New York Times corrections on fast-forward

They’re amusing – and also a window into thought processes at America’s most influential news organization

Once, in the far dark recesses of the past – a couple years ago – the New York Times ran corrections on page 2. Prominent placement was intended to confess errors where readers would see.

Photo by Jason Moyer on Unsplash

The country’s most influential news organization thinks this is Cookie Monster.

How naïve! Today New York Times corrections are buried in tiny boxes at the back of the paper – on the day I write this, the microscopic corrections box appears at the bottom of A16 – while the front page and editorial page speak as omnipotent oracles who must not be questioned. 

Roughly coinciding with the election of the vulgarian Donald Trump, the Times went all-in on agenda-driven advocacy. Straight news is so yesterday. Nearly all Times articles now are opinion pieces.

Here's the twist – becoming agenda-driven, mostly hard-left, was fabulous for the Times’s bottom line. Revenue and profits are way up. Only in America!

And just like Trump, the hard left never admits mistakes. That’s why corrections now are concealed. This matters because the New York Times is the most influential news organization in the United States; second-most influential in the world after the BBC, which is also agenda-driven mostly hard-left.

Be these things as they may, your writer reads the tiny, deliberately hidden correction box.

Since the subject has nothing to do with sports, this corrections review serves as this week’s non-sports newsletter. Through the Super Bowl, there will be a Tuesday Morning Quarterback each Tuesday and a non-sports All Predictions Wrong every Friday.