Given the past four years of pretty much unhinged bias among most US corporate media against Donald Trump and his presidency – which media outlet involved in that can now in its right, or at least somewhat fair mind, fault a reporter, groomed in this climate, for letting loose once Trump’s opponent, Joe Biden, was finally about to take office?
Apparently, the New York Times can. Senior editor Lauren Wolfe was fired for posting on Twitter the day before Biden’s inauguration that she had “chills” just watching his plane land at Joint Base Andrews.
So – is the (former) “newspaper of record” now trying to rebuild its reputation as such, or did they misunderstand Wolfe’s use of the term as a literal description of some physical phenomenon happening to her?
All signs point towards the former version, though, as Wolfe “chased” her “chills” tweet with a couple of others, clearly showing her political bias when she chastised Donald Trump as being “mortifying and childish” for not giving Biden a military plane, also calling him petty for the decision. (It was actually Biden’s choice.)
This display resulted in many other, seemingly real journalists, questioning this blatant display of bias, and a senior editor (no less) defending her behavior as an excited girl scout might do: she was just witnessing something historical, and could therefore not remain professional.
If that’s true – it means she is now being punished by her employer for believing her employer’s hype.
Not to mention that Wolfe was not alone in what’s described as relentless gushing over Biden – and some in the Democrat-leaning “media community” are already warning this might, in the long – say, in four-year-term – have a negative impact.
It’s doing nothing to bring about half of America (more or less, depending on who you ask) back into the fold, they are warning.
Ironically, Wolfe, last year joked about the legitimacy of cancel culture – only to now find herself fired, months later, over a tweet.
The same is true for Will Wilkinson, a contributor at The New York Times and vice president of left-wing Think Tank Niskanen Center, who has not also lost his role at the Times this week for a tweet.
“If Biden really wanted unity, he’d lynch Mike Pence,” Wilkinson quipped on Twitter.
He too once made light of the idea of cancel culture.
