Joe Kahn, executive editor of The New York Times, said in a new interview that he won’t let his newspaper become “an instrument of the Biden campaign” just because his agenda aligns with traditional establishment parties.
Kahan said Ben Smith of Semaphore The Times’ job is to “cover all the issues that Americans care about,” not to serve one side.
“Right now, democracy is (a top issue). But it’s not the top — immigration is on top (in the polls), and the economy and inflation are second. Should we stop covering those things because they’re Trump? “I don’t even know how Dan Pfeiffer or the White House thinks it should work,” he said.
“We become an instrument of the Biden campaign? We turn ourselves into Xinhua News Agency or Pravda and put out a stream of things that are very, very favorable to them and only write negative stories about the other side ?And what will be achieved by this?
Critics say Biden needs to ‘practice what he preaches’ and move on from lecturing to the press.
Joe Kahn, executive editor of The New York Times, said that President Trump “could win this election in the popular vote” and refused to let his newspaper become “an instrument of the Biden campaign.” (Photo by L Pix/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital contacted the Biden campaign for comment but has not yet received a response.
Former senior Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer recently highlighted the ongoing feud between President Biden’s White House and the Times, which has repeatedly criticized Biden for an unprecedented lack of media access. Pfeiffer wrote that the Times “does not see its job as saving democracy or stopping an authoritarian from taking power”, so Smith asked Kahn why he did not think it was his job to “stop Trump”.
“Good media is the fourth pillar, it is another pillar of democracy. One of the absolute requirements of democracy is free and fair and open elections where people can compete for votes, and in that environment the role of the news media is not to Keep the coverage limited toward one candidate or the other, but only to provide very good, rigorous, well-rounded coverage of both candidates and to inform voters,” Kahn told Smith, a former Times Media columnist.
Kahn continued, “If you believe in democracy, I don’t see how we can overstate the essential role of quality media in informing the people about their choices in a presidential election.” “To say that the threats to democracy are so great that the media are going to abandon their central role as a source of unbiased information to help people vote – it essentially means to say that The news media should become the campaign arm for a single candidate, because we give priority to that candidate’s agenda.”
Former President Trump and current President Joe Biden. (Getty Images)
Kahn was promoted to the top position from managing editor in 2022, replacing Dean Baquet. The paper had long been considered one that catered to the left, but Kahn said he wanted a more balanced approach than some of his predecessors.
“It’s true that Biden’s agenda aligns more with traditional establishment parties and candidates. And we’re reporting on that and making it very clear,” Kahn said.
“It’s also true that Trump could win this election in the popular vote. Given that Trump is not in office, that would probably be fair. And based on our polling and other independent polling, there’s a very good chance that he He will win the election in a popular vote,” he said. “So there are people in the world who may decide to elect Donald Trump president based on their democratic rights. It’s not the job of the news media to stop that from happening. It’s the job of Biden and the people of Biden to stop that from happening.” nearby.”
Kahn was then asked whether the Times “let inmates run the asylum for too long” and suggested the paper went too far in 2020 when the infamous Tom Cotton op-ed fiasco caused an uproar in the newsroom.
The New York Times recently called out Biden for his unprecedented lack of media attention. (Main: (Photo by Kenna Betancur/ViewPress) Circle: (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images))
“I think there was a period of extreme cultural anger in this organization, with the combination of the Trump era, COVID and then the intensity of George Floyd. There was a period of extreme cultural anger in the summer of 2020 when the world was threatened. Felt, people’s personal safety was threatened, an innocent black man was murdered by police by suffocation and we have the end of the most divisive presidency that any person alive today has experienced and those things are everywhere. Has created panic.
Bari Weiss attacks The New York Times after staffers linked to Tom Cotton OP-ED resign
the new York Times Biden was recently rebuked for avoiding serious face-to-face media interviews.
Recently the Times said, “To anyone who understands the role of a free press in a democracy, it should be troubling that President Biden has so actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists during his tenure Is.” The statement said, “The President holds the most important office in our country, and the press plays a vital role in providing insight into his thinking and worldview, allowing the public to assess his record and hold him accountable.”
“Mr. Biden has given far fewer press conferences and sit-down interviews with independent journalists than all of his predecessors. It is true that the Times has sought an on-the-record interview with Mr. Biden, as it has All presidents go back more than a century. If a president chooses not to side with The Times because he doesn’t like our independent coverage, that’s his right, and we do our best to cover him fully and fairly. will continue.”
The White House strongly disagreed that the President was unapproachable. A spokesperson recently explained, “Joe Biden speaks with the White House press corps more frequently than almost every other modern president and has given a wide variety of interviews.” fox news digital,
Click here to get the Fox News app
Biden makes light of Times criticism at his White House correspondents’ dinner routine Recent Interviewer Howard Stern There was a big audience.
