Site icon JONATHAN TURLEY

The New York Times Criticized for Featuring Alleged Violence-Spewing Anti-Semite

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While many media outlets are attempting to regain balance and to appeal to a broader audience, the New York Times is clearly not one of them. The newspaper is doubling down on the denials and deflections on the left after the latest political assassination. The newspaper is under attack for featuring the work of Hasan Piker, a writer who has called Jews “inbred pigs,” declared that the United States “deserved” 9-11, and screamed about killing capitalists.

The timing of the Piker column could not have been worse.

The New York Times was widely condemned for running a false attack on Charlie Kirk soon after his assassination. It claimed that Kirk was an antisemite. While the newspaper corrected the false story, the immediate impulse of the New York Times was to attack the man who was murdered for exercising his First Amendment rights.
So after falsely attacking Kirk as an anti-Semite, the New York Times ran out and got a man who not only seemed to call for political violence but has a history of alleged anti-Semitic statements, including claims that he has spread “blood libel” attacks.
He has been quoted as saying that “It doesn’t matter if rape happened on October 7th. It doesn’t change the dynamic for me.” He has been criticized for allegedly inciting violence, telling his followers to “kill” and “murder” people “in the streets” and “let the streets soak in their red-capitalist blood.”Notably, in the background of his interviews, Piker features the book, The Antifa Comic Book. Democratic politicians, pundits, and others have embraced Antifa, the most violent anti-free speech group in the country.The most violent anti-free speech group in the U.S., Antifa, has long attacked journalists and others with opposing views. Alleged shooter Tyler Robinson, 22, reportedly left telltale Antifa markings on evidence, including marking bullets inscribed with the lyrics: “Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Ciao, Ciao”(from an Italian anti-fascist anthem) and “Hey, fascist! Catch!”I previously testified in Congress about the dangers of Antifa, and I discuss the group in my book. Despite such warnings, Democratic leaders have dismissed those dangers or actually embraced Antifa.Former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison (D), now Minnesota’s attorney general, previously celebrated how Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump. Liberal sites sell Antifa items to celebrate the violent group, including onesies for “Antifa babies.”To see Piker espousing violence with the Antifa book in the background is a chilling reminder of the violent radicalism taking over many in the left.The same newspaper that fired editors and denounced Sen. Tom Cotton for his NYT column quelling violent protests would go on to print individuals who have said that they are ok with killing conservatives or capitalists.

Just before the anniversary of the Cotton controversy, the New York Times published a column by University of Rhode Island professor  Erik Loomis, who defended the murder of a conservative protester and said that he saw “nothing wrong” with such acts of violence.  (Loomis was given a promotion by the University of Rhode Island after his remarks). While Loomis’ column was not on such violence, it stood in glaring contradiction to the newspaper’s pledge not to run Cotton’s editorials.

The New York Times is undeterred because its readers seem to value the very hypocrisy revealed in these controversies. They can rely on the Times to offer spins and deflections to relieve them of any self-examination after tragedies like the Kirk assassination.

I continue to oppose the censorship of individuals who, like Piker, espouse hateful views. Despite my friendship with Charlie, I have pushed back on calls to crackdown on anyone celebrating his murder (though there are cases where free speech is not a barrier to such action). However, the hypocrisy at the New York Times featuring such figures as Piker while barring others like Sen. Cotton is breathtaking.

The New York Times once represented the gold standard of journalism. The current editors and journalists have destroyed that legacy built on Adolph S. Ochs pledge to run “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” Today it seems like the “Old Gray Lady” is offering more a “fit” than news.

 

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