Thread by @equalityAlec

This is scandalous reporting from the New York Times today. In its major article on a federal judge ruling for Trump and barring prosecutors from using the documents they seized, the NYT doesn't tell readers that the federal judge was *appointed by Trump.* nytimes.com/2022/09/05/us/…

This is a common pattern in corporate media, especially local news but often national news: portraying the judiciary, and individual judges, as some kind of neutral, objective entity that hides their political views and motives.

The truth is that courts are politicized. It matters that most U.S. judges are former corporate lawyers or prosecutors. It matters which local, state, and federal politicians nominate judges. People must develop a sophisticated analysis of the forces determining these decisions.

Reporting like this actively inhibits readers from seeing how and why consequential decisions affecting their lives get made, and it depoliticizes an institution that is at the forefront of a (often bipartisan) historical political project that benefits people who own things.

I've written about this before:

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1416386871517659143

Take a look at these headlines and sub-headlines from mainstream corporate outlets. How in the world do they not find it newsworthy to mention that Trump appointed the judge who just ruled for him?

UPDATE: The Times has updated the story, and it now includes the information that Trump appointed the federal judge who ruled for him.