In the past, newspapers used to assign reporters to cover beats such as Congress, Supreme Court, Pentagon and Health and Human Services. Now it seems like the new beats are about covering threats, foreign and domestic – ideological threats. It’s that simple. The New York Times has a “climate” department. Michael Bender was recently hired to report on “Trumpism,” and the Times is seeking a political reporter on “Right Wing Media.”
The job posting on LinkedIn identifies the following: Times warned about “the right-wing media ecosystem that now serves many conservative Americans who no longer rely on the mainstream media to inform themselves.”
The newspaper that endorsed Elizabeth Warren for president defines itself as the “mainstream media.”
The job notice continued: “The ideal candidate is resourceful, persuasive and prepared to inhabit corners of the internet that popularize far-right or extremist ideas, providing our readers with a critical listening post on those ideas before they achieve wider circulation.”
So the beat is “far-right or extremist ideas” with the idea of…stopping the spread.
“Successful experience covering right-wing media, disinformation, or political extremism would be ideal,” they added, “and a robust list of reporting targets would be highly attractive.”
You could claim to be all about the facts if we’re talking about QAnon’s Satanist pizza-parlor conspiracies or “Trump won in a landslide” arguments. But the Times is worrying out loud about half the country that “no longer rely on the mainstream media.” So it’s far broader than that.
Beware, conservatives: the Times may put you on a “robust list of reporting targets.”
This is nothing new. NBC says Ben Collins “covers disinformation, extremism and the internet for NBC News.” NPR explains Odette Yousef “is a National Security correspondent focusing on extremism…to explore how extremist ideas break into the mainstream.”
Their body of work is transparently liberal, dominated by not just QAnon, but Tucker Carlson and “pro-Russia” voices, white nationalists, Democrat haters on Facebook, ”freedom convoys,” and conservative parents badgering school boards. On the assignment editor map, left-wing extremists are almost invisible.
It Times expects this new media correspondent to be controversial: “Prerequisites include the backbone to withstand aggressive blowback, impeccable journalistic ethics and the ability to report accurately, critically and fairly on people with extremist views.”
We must first ask ourselves if the Times can be counted on to be accurate in calling certain views “extremist.” If you love Elizabeth Warren, you might think people who like Chuck Grassley are “extremists.”
Then there’s the idea of drawing “aggressive blowback” with your “impeccable journalistic ethics.” The Times is projecting its desire to tackle the “right wing media” and curtail their influence, all the while being celebrated by the masses for being so fair and accurate.
NBC reporter Olivia Solon joked supportively on Twitter: “Although one would hope the NYT might provide some sort of exoskeleton/mech suit to help the poor reporter’s backbone.”
This is perhaps the best part of the entire thing. Times creating a “Right Wing Media” beat is how the liberal media hates to be criticized or exposed or investigated. Questioning their ethics or reporting methods – or God forbid, calling them “fake news” – is equated with authoritarianism.
But this reporter is required to have a “backbone” and go to war with conservative media “extremists,” and it’s not Democracy Dying in Darkness. It’s truth-seeking “independent journalism” in the service of Democracy, since Democracy and the Democrats are one and the same.
LinkedIn already reports that there are currently 144 applicants and 12 drones who would be willing to take part in dangerous internet missions. We in the “Right Wing Media” await your surveillance.
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