Stew

This practice of laundering ideology through curation of anonymous "analysts" hinders ability of readers to evaluate the experience and motives of the people being offered as experts. It also hinders ability of readers/editors to hold those people accountable when they are wrong.

There are numerous serious problems with this. For one, it suggests some kind of unanimity. People who "analyze" these issues believe this! Either Weisman chose not to interview any analysts with a different view or he did and he chose to hide from readers what they said.

Weisman chose experts who lined up with his own views as reflected in prior reporting. But check this out: he hid the identity of the experts he used under the broad term "analysts."

THREAD. The New York Times reporting on the Chicago Mayor race has repeatedly raised ethical problems. But one aspect of Jonathan Weisman's reporting is particularly egregious misinformation. Other reporters should be concerned about the integrity of the paper.

I have written about the ethical problems with how some New York Times reporters use vague and anonymous terms like "analysts" and "experts" to hide who they are talking about, a practice that has severe consequences for accuracy and accountability. equalityalec.substack.com/p/…

A lot of journalists I've spoken to privately are minimizing vigilante right-wing violence (like the attempted assassination of Pelosi). The extent to which a lot of people in elite Democratic circles and liberal/centrist media are underestimating the rise of fascism is alarming.

THREAD. A woman just died and babies and adults were taken to the hospital in Akron, Ohio after a carbon monoxide leak at an apartment building where the corporate landlord hadn't installed CO detectors as required by law. How do you think the local news and police treated it?

When the history of how fascists came to power in the United States is written, it will be particularly unkind to the liberal academics, journalists, and politicians who fear-mongered about "crime" by the poor and pushed surveillance and state violence as the solution.