NYT Discovers Trump's Election Denial, Ignores Its Own
The New York Times dutifully reports on Donald Trump's continued fixation on the 2020 election, framing it as a threat to democratic norms. This narrative, while not entirely without merit concerning Trump’s rhetoric, conveniently sidesteps the media's own historical role in shaping, and often misinforming, public perception regarding elections. For instance, in the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq War,
multiple major outlets, including the Times itself, amplified claims of WMDs now widely discredited by historians and intelligence officials – a different kind of 'election denial' in its own right, denying the public truly informed consent. One might wonder if 'election denial' becomes problematic only when it questions the 'correct' outcomes, or when it’s not orchestrated by the very
institutions now sounding the alarm. The Times 's past reporting on the 2000 election's irregularities, or more recently, their selective outrage regarding foreign influence campaigns, often correlates with the political affiliations of those accused, raising questions about whether the 'truth' is more elastic than advertised. (Remember when Russian bot accounts were a bigger threat than, say, a
$15 billion arms deal?)