Talk:The New York Times

Latest comment: 16 days ago by 2001:B07:ADD:C4B2:8024:E80B:F27:43 in topic NYT as liberal

Former good articleThe New York Times was one of the Social sciences and society good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
October 16, 2008Good article nomineeListed
February 26, 2018Good article reassessmentDelisted
On this day...Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on September 18, 2004, June 13, 2009, September 18, 2014, and September 18, 2019.
Current status: Delisted good article

Political Bias

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The article no where mentions that the newspaper has not endorsed a Republican for president in 70 years. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_election_endorsements_made_by_The_New_York_Times 64.31.13.163 (talk) 08:24, 6 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

The article mentions the number of Democratic and Republican presidents endorsed by the Times: "The New York Times has endorsed a total of twelve Republican candidates and thirty Democratic candidates." I believe this is sufficient and see no need to specifically highlight that they haven't endorsed a Republican president in 70 years. Frankserafini87 (talk) 04:24, 29 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

Recentism?

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I'm unsure a letter[1] complaining about the NYT recent Is/Pal coverage warrants an entire paragraph in this encyclopedia article about a 172 year old newspaper, per WP:RECENTISM and WP:NOTNEWS. The paragraph is currently verbatim identical to one in the Screams Without Words article. It's very obviously DUE in the latter; here I'd say one sentence is the very most that is DUE. BobFromBrockley (talk) 13:14, 2 May 2024 (UTC)Reply

I agree, this subsection needs to be removed. Editors should discuss the contents of the criticism section. elijahpepe@wikipedia (he/him) 14:56, 5 May 2024 (UTC)Reply
It's a letter from "50 tenured journalism professors and scholars", so it has considerable weight. It's probably the most due type of criticism. Also covered by the Washington Post and elsewhere. The big question is why a 172-yr-old publication let its standards slip. Iskandar323 (talk) 15:33, 5 May 2024 (UTC)Reply
BobfromBrockley is not arguing that the letter doesn't have merit, but that it is too recent. There are prior instances where the Times has been accused of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli coverage. "Screams Without Words" is a major controversy — I recently spoke to Erik Wemple, who said that the upheaval resulting from that article is significant — but it is the only content in that paragraph. I personally would argue an open letter is not important unless it serves as the impetus for greater action. elijahpepe@wikipedia (he/him) 17:44, 5 May 2024 (UTC)Reply
Bob wasn't arguing for its total omission either, just a reduction. Now we have the input of NewsGuild of New York president Susan DeCarava, a single, relatively obscure individual, but not that of 50 scholars of journalism. Iskandar323 (talk) 19:04, 5 May 2024 (UTC)Reply
An article being controversial or causing upheaval doesn't indicate bias, low journalistic standards, or unethical reporting, though. Accurately reporting the brutality of the attacks would obviously be controversial to anti-Semites and biased parties, too. The main source for this section builds a better case for the NYT having high standards for their accuracy, not evidence they slipped as @Iskandar323 suggests.
The only established evidence cited of their journalistic failings is the fact that someone on their team leaked their internal memos, which is an egg-on-your-face moment. I've yet to see any evidence of poor journalistic standards; the leaked memos didn't substantiate that claim. We should expect journalists to demand high burdens of proof from one another, not treat these internal expectations as evidence of a coverup or bad reporting.
What I see is people concerned with how Palestinian's would be portrayed, regardless of accuracy, and broke journalistic ethics of the paper by leaking internal discourse. However, none of the internal discourse substantiated the claims themselves. Pingpong947 (talk) 11:11, 17 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

Encyclopedic Value of Israel/Palestine Reporting Section

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Should a letter from individuals [2] merely requesting a review of NYT reporting carry enough weight to necessitate a section implying it as fact? You can find 50 biased or uninformed people for any cause. The results of a review might suffice, but not the flimsy request for one.

Even the journalist's cited statement falsely claim that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found genocide "plausible." In reality, they only said Palestine had "plausible rights to protection from genocide,[3]", which isn't even close to the claim. This serious misreporting by "journalism scholars and professors" raises doubts about their reliability compared to the NYT reporters they're criticizing.

With no mention of the UN's in-depth report deeming the accounts of sexual assault credible[4], the section seems extremely weak at best, and purposely biased at worst. It seems it only serves to cast doubt on substantiated reports of rape without providing substantial evidence to the contrary. Do we really value the request for an investigation more valuable than an actual investigation by the UN which validated the reporting in question? Is this the bar set for an encyclopedia?

The first paragraph lacks serious criticism or examples of inaccurate reporting in the NYT article. Every accusation employs the logical fallacy known as begging the question; it assumes the examples cited are evidence of the bias and unethical journalism, but never establishes them as such.

For example, there is no reason to expect an evenly distributed number of terms like "massacre" applied for each group. Consistently reducing demonstrable massacres perpetrated by one side to more favorable terms would meet the burden of proof required to show bias. This section provides no such evidence. Israel responding with missile strikes on civilian infrastructure utilized by Hamas is quite literally not a "massacre." Interestingly, the next paragraph refers to 10/7, an event that was unquestionably a massacre of Jews, as an "armed incursion of Israel" for some reason.

Regarding their use of terms like "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide", the source provided makes it clear that these guidelines were strictly for accuracy in reporting, nothing more. Establishing a high bar for codified legal terms like the crime of genocide is the mark of journalistic integrity and accuracy, not impropriety. Given that the governing body in charge of investigating the crime of genocide found no evidence Israel is committing it, why is the NYT reminding their staff not to misuse it cited as evidence of their poor reporting? In addition, the criticism for the use of "refugee camps" is nonsensical and at odds with the cited source.

Finally, the last sentence deceptively conflates two tangentially related issues. It misleadingly implies that the NYT's admission of "material handled improperly" is related to their accuracy on the 10/7 rapes. However, the quote is referring to whether members of their staff leaked information about the article itself before publication. Why does the article abruptly shoehorn in a quote referencing a staff member leaking details of the story prior to publication? It seems contradictory when it's the details from this leak that the whole section is based on. At the very least, it should be written more clearly to avoid readers believing they relate to their journalistic accuracy.

In closing, I'm unconvinced of the impartiality of this entry or the encyclopedic value of the information it contains.

Pingpong947 (talk) 10:59, 17 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

Removal of Times reporting on human zoos

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Hi @Elijahpepe, I was wondering if you could explain why you felt that my edits adding the NYT's reporting on human zoos was unworthy of inclusion in this article? The NYT has revisited the controversy at least twice, and numerous other sources have reported on it. Unbandito (talk) 03:00, 20 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

Unless a controversy significantly affected the Times, such as the backlash surrounding Jayson Blair's plagiarism that resulted in executive editor Howell Raines' resignation, it should not be included. Your sentence is better suited for List of The New York Times controversies. elijahpepe@wikipedia (he/him) 03:27, 20 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
I do not believe this belogns on the List article either unless there's reliable secondary coverage with respect to NYT's reporting. The references for the paragraph were either primary (NYT's original report, and a more recent retrospective) or were not reliable (a blog post discussing the NYT coverage). You ideally need multiple sources that are both reliable and secondary to qualify this as a "New York Times controversy" instead of being primarily in "Legacy" (or a more appropriate) section on Ota Benga. Soni (talk) 04:52, 20 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
Okay, I see your point. I am going to re-introduce the material with some better secondary sourcing in the Critism section, rename that section to Controversies, and work on making it into a better summary of the List of The New York Times controversies article. This should address some of the concerns around recentism in that section as well. Unbandito (talk) 15:50, 22 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

add this "NYT calls violence against Hindus in Bangladesh ‘revenge attacks"

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The New York Times was under fire for headlining its story on violence against Hindus in Bangladesh after ex-PM Sheikh Hasina fled the country as ‘revenge attacks’. The American newspaper course-corrected after backlash on social media. After backlash NYT removed ‘revenge attacks’ and changed title from "Hindus in Bangladesh Face Revenge Attacks After Prime Minister’s Exit" to "Hindus in Bangladesh Face Attacks After Prime Minister’s Exit".


sources:

2402:A00:152:85D3:8C46:3BAA:3392:A208 (talk) 13:19, 13 August 2024 (UTC)Reply

image

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why are we using the 2024 image of the website? must be some better historical image with something interesting on that day, rather than Jan 2024. Thanks! Jtbobwaysf (talk) 10:31, 14 August 2024 (UTC)Reply

"Bruce Weber (reporter)" listed at Redirects for discussion

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  The redirect Bruce Weber (reporter) has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2024 September 19 § Bruce Weber (reporter) until a consensus is reached. Utopes (talk / cont) 23:58, 19 September 2024 (UTC)Reply

Semi-protected edit request on 15 November 2024

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Add this information to the section about Transgender people: Adding to New York Times' controversy over its coverage of transgender people, the news source regularly features journalist Pamela Paul whose anti-transgender opinion articles featured in the New York Times were made into a legal brief in favor of Idaho House Bill 71. Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).</ref>This bill passed making it a felony for clinicians to provide gender-affirming care to minors in the state of Idaho. ProduktenGmBH (talk) 05:58, 15 November 2024 (UTC)Reply

  Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. M.Bitton (talk) 15:32, 15 November 2024 (UTC)Reply

NYT as liberal

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It's universally acknowledged that the NYT is a liberal newspaper. Why not to add that in the first sentence? Thanks 2001:B07:ADD:C4B2:8024:E80B:F27:43 (talk) 22:19, 18 November 2024 (UTC)Reply