The New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger sent a memo to the paper’s staff to say they will not back down in their reporting on President Trump, after they published a story detailing how the president’s allies are searching through their social media accounts.
The Times reported friends and advisers in the Trump family orbit are combing through the accounts to look for embarrassing or damaging posts.
Sulzberger said that since they are, “Unable to challenge the accuracy of our reporting, political operatives have been scouring social media and other sources to find possibly embarrassing information on anyone associated with The Times” to “silence critics and undermine the public’s faith in independent journalism.”
Sulzberger said the plan is the result of Trump’s rhetoric of calling the press “fake news” and “enemy of the people.” He added their attempts to compare “reporting on news organizations in the same way that news organizations report on elected officials and other public figures” are wrong.
“They are using insinuation and exaggeration to manipulate the facts for political gain,” Sulzberger concluded.
In their story, Sulzberger said, “The Times will not be intimidated or silenced.”
From a statement today that publisher A.G. Sulzberger sent to the staff of The Times: pic.twitter.com/yKaWJqHm5W
— Patrick Healy (@patrickhealynyt) August 25, 2019
Some reporters and editors have already had their old posts be highlighted. A CNN photo editor and writer resigned after his previous anti-Semitic tweets were dug up. One tweet said, “More than 4 jewish pigs killed in #Jerusalem today by the Palestinian bomb explode. #Israel #Gaza.”
It was also discovered that Times political editor Tom Wright-Piersanti had tweeted, “I was going to say ‘Crappy Jew Year’ but one of my resolutions is to be less anti-Semitic. So … HAPPY Jew Year. You Jews” and, “There are four Indian guys with mohawks in this one class and each one is a douche in his own awful way. I hate Mohawk Indians.”
