD. Today's article by New York Times reporter Devlin Barrett is a good example of how bad journalism can normalize authoritarianism. Let's look at a particularly egregious example.
These two paragraphs tell you a lot about the failures of contemporary journalism. Among many problems here, and with the article generally, I will highlight two huge ones for now.
First, through its choice of sources, lack of skepticism, and failure to provide contrary evidence or context, the article suggests that not letting stormtroopers illegally search and brutalize ordinary people "could hamper crime-fighting efforts for years to come."
THREAD. A subtle but pervasive propaganda technique is when the news adopts as the *actual* motive the *stated* motive of people in power.
Nobody with any knowledge or experience thinks Trump is in good faith taking over the DC police and mobilizing the military to “fight crime.” Indeed crime is at historic lows and “violent crime” is down 26% in DC from last year. So, why is the New York Times doing this?
Laundering the real reasons people in power do things by adopting their lies as assumed truth is among the most interesting and dangerous contemporary copaganda techniques. I devote almost entire chapter in the Copaganda book to it.
THREAD. Today's orders by Trump federalizing D.C. police and deploying National Guard in D.C. in response to "out of control" crime are authoritarian. But I want to comment on something subtle lurking beneath the surface.
As with most media/politician talk about "crime," it is completely divorced from reality. D.C. crime is at historic lows. What police call "violent crime" is down 26% since last year. More broadly, it's been at multi-decade, historic lows for years.
So, how is this possible? What lays the groundwork for such ludicrous claims? The news media has been fear-mongering for years. Indeed, in my Copaganda book, I have a very interesting section about prominent Washington Post journalists using this same "out of control" language.
THREAD. A recent poll shows that people in the United States suffer from mass delusion about crime. The results are alarming for Democrats. It should be a massive scandal for mainstream news, and it's a pillar of the authoritarian zeitgeist.
Only 9% of respondents correctly answered that murder rates in the U.S. have decreased a lot since 1990. today.yougov.com/topics/politic…
This is just simple "flat-earther" stuff. But it continues the broader fear-based delusion that has been gripping the population for years across a range of crime issues.