![]() In June 2020, one of the paper’s top editors, James Bennet, had to resign after publicly defending his decision to publish an op-ed by Republican Senator Tom Cotton. But we can briefly look at the newspaper’s most recent failings to understand the level of trouble it is currently in. There is no point in listing all of its failings, as they are so many and each one of them is symptomatic of much larger issues the Times has failed to address. But the “Grey Lady”, as the paper is often affectionately called, is now in deep trouble – like it has been so many times in its 169-year history. Soon after the turn of the 20th century, the New York Times established itself as the US “Paper of Record” by virtue of its presumed objectivity and journalistic integrity. In this depressing, deeply polarised media landscape, many turn to the New York Times, our “paper of record”, to avoid “fake news” and consume quality journalism.īut does the New York Times deserve the trust of the American people? The ‘Grey Lady’ Reliable journalism is more vital for the wellbeing of our society today than ever before, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic and the pandemic of misinformation it sparked, are still raging.īut who should Americans turn to for accurate information? Fox News, Newsmax and Breitbart to their right? Or CNN, MSNBC and Washington Post to their left? These two sets of media outlets exist in different realities and speak to two different peoples, who are falsely and ridiculously presumed to be a single nation. ![]() Under these grave circumstances, Americans desperately need accurate reporting and trustworthy facts in their daily lives. But I still sincerely sympathise with that Senator, as I too struggle to alleviate the fears and anxieties my own four American children have about the current state of their troubled homeland. So I do not really know how it feels to watch in real time a violent attack on the will of your people. ![]() In 1953, when the Americans and their British co-conspirators staged a military coup in my home country, Iran, I was just a small child. One Democratic senator making a case for the conviction of Trump even burst into tears when explaining how his daughter visiting him in the US Capitol on that fateful day said she never wanted to come back to the nation’s capital. ![]() Most Americans, meanwhile, had to relive the terror of the deadly January 6 coup attempt as they listened to testimony after testimony detailing the former president and his supporters’ attack on their democracy and constitution. Trump’s second impeachment trial for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, which resulted in his acquittal after just five days of deliberations, laid bare the myriad divisions crippling the nation.Īs the Democrats tried to whitewash their own systemic corruption by assuming a nauseating holier than thou attitude throughout the trial, the Republicans fully embraced their new role as the elected representatives of America’s white supremacists, to the delight of millions of racists who continue to support Trump after his attempted coup. With the continued trauma of Donald Trump’s disastrous tenure as president on one side, the deadly COVID-19 pandemic on the other, and the economic fallout of both in between, the very fabric of this country is being torn apart. The situation is so dire that even the journalists from our “paper of record” seem to be struggling to find headlines bold, scary and eye-catching enough to lead their daily reports on America’s ever worsening calamities. These days you wake up in the morning, glimpse at the front page of the New York Times, and you see the United States is in deep turmoil. ![]()
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