r/nyt

Trump's political war chest and AIPAC circled the money wagon's the unseat Thomas Massie in Kentucky. They did it for one reason: Because Massie co-authored the The Epstein Transparency Act (along with Democrat Ro Khanna). Massie has been one of, if not *the*, central voice of criticism within the Republican party regarding Trump's deep ties to Jeffrey Epstein. He's on the record and been very vocal in his belief Trump is compromised by foreign intelligence services via Epstein.

But you'd never know that reading the Times. No no no. According to today's Times article on Massie's loss to a nobody Republican suddenly propped up by the forces of super PAC money, Massie is framed as a "wayward" Republican... an "outspoken critic" of Trump... someone who "breaks" against Trump's policies.

How soothingly generic.

The Times references a couple of specific issues — like Massie's criticism of gas prices and the gaudy new White House Ballroom, but nary a quote about Epstein.

In fact Epstein is only mentioned one single time in the entire piece. It's within a quote from Republican strategist Mike Madrid, who says "There is this resilience with the base — it’s nothing short of remarkable. Through pandemic, through recession, through war, through the Epstein files.”

That's it. One mention of Epstein in an entire New York Times article ostensibly intended to inform the brightest and best minds of *what's really going on* with this Massie mess.

Here's a Massie quote the Times maybe shoulda considered including in their PAPER OF RECORD coverage of Thomas Massie's loss last night. From a convo he had with former AG Pam Bondi: "I asked Pam Bondi that, in person, very politely. She basically said, there's nothing but child porn left — nothing, it's disgusting — and nobody would want to see it. And at that point, I realized that the Trump administration had undertaken a cover-up and that they had no intention of releasing these files."

“For years, the charity has broadcast TV and radio ads featuring children singing a jingle with the organization’s phone number and urging listeners to “donate your car today.”
But evidence presented at a civil trial showed that “children, especially needy or underprivileged children,” were not the exclusive recipients of the proceeds of the donated cars, Judge Apkarian wrote in her decision on May 8.

Instead, Kars4Kids primarily funds a New Jersey-based Jewish organization, Oorah, which provides programs, including an adult matchmaking service, trips to Israel for teens and summer camps in New York, the judge wrote. The only program in California that Kars4Kids sponsored was a promotional giveaway of Kars4Kids-branded backpacks, she found.

Judge Apkarian said that Kars4Kids had 30 days to stop broadcasting its ads in California.
If Kars4Kids resumes advertising, she wrote, its ads must contain “an express, audible disclosure of its religious affiliation and the geographic location of its primary beneficiaries and the age of the beneficiaries, specifying whether they aim for children or families, or both.””

NYT subscriber who reads and watches plenty of sources. I skim the times before morning joe, fox and CNN to save time before watching the BBC or listening to NPR.

I am concerned by the sheer number of original national level stories reported only by the New York times in many categories: education, the arts, energy policy, the economy and foreign policy. And editorials.

When I check publications with former national prominence such as Wall Street journal or WaPo there is almost nothing. The only major pub I see that comes close is the Atlantic.

I am worried that we have essentially one institution with the resources to govern our substantive news coverage.