Yeah, that's been our big beef with the New York Times: it's too tough on top Democrats . . .
So we'll all sleep better now that Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet has assured us that the paper is not "too aggressive" or "unfair" in its coverage of Hillary Clinton. On CNN's Reliable Sources today, Bacquet, as proof of the paper's even-handedness, noted to host Brian Stelter a Times story on Benghazi that "did not point a finger at her" and another story probing problems within the Benghazi committee.
Does anyone for a second doubt that once the general election gets going, the Times will be all in for the Dem candidate, whoever it is, and that its pages will be primed with stories of dark doings by the Republican?
Consider also the slant of Stelter, a former Timesman himself. Rather than challenging the paper's left-wing bias, he frets that it's being unfair to Hillary.
BRIAN STELTER: We used to work together; I used to be at the Times as a media reporter for years --
DEAN BAQUET: -- you can always come back.
STELTER: I know how important politics is to the paper. And here's the question. When I told people on Twitter you were coming on, a lot of the questions were about Hillary Clinton coverage though. People saying you're unfair to Clinton and to the campaign. How do you respond to people who say that you all are too aggressive, that you treat her differently than all the other candidates in the race?
DEAN BAQUET: We're aggressive on all the candidates. I'll say two things. One thing that has fueled it is that we made a mistake on the story.
STELTER: The email server story.
BAQUET: The email story. Which we corrected.
STELTER: We can put on the screen now. You said "criminal" and then you --
BAQUET: We screwed it up. But I will also point out, we also broke the story today about dissension within the Benghazi committee. We also did the most deeply-reported story about who did what in the whole Benghazi fiasco that led to the death of the US ambassador, which I think the Clinton people would say was fair and did not point a finger at her. So I think if you add all that up and add up the daily coverage of her, we're not unfair.
STELTER: You're saying we have to look at the full picture.
BAQUET: You have to look at the fact when we screw up, and you have to look up to the fact that when we screw up we own up to it.
