While The New York Post devoted its December 27 cover to the point that the police turned their backs as Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke ("TO SERVE & REJECT"), The New York Times employed the sappier headline “De Blasio Delivers Quiet Eulogy to Crowd of Unfriendly Faces, and Many Backs.”
Check out Michael M. Grynbaum’s lead in The New York Times:
He sat stoically in the church’s front pew, his wife at his side, watching as the vice president spoke in booming tones and the governor told jokes that earned some chuckles, even on this painful day.
When it was his turn to speak, he approached the stage with his face downcast, and — finding the lectern too short for his liking — hunched his shoulders, as if trying to recede from his own imposing frame.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is typically a baroque public speaker. On Saturday, at the funeral of one of the police officers whose shooting deaths have roiled New York City, at times he spoke barely above a whisper.
At the most difficult time in his mayoralty, with his leadership questioned by police and protesters alike, Mr. de Blasio appeared to take pains to avoid standing out.
For a story with the headline about a "quiet eulogy" to "many backs," and accompanied by a photo of de Blasio speaking to the backs of officers, it's surprising Grynbaum didn’t get to the crux of the story (speaking to backs and unfriendly faces) until the eighth paragraph.
Compare that lead with The New York Post’s lead, following “To Serve & Reject”:
Mayor de Blasio tried to make peace with the NYPD Saturday but again collided with the Blue Wall of Resentment.
As he took the podium Saturday at the funeral of slain Officer Rafael Ramos, thousands of cops outside the church turned their backs to the video monitors showing the mayor delivering his eulogy inside.
In a gradual wave, the assembled cops nearest the screens and speakers on Myrtle Avenue in Queens began to about-face, until the entire sea of blue stretching two blocks had their backs to the image of the city’s leader.
Now, let’s compare HOW each paper described WHY the officers had their backs turned to de Blasio during the funeral. From The New York Times:
For some angered by Mr. de Blasio’s handling of the Police Department, whose practices he had criticized in his mayoral bid last year, his gestures rang hollow. Outside the church, scores of mourning police officers turned their backs as the mayor began his remarks.
Police union leaders said the response had not been an organized protest. Still, it was a sign of the discontent that Mr. de Blasio now faces.
That’s all from The New York Times. Now, from The New York Post:
Earlier that night, when de Blasio approached a group of NYPD Finest and said, “We’re all in this together,” a stone-faced officer replied, “No, we’re not.”
Many cops have blamed de Blasio for helping to create a climate of distrust of law enforcement, turning them into targets as protests against police swept through the city in the wake of a Staten Island grand jury’s decision not to indict a cop in the July death of Eric Garner.
Things got so heated in the weeks leading up to the killings of Ramos and Liu that the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association demanded that de Blasio stay away from the funerals of officers killed in the line of duty.
A coalition of retired NYPD cops took their anger to new heights Friday by hiring a pilot to fly over the city for hours with a banner reading, “De Blasio, our backs have turned to you.”
After the funeral, about 100 police officers, firefighters and others who had stood vigil for Ramos made their way to Teedee’s Tavern, about two blocks from the church.
A firefighter hopped up onto a table, a beer in one hand and a camera in the other, taking pictures of the packed bar.
“Here’s to Ramos! Here’s to the NYPD!” he shouted, to the cheers of those assembled.
“And f–k de Blasio!” he added, raising a raucous response from the crowd.
The bias is apparent. The New York Times devoted their coverage to de Blasio by not only gushing over him but skimming over why police officers turned their backs to him during the eulogy. On the other hand, The New York Post devoted their coverage to the officers and the reasons why they turned their backs on the mayor. A tale of two different stories in New York City.
