Conservatives Mock New York Times’ Double Standard on Staffers’ Tweets

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Kristina Wong

Conservatives mocked the New York Times and its publisher A.G. Sulzberger for their claims the paper is being targeted by a right-wing conspiracy to expose their staffers’ racist tweets in an attempt to discredit the publication.

The claim came after one of the paper’s senior editor’s racist tweets about Jews and Indians was discovered and exposed by Breitbart News. The senior editor, Tom Wright-Piersanti, deleted some tweets and apologized, but the paper has not clarified what repercussions there may be.

Instead, the Times attacked those who called for accountability in a piece alleging that Republican operatives are waging “a new front in the war” against the media. Sulzberger also put out a statement that argued that it was different for journalists to target “people in positions of power” than “journalistic techniques to target journalists and news organizations.”

Prominent conservatives and pundits reminded the public of instances when the Times targeted people — including those not in positions of power, such as Nicholas Sandmann, the teen who was falsely accused of harassing an elderly Native American man.

Donald Trump Jr. — who has helped to bring attention to Wright-Piersanti’s antisemitic tweets — commented on Twitter that the Times “had no problem trying to destroy Brett Kavanaugh’s life based on totally dubious & unfounded allegations from high school but actual anti-Semitic tweets by their editors from college are totally off limits. No wonder they put out that statement of desperation! #bias”:

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), who had called on the Times to fire Wright-Piersanti, suggested that the Times hold itself to the same standards it holds others.

“It’s all about double standards or no standard for @nytimes,” he tweeted. “It’s crushing their credibility. Very ugly response & bad look for Times trying to cover for their editor’s anti-Semitism & racism”:

Former senior White House official Cliff Sims called the Times’ piece “hilarious.”

“To summarize, the most senior people at the paper think it’s a threat to democracy for big meanie head private citizens to uncover their reporters saying racist/anti-Semitic things online”:

Conservative writer Stephen Miller tweeted: “It’s kind of amazing that a NY Times editor had several anti-Semitic tweets and their response is to blame the people who found them and then play the victim to some sort of targeted campaign”:

Robby Starbuck, a conservative director and producer, also noted the Times shifting blame from the editor to conservatives attacking him.

“The @nytimes wants to frame this like it’s a “group of conservatives” fault that the media hired anti-Semites & racists. A.G. Sulzberger’s quotes are hilariously hypocritical,” he said.

John Cardillo, host of Newsmax’s America Talks Live, noted that mainstream media outlets like the Times and CNN have “doxed kids” in a possible reference to Sandmann, whose received worldwide condemnation after he was identified as the teen who was shown in a clip smiling at the elderly Native American man.

“Outlets like the @NYtimes and @CNN doxed kids and tried to destroy conservatives’ lives by pushing false allegations, but don’t you dare mock one of their past tweets.

Claire Lehmann, the founding editor of Quillette, tweeted about Sulzberger’s statement, “NYTimes needs to get a grip”:

Mike Shellenberger, an environmental activist, also mocked the Times’ article and “hysterical accompanying statement.”

“I love & have written for @nytimes but this article & hysterical accompanying statement by the publisher are both totally bananas,” he tweeted.

“OMG a couple of dudes dig up dumb tweets by your young woke staffers & you act like its Pentagon Papers 2.0,” he added.

“Take a Xanax for your TDS next time,” he said, referring to what conservatives jokingly call “Trump Derangement Syndrome

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