New York Times‘ reporter Maggie Haberman got backlash for her recent op-ed decrying a lack of civility on Twitter, declaring she was stepping away from it as a result. No doubt social media can be cruel, particularly for women. But we must separate facts from a self-serving or defensive posture in this case. Did Ms. Haberman mention her habit of blocking those who offer respectful disagreement, daring to question her reporting? While there are excellent reporters at the NYT, it also seems de rigueur that a number of them are immune to self-reflection or contrition over errors and preset negative narratives. I wrote years ago about The New York Times Vendetta Against Hillary Clinton. Read it and this and judge for yourself. NYT firing their own Public Editor was a big tell. Though Hillary likely won’t run again, other women will. Unless we see beyond sanctimony masquerading as righteousness, we are doomed to repeat past mistakes. Similar smears are already being leveled at Senator Kamala Harris.
Fighting back against a corporate media’s access journalism is tough. I’ve always prided myself on civility but it’s a greater challenge in the age of Trump. Those of us working to remain civil find ourselves drowned by those who print ink by the barrel, clinging to their revisionist narrative, not only about the orange menace currently occupying the White House but their own complicity in normalizing him while working daily to destroying Hillary Clinton in the run up to 2016.
Maggie Haberman is a perfect example of a reporter asking us to trust that she is above reproach. Whether or not that is deserved is for you to determine.
Below, Twitter’s “Jake” (@Care2much18) tweeted a deep dive into Ms. Haberman’s past reporting, including positive articles on Trump dating back to 2011. Her negative narrative of Hillary started around the same time, while she was still at Politico. This clarifies the butter on a great deal and is just one example of why we are where we are today.
I have posted selected tweets below but cannot do his great research justice here. I encourage you to open and read Jake’s thread on Twitter in its entirety.
Maggie Haberman:
Where are people getting the impression she is an access journalist and Trump shill?
Baffling?
Let’s take a closer look.
— Jake (@Care2much18) July 22, 2018
The year is 2011. In February, Maggie Haberman pens an article in Politico “The Donald reins in Roger Stone”, quoting from an interview with Donald himself who phoned Maggie. The article was ostensibly floating a Presidential bid.https://t.co/LprEaXMxhG
— Jake (@Care2much18) July 22, 2018
Fast forward to March 2011.
Donald Trump begins publicly questioning if Obama was born in America. While Trump faces pushback over the controversy (NYT ran an article “Donald Trump is getting weirder”), weeks later 2 articles by Maggie Haberman appear in Politico.
— Jake (@Care2much18) July 22, 2018
A week later with Trump continuing to take heavy fire over his birtherism and questions about his finances, this gem appears in Politico by Maggie Haberman.https://t.co/LSlExeebs3
“Trump: The $7 Billion dollar man”.
— Jake (@Care2much18) July 22, 2018
What we have here are early signs of a pattern.
Donald Trump does or says something which invites criticism and condemnation.
Maggie Haberman is then granted a direct interview or publishes a favorable Trump piece.
Let’s see how the pattern continued.
— Jake (@Care2much18) July 22, 2018
The piece closes on Donald Trump emerging like a rock star.
Remember – this was days after Donald Trump was caught on tape bragging about sexual abuse.
And this was the Haberman treatment. pic.twitter.com/e83ejzAyPU
— Jake (@Care2much18) July 22, 2018
Of course you could disregard the fact that Maggie Haberman wrote 94 articles on Hillary’s emails & Benghazi (combined) and ZERO on Trump’s longstanding connections to mafia/mob/Felix Sater/racism.
That in itself might be a coincidence.
— Jake (@Care2much18) July 22, 2018
Writing a combined 94 articles on Hillary’s emails & Benghazi whilst writing a princely ZERO on a whole range of Trump scandals from his past…
That isn’t balanced journalism. It isn’t even PR work at that point.
It is glorified campaigning by stealth.
— Jake (@Care2much18) July 22, 2018
But this has been going on forever:
America brainwashed with a damaging #Hillary narrative for 27 years. Consider the source. 6 corps. own 90% of media in US, always acting as eager GOP stenographers for any clickbait smear. If the 1% really thought she was on their side, they wouldn’t work so hard to destroy her. https://t.co/yyn3Lk9NMG
— Anita Finlay (@AnitaFinlay) July 24, 2018
This is a cautionary tale, reminding us to have a healthy skepticism regarding reporters’ self-righteousness and allergy to questions regarding their work.
I had long complained of Ms. Haberman’s negative slant at Hillary since her Politico days, writing piece after piece speculating whether Hillary would run, even though Hillary herself was not in the news, only to have Haberman et al accuse her of sucking up all the air in the room. Haberman’s bent was clear. What I hadn’t realized was how long she had been a helper to Trump’s dangerous cause.
#MaggieHaberman deserves no sympathy for her constant negative narrative about #Hillary. She feigned offense at respectful criticism, blocking those who dared to question her bias. Her access journalism now renders obvious her pushing the kind of crap she did. https://t.co/AQGgkXiL1q
— Anita Finlay (@AnitaFinlay) July 23, 2018
Don’t let any reporter — or politician — tell you you are not allowed to question them, or their motives.
