Paper warfare
Some goddamn socialist is popular and the Times is on it
Madison Swart, Mamdani campaign
[A glass-enclosed conference room at New York Times headquarters, as seen previously in 2022’s “At home with the liberal media.” Seated at a small conference table is deputy executive editor NED BINS, thin with a buzzcut like his boss and wearing a blue Canali two-button suit with a grey Brooks Brothers poplin shirt and no tie, and Untamed Street Haven grey suede derby shoes with navy socks — reporter ELOISE WHALLEY-JENSEN, who has gained a few pounds since last time, wearing a Miramere tweed dress in ivory and navy from The Fold London, grey stockings, and Tod’s black Mary Janes — and reporter PHILO BRICTAL, who has lost an alarming amount of weight since last time, wearing a dark grey Proper Cloth traveler suit, a light blue button-down of uncertain provenance, and Johnston & Murphy McGuffey plain toe shoes. iPhones are on the table.]
BINS: OK. I wanted to get you guys in on this Mamdani thing, because it’s hot and I know you can keep the temperature up.
[Pause.]
A little enthusiasm?
[WHALLEY-JENSEN and BRICTAL both mildly nod and mutter “sure, yeah, OK.”]
Oh, now don’t tell me you’re part of his cult!
BRICTAL: I’m just a reporter.
WHALLEY-JENSEN: Me too.
BRICTAL: I just, y’know, go where the story leads.
BINS: Exactly! I know young people like this guy but it’s when the candidate’s appealing to your own personal prejudices that you have to be most ruthless about going after the truth. Like with Clinton!
BRICTAL: Which one?
WHALLEY-JENSEN: Ned, are we sure there’s still a story there, because you — I mean, we’ve done what, four stories —
BINS: That’s what keeps it hot! Have a look at this:
[He AirDrops something to their phones; they look.]
WHALLEY-JENSEN: These are just headlines from the Wall Street Journal opinion section.
BINS: And they’re nearly all about Mamdani! Look — “Trump, Mamdani, and the Temptation of Radical Ideas” — “Escape from Mamdani’s New York.” We made that happen, you can’t tell me we didn’t. We lead, they follow! Philo, you have to admit our last story about all the Democrats ganging up on Mamdani was solid.
BRICTAL: [Nods] Yeah, they got the state of play. I, well, y’know, I would have put his union endorsements higher up —
BINS: Dog bites man! What’s interesting is Democrats are opposing this guy.
BRICTAL: The Democrats who are running against him, you mean.
BINS: Ellie! Here’s something for you. I want you to do a story on the millennials who don’t like Mamdani.
[Such color as WHALLEY-JENSEN has drains from her face.]
I know you can get sources from Dimes Square, but stretch out a bit — I’m sure some of the kids in Bushwick and Astoria don’t like him.
WHALLEY-JENSEN: [Almost inaudibly] OK.
BINS: Easy layup for you! You have the young Republicans on speed-dial. OK, get to work, I have to talk to Philo about something.
[BINS fiddles with his phone while WHALLEY-JENSEN withdraws. Then:]
Philo, any ideas?
BRICTAL: No. I’ll do some work.
BINS: Philo, let me say something. I trust your news judgment, but you know you’re moving up here. You know that.
BRICTAL: I guess.
BINS: You guess! You know. Soon you’ll be in the big room and when you’re in the big room you’ll be expected to pitch. You have to learn to come up with ideas, they don’t have to be great, just on topic and fast.
BRICTAL: Well, actually, Ned, I actually had been thinking. I was going to come to you about me sort of embedding with the Mamdani campaign, like joining up, canvassing with them, hanging out at headquarters, all that.
BINS: Great, great! You’ll get plenty of inside stuff that way.
BRICTAL: Yeah, but now, Ned, that’s — that’s impossible. Because everyone knows you — I mean, we — have it in for him. And it’s not like, I guess in the old days when he would still have to suck up to us. Because now — he doesn’t.
[Pause.]
BINS: Well, Philo. How about this. How about if we put it around that the Times fired you? How about if you could say to them, “I just got fired by those assholes at the Times. And I’m glad they fired me, because those assholes really have it in for you, and I’m just so sick of their neoliberal bullshit. And now that I’m free, I want to do a story from inside your campaign about how great Zohran is and how great you are that I can pitch to the glossies that also think you’re great. Maybe even Teen Vogue.”
[Pause.]
What do you think about that, Philo?
PHILO: I’d like to think about it.
BINS: OK. Think about it. Talk in the morning.
[BRICTAL gets up, heads out.]
Hey, Philo.
BRICTAL: What.
BINS: Nice suit!
[BRICTAL leaves as BINS grimly plays with his phone.]
I responded to the NYT poll "Are you frustrated with racial categories on forms?" as follows:
"This is a transparent attempt to reverse-engineer a rationale for your original Mamdani piece, when it is clear as day no such rationale ever existed. It is shameful how far this once-great newspaper has fallen in a desperate search for access and clicks. Featuring chin-stroking, "just asking questions" pieces while democracy falls is bad enough. But collaborating with white supremacists to garner irrelevant material for hit pieces has totally discredited your reporting in the minds of sensible readers for the foreseeable future."
To be clear, I know it will not make a damn bit of difference. But it certainly made me feel better.
Gotta say that between the idiocy underlying the Times Columbia application story and the general shittiness and literal harmfulness of the Times and its peers, to wit, the entire establishment news media, I just couldn't force myself to wade through the entire post today -- just too triggering for me, which is to say a me problem.
But for those who need a counterweight to the mainstream attacks on Mamdani, here:
https://www.elizabethspiers.com/zohran-mamdani-did-all-the-things-the-estabishment-hates-he-won-anyway/
Full disclosure: I'm something of a Spiers shipper. Never caught her being full of shit on anything. She's sharp and deserves a more successful career, eg, regularly reaching a bigger audience.
But getting back to my kvetching and whining above: I should take solace that audiences exposed to establishment reportage continues to shrink. To a degree, that can increase the ability of the masses to actually suss out the truth since, you know, it will never be reported in the mainstream.