If nothing else, Jeff Bezos has to feel vindicated today. His newsroom will likely stage some kind of work action to protest his declaration of reality yesterday, but at least the New York Times stepped up to his defense ... unwittingly. The Gray Lady demonstrated precisely what he argued about the mainstream media destroying its credibility with its consumers. 

Let's start with Bezos' thesis, as John covered last night. In an essay titled "The hard truth: Americans don’t trust the news media," Bezos laid out the reasons why he spiked an institutional endorsement of Kamala Harris. The paper has enough problems with bias without making it explicit, Bezos argued, and alienating readers who might otherwise be open to their product. Especially since endorsements mean precisely squat anyway to anyone outside the newsroom:

Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election. No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, “I’m going with Newspaper A’s endorsement.” None. What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one. ...

Lack of credibility isn’t unique to The Post. Our brethren newspapers have the same issue. And it’s a problem not only for media, but also for the nation. Many people are turning to off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts and other unverified news sources, which can quickly spread misinformation and deepen divisions. The Washington Post and the New York Times win prizes, but increasingly we talk only to a certain elite. More and more, we talk to ourselves.

This, of course, restarted a wave of wailing and gnashing of teeth on social media by the Left. How dare Bezos claim that news media have to be less biased, the reaction more or less argued, claiming that the progressive 'truth' is all that matters. There were certainly plenty of people accusing Bezos of cowardice in standing up to 'fascism,' etc etc, and probably even more cancellations. But none of that pushback addressed the clear data from Gallup that puts trust in mass media below that of Congress, and worse yet, trailing politicians in general -- by double digits, 31% to 46%. 

It's a good thing Gallup doesn't include telemarkers and used-car salespeople in this survey, or the 'mass media' might suffer even more humiliation. 

Just when the reaction looked most grim, however, the New York Times stepped up to prove Bezos right. Tucker Carlson posted an exchange with NYT reporter Nico Grant, who had texted Carlson to respond to a story on misinfomation that he was about to publish ... in partnership with Media Matters. The story appears aimed to attack Tucker's monetization through YouTube.

Tucker's responses are right to the point:

pic.twitter.com/NbjA2iMe1N

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) October 29, 2024

So the New York Times is working with a left wing hate group to silence critics of the Democratic Party? Please ask yourself why you're participating in it. This is why you got into journalism? It's shameful. I hope you're filled with guilt and self-loathing for sending me a text like this. Please quote me. ...

Would I like to participate in your attempt to censor me? No thanks. But I do hope you'll quote what I wrote above and also note that I told you to f*** off, which I am now doing. Thanks.

For those who do not recall, Media Matters currently is fighting a lawsuit from Elon Musk for fraud and tortious interference over a clumsy and dishonest attempt to "prove" that extremist content got connected to advertising on Twitter/X. Even apart from that, Media Matters operates as an attack dog against conservative publications, a highly partisan player that hardly hides its intentions. Launching this attempt to deplatform conservatives the week before a national election is right up their alley.

And it's not just Tucker, either:

2/ What, precisely, is NYT doing? It's perfectly obvious: using research from Media Matters, a radical Left-wing organization whose sole purpose is destroying conservative media (see below), in order to pressure YouTube to demonetize and penalize any and all conservatives ONE… pic.twitter.com/GzgXdVSwhF

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 29, 2024

4/ This isn't about "election misinformation." Obviously. As pretty much everyone knows, I have always acknowledged that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. And if it is "election misinformation" to point out the "rigging" of the voting rules for election 2020, resulting in massive… pic.twitter.com/bxaNfpLJV1

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 29, 2024

The New York Times isn't a newspaper, and Nico Grant isn't a reporter. It's an activist organization where actual reporters only occasionally work. Their real purpose is to silence the Left's critics, as well as their own, so that their preferred elite clique can rule rather than govern. 

This is precisely why mass media polls below politicians by double digits among Americans when it comes to trust. If Bezos wants to restore trust in the Washington Post, perhaps he should assign reporters to dig into the NYT/Media Matters partnership on this attempt to deplatform independent media.

That is, if his staff will let him. 

Addendum: Speaking of independent media platforms, this shows just how dangerous our competitive environment is now. The Protection Racket Media has now gone on the attack to silence us through de-platforming and advertiser intimidation, with the collusion of Big Tech and its opaque algorithm manipulations. 

The mainstream media has transformed itself into the propaganda arm of the Left, and they work hard to intimidate advertisers and pressure Big Tech into choking off access to competing points of view. We hope we can gather as many allies as possible to keep all of these issues in the public square – and indeed to preserve the public square at all.

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