mme_hardy: White rose (Default)
I started being a New York Times subscriber in 1983. I continued to subscribe, everywhere I could get delivery, up until today. It's been a long slow slide for me, from the disgraceful coverage of the Iraq war onward, as the Times became, drip by drip, more up its own nose, more elitist, and more concerned with ingratiating itself to power than with exposing it. I don't have to call out the incidents; they're notorious, and I've raved about them here. In the last year, though, they've gone from minimizing white supremacism -- including refusing to use the actual phrase, far less "neo-Nazi" -- to reaching out to the white supremacists and running their letters as a full-page issue.

And let us be clear. If you're okay with Donald Trump in 2018, you support white supremacy. You may be doing it with a wink and a nudge, but you've chosen your side.

What finally made me do it? This headline and subhead:

Supporters Fear Trump's Speech Will Lack The Edge They Love

As President Trump prepares for his first State of the Union address on Tuesday, hard-line nationalists worry that he will reach for bipartisanship rather than ideological purity.


"Hard-line nationalists". Yup. That's the phrase.

To unsubscribe from the Times you can't use a webform; you have to "chat". Here's my chat. Note the cut-and-paste responses, which show that the Times is seeing a lot of reactions like mine.

Alexis:
Hi there! Thank you for contacting the The New York Times! How may I help you today?

Mme. Hardy: I have had it with the Times's sympathetic coverage of white nationalism and neo-Nazis. I want to cancel my subscription.
Alexis: I am sorry if we have offended you and disappointed you.
Alexis:
We only hope to spark debate when it comes to critical issues as such.
Have you tried commenting on articles? Be a voice of change! We would love your feedback on anything that you agree or disagree with

Alexis:
Would you be interested in 50% off your delivery?
Yes, because the solution to white supremacy is cheaper white supremacy.

Mme. Hardy: You have deeply disappointed me. I've been a subscriber, one way and another, for over thirty years.
Alexis:
Everyone has their own views on these issues and I do understand the frustration as I can agree with some of it, but when I am frustrated, I voice my feelings. Why not stay and do the same? If no one voiced their opposition, there would be no debate.

Alexis:
We would hate to lose a loyal and dedicated subscriber such as yourself.

Mme. Hardy: I have *been* voicing my opposition in comments for years.
Mme. Hardy: The Times responded by firing the Public Editor.
Mme. Hardy: The Times has stopped listening to my comments.
Mme. Hardy: And no, I don't want a discount. I don't want this stuff coming into my home, electronically or physically, any more.
Alexis:
Well we are sad to see you go and hopefully you will come back to us in the future when we aren't disappointing you anymore.
I find the above bit of mailmerge completely hilarious.
Alexis:
Please give me a moment to cancel your subscription.

And that's it.
mme_hardy: White rose (Default)
Via @NYTOnIt:

Are Tiaras the New Power Scrunchies?

For some professional urbanites, the tiara is becoming the new power scrunchie, a sartorial coup de grâce for the #ladyboss set. Beyoncé, Madonna and Lady Gaga have reigned over Instagram in crowns in recent months, while Mindy Kaling wore an embellished gold headband for “The Mindy Project” wrap party in March and a studded halo for a Tribeca Film Festival red carpet premiere in April.
mme_hardy: White rose (Default)
 
From the front page of the app this morning, the headline

Bill Cosby rape allegations, diminishment of )
Damn the New York Times.  Damn its editors, and especialy damn Kate Zernicke, who wrote this piece of trash.

mme_hardy: White rose (Default)
The NYT Public Editor talked to the Executive Editor about recent articles on $20/half dozen doughnuts and similar.

I asked the executive editor, Dean Baquet, whom he has in mind when he directs coverage and priorities.
 
“I think of The Times reader as very well-educated, worldly and likely affluent,” he said. “But I think we have as many college professors as Wall Street bankers.”
mme_hardy: White rose (Default)
The New York Times runs a long article on the battle between various lobbying organizations about school lunches.  According to Nicholas Confessore  the Times, the participants are Schwan Food Company, Coalition for Sustainable School Meals Programs, the USDA, and ... "the lunch ladies".

No, seriously.  Throughout the article, thirty-one times, the people who manage, coordinate, and serve on the front lines of school lunches are "the lunch ladies".  
He advised the lunch ladies — a term that almost nobody in Washington uses in public and almost everyone uses in private — to support the legislation, even though it did not provide as much money as they wanted. 
Yup. Nobody says "lunch ladies" in public .... except the New York Times. 

There are no words to express my contempt.
mme_hardy: White rose (Default)
As of 1:07 Eastern Time, the coverage of the current shelter-in-place at Yale is much better at the U.K. edition of the Guardian than at the New York Times.

Profile

mme_hardy: White rose (Default)
mme_hardy

December 2022

S M T W T F S
    123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

  • Style: Indil for Ciel by nornoriel

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 9th, 2025 05:39 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios