Update, September 29: My mother replies to the following saying that the whistle blower is in even greater danger than from White House retaliation. Citing multiple sources, she points to Donald Trump’s mob connections.[1] The picture here is of the 1920s all over again, only international, including but not limited to Russian and Ukrainian, in scope and with a likely mobster as president of the United States.
The New York Times is an agent for somebody. That somebody is supposed to be the people.[2] It isn’t.
Exposing the whistle blower[3] whose disclosure finally led to a formal impeachment inquiry[4] is problematic for two reasons:
- Most obviously, the newspaper is failing to protect a confidential source.[5]
- But also, in doing so, it serves the powerful who would resist exposure of this information rather than the people who deserve to be informed.[6] A wrathful administration which valorizes fealty to Donald Trump is now several steps closer to identifying the whistle blower. It may now enforce that fealty.[7]
The New York Times ceased, in my view, to be a newspaper during the 2016 elections, when it so blatantly favored Hillary Clinton over any other candidate, including Bernie Sanders.[8] I believe it now acts to frame Joe Biden as a victim and a sympathetic figure when he deserves to be treated as the unrepentant lying racist “touchy feely” misogynist pervert neoconservative he has repeatedly demonstrated he is.[9] Now, as in 2016, the New York Times serves as an agent for the political establishment, first neoconservatives including Hillary Clinton, and finally even the Trump administration.[10]
- [1]Benjamin Fearnow, “Viral ‘Crime Infested’ Trump Tower Thread Details Convicted Criminals, Russian Mobster Tenants Over The Years,” Newsweek, August 1, 2019, https://www.newsweek.com/trump-tower-criminal-tenants-thread-twitter-russian-mafia-renters-owners-1452138; Masha Gessen, “The Trump-Russia Investigation and the Mafia State,” New Yorker, January 31, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-trump-russia-investigation-and-the-mafia-state; Michael Hirsh, “How Russian Money Helped Save Trump’s Business,” Foreign Policy, December 21, 2018, https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/21/how-russian-money-helped-save-trumps-business/; Amanda Luz Henning Santiago, “Trump’s mob connections,” City and State New York, September 27, 2019, https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/politics/news-politics/trumps-mob-connections.html; Craig Unger, “Trump’s Russian Laundromat,” New Republic, July 13, 2017, https://newrepublic.com/article/143586/trumps-russian-laundromat-trump-tower-luxury-high-rises-dirty-money-international-crime-syndicate; Craig Unger, “Trump’s businesses are full of dirty Russian money. The scandal is that it’s legal,” Washington Post, March 29, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trumps-businesses-are-full-of-dirty-russian-money-the-scandal-is-thats-legal/2019/03/29/11b812da-5171-11e9-88a1-ed346f0ec94f_story.html↩
- [2]Philip Patterson and Lee Wilkins, Media Ethics: Issues and Cases, 3rd ed. (Boston: McGraw Hill, 1998).↩
- [3]Maanvi Singh, “New York Times faces backlash after revealing details about whistleblower,” Guardian, September 27, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/sep/26/new-york-times-trump-ukraine-whistleblower-published↩
- [4]Rachael Bade and Mike DeBonis , “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces formal impeachment inquiry of Trump, says his actions were a ‘betrayal of national security,’” Washington Post, September 24, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/pelosi-top-democrats-privately-discuss-creation-of-select-committee-for-impeachment/2019/09/24/af6f735a-dedf-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html↩
- [5]Philip Patterson and Lee Wilkins, Media Ethics: Issues and Cases, 3rd ed. (Boston: McGraw Hill, 1998).↩
- [6]Philip Patterson and Lee Wilkins, Media Ethics: Issues and Cases, 3rd ed. (Boston: McGraw Hill, 1998).↩
- [7]Maanvi Singh, “New York Times faces backlash after revealing details about whistleblower,” Guardian, September 27, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/sep/26/new-york-times-trump-ukraine-whistleblower-published↩
- [8]Margaret Sullivan, “Has The Times Dismissed Bernie Sanders?” New York Times, September 9, 2015, http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/09/has-the-times-dismissed-bernie-sanders/↩
- [9]David Benfell, “Joe Biden blows his #MeToo moment, Not Housebroken, April 5, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/04/05/joe-biden-blows-his-metoo-moment/; Stephen Collinson, “Joe Biden gets in his own way on race,” CNN June 20, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/20/politics/joe-biden-race-2020-election/index.html; Stephen Collinson, “Joe Biden throws own campaign into turmoil after Harris attacks his record on race,” CNN, June 28, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/28/politics/first-democratic-debate-night-2-analysis/index.html; Scott Detrow, “Democrats Blast Biden For Recalling ‘Civil’ Relationship With Segregationists,” National Public Radio, June 19, 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/06/19/734103488/democrats-blast-biden-for-recalling-civil-relationship-with-segregationists; Moira Donegan, “What does Biden have in common with Trump? Delusional nostalgia,” Guardian, June 21, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/21/joe-biden-trump-sexism-delusional-nostalgia; Geoffrey Kabaservice, “Joe Biden is the ultimate centrist Democrat. Is that a liability or strength?” Guardian, April 25, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/25/joe-biden-2020-democrats-choice; Chicago mayor-elect: Biden still has to answer for Anita Hill, “Chicago mayor-elect: Biden still has to answer for Anita Hill,” Politico, May 4, 2019, https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/04/joe-biden-anita-hill-2020-1301449; Michael Kranish and Laura Meckler, “Joe Biden called busing a ‘liberal train wreck.’ Now his stance on school integration is an issue,” Washington Post, June 28, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/joe-biden-called-busing-a-liberal-train-wreck-now-his-stance-on-school-integration-is-an-issue/2019/06/28/557705dc-99b3-11e9-830a-21b9b36b64ad_story.html; Branko Marcetic, “Biden Says He’s the Workers’ Candidate, But He Has Worked To Cut Medicare and Social Security,” In These Times, April 26, 2019, http://inthesetimes.com/article/21856/joe-biden-cut-medicare-social-security-retirement-age; Branko Marcetic, “Joe Biden Didn’t Just Vote for the Iraq Invasion—He Helped Lead the March to War,” In These Times, July 8, 2019, http://inthesetimes.com/features/joe-biden-iraq-war-vote-democratic-primary-2020.html; Ayesha Rascoe, “Booker Says Biden’s Crime Policies ‘Destroyed Communities Like Mine,’” National Public Radio, August 1, 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/08/01/747118308/booker-says-bidens-crime-policies-destroyed-communities-like-mine; Maeve Reston, “Harris’ attack on Joe Biden steals spotlight at Democratic primary debate,” CNN, June 28, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/27/politics/democratic-primary-debate-night-two-joe-biden-bernie-sanders-kamala-harris/index.html; Brett Samuels, “Biden: ‘I’m not sorry for anything that I have ever done,’” April 5, 2019, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/437582-biden-im-not-sorry-for-anything-that-i-have-ever-done; Greg Sargent, “Joe Biden is badly undermining his ability to challenge Trump,” Washington Post, June 20, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/20/joe-biden-is-badly-undermining-his-case-against-trump/; Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Carl Hulse, “Joe Biden Expresses Regret to Anita Hill, but She Says ‘I’m Sorry’ Is Not Enough,” New York Times, April 25, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/us/politics/joe-biden-anita-hill.html; Sean Sullivan, “Liberals go after Joe Biden, trying to blunt his presidential candidacy and the recent centrist surge in the Democratic Party,” Washington Post, June 2, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/liberals-go-after-joe-biden-trying-to-blunt-his-presidential-candidacy-and-the-recent-centrist-surge-in-the-democratic-party/2019/06/02/b0e20be4-8543-11e9-a491-25df61c78dc4_story.html; Karen Tumulty, “On abortion, Biden shows he is out of step with his party,” Washington Post, June 5, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/on-abortion-biden-shows-he-is-out-of-step-with-his-party/2019/06/05/e83ddc30-87cd-11e9-98c1-e945ae5db8fb_story.html; Elise Viebeck, “Joe Biden was in charge of the Anita Hill hearing. Even he says it wasn’t fair,”
Washington Post, April 26, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/joe-biden-was-in-charge-of-the-anita-hill-hearing-even-he-says-it-wasnt-fair/2019/04/26/a9a6f384-6500-11e9-82ba-fcfeff232e8f_story.html;
Matt Viser and Annie Linskey, “Tensions ripple through Biden campaign as his past working relationship with a segregationist senator comes to the forefront,” Washington Post, June 20, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tensions-ripple-through-biden-campaign-as-his-past-working-relationship-with-a-segregationist-senator-comes-to-the-forefront/2019/06/20/2518afe6-9394-11e9-b570-6416efdc0803_story.html; Matt Viser and Sean Sullivan, “Biden faces backlash over comments about the ‘civility’ of his past work with racist senators,” Washington Post, June 19,
2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-faces-backlash-over-comments-about-the-civility-of-his-past-work-with-racist-senators/2019/06/19/c0375d2a-92a8-11e9-b58a-a6a9afaa0e3e_story.html↩ - [10]J. Herbert Altschull, Agents of Power: The Media and Public Policy, 2nd ed. (White Plains, NY: Longman, 1995).↩