New York Times Tries, Fails to Fact-check DeSantis on Book Ban Hoax

The New York Times tried — and failed — Wednesday to fact-check Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) claim that Florida is not banning books. DeSantis called the claim, repeated by Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), a “hoax.”

Newsom and other Democrats — including, on Wednesday, White House Press Secreatry Karine Jean-Pierre — have used the book ban hoax to smear DeSantis and Republicans:

Reading some banned books to figure out what these states are so afraid of. pic.twitter.com/z6eJ01NZJe

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 31, 2022

(Ironically, one of the books Newsom posed with in the photo above, To Kill a Mockingbird, was actually banned temporarily by a school district in Newsom’s own State of California because of concerns about the use of racial language in the text.)

“The whole book ban thing is a hoax,” DeSantis said, during his technologically-challenged Twitter launch. There’s not been a single book banned in the state of Florida. You can go buy or use whatever book you want.”

The Times actually agreed with DeSantis that there are no book bans by the state of Florida, but then tried to claim that DeSantis was wrong because he overlooked “bans” by local school districts and public libraries.

What the Times failed to mention was that these so-called “bans” involve books that are deemed to be inappropriate for children, either because of overt sexual content, or because of radical racial ideology.

Accordingly, they are not “book bans,” but decisions about curriculum, and about the protection of children — the kinds of decisions made in “blue” states as well as “red” states, though they might differ on the boundaries.

The Times wrote:

There has been no statewide ban of a book, but Mr. DeSantis is vastly playing down the extent to which individual school districts and libraries in parts of the state have removed books. In fact, Florida ranks second, behind Texas, as the state with the most bans at 357, according to PEN America, a nonprofit that supports free expression.

Legislation signed by Mr. DeSantis limiting discussion of sexual orientation, gender identity and race has led teachers and administrations to remove books.

The report by PEN America that the Times cites may also be inaccurate. A recent report found that at least 74% of the books that PEN America listed as “banned” were actually still available for checkout in school libraries.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.