How the New York Times is becoming more like Fox News

The New York Times has long been touted as the news source for the liberal elite. While this may have been true 10 years ago, recent shifts in coverage are certainly moving the Times more to the right. A 2007 Rasmussen survey showed that 11 per cent of the public agreed the Times had a conservative slant, and I would venture to guess that this number has grown steadily over the past few years. Sure, the Times did all it could to work against Bush Administration policies, but now it has turned its sights on other targets.




Take, for instance, the newspaper's all out fight for attention as it sought to bring scandalous charges against Governor David Paterson. The past month has seen three different occasions where the Times promised explosive revelations, all but the last worthy of a gossip column at best. Even in this week's story, about Paterson's abuse of his personal State police detail, there is very little in the way of objective journalism. It reads more like a 'jump to conclusions' piece, where the reader can determine their take on the issue. One would assume this is to portray a sense of impartiality on the side of the Times.



What to make of this all?



Perhaps it is time for the readership to take a more proactive stance when it comes to information, and misinformation. The left enjoys mocking those who follow Fox News as being blind sheep, but is taking the Times at face value any better? This is critical in a day and age where print media is slowly dying out, and will do anything to attract attention. Investigative journalism be damned. All hail the revival of the yellow journalist.