In a time when Trump is undermining the mainstream media, the New York Times is providing a lot of cover with its propaganda type reporting. They did it with the lead up to the Iraq war. Now they are doing it with those who challenge an economic system decimating the middle-class. This comedian with a platform is fighting back. We must share these stories to counteract misinformation from all sides.
If objective ombudsmen challenged the New York Times and other mainstream media outlets when spewing propaganda as news, America would be better informed. Lee Camp is a comedian that appears on RT. It is a Russian Network that is broadcast on various cable networks in the U.S. just as does BBC, a British-sponsored channel.
We are all grown up here. Every country who has a network in another country will attempt to push their agenda on said channels. However, it would be suicide if it did not have additional programming. Larry King & Ed Schultz also appear on RT. No one would accuse them of being Russian tools.
Camp explains one interesting reason why one with his talent would not get a show on American mainstream media but instead on RT.
I have no interest in being a mainstream media or government mouthpiece for anyone – which is why I created REDACTED Tonight. It’s also why the things I say (particularly the anti-corporate things) are not allowed on any standard American TV channel.
I blog many of Lee Camp’s commentaries on unfettered capitalism, the government under corporate control, and other insightful observations. He is becoming pretty popular as he encourages Americans to think deeper about issues that affect their personal economies albeit in a very amusing manner.
New York Times reporter Jason Zinoman wrote a hit piece on Lee Camp. He tried his best to portray Camp as one being used by the Russians. But Camp would have none of it. He deconstructed the entire article with facts that made it clear the reporter was sloppy at best or likely malicious and purposely misleading to smear the comedian.
The errors and innuendos in the article should be enough to get the reporter fired. However, one knows that is unlikely. Lee Camp’s response was much longer and detailed than Jason Zinoman’s piece. He contacted some of the people the reporter spoke to which validate his belief that Zinoman purposely slanted responses to smear the comedian.
Zinoman’s New York Times article and Camp’s response presents the perfect case to illustrate a biased mainstream media, not against the Right or the Left, but against anyone who questions our economic system as implemented, a system where 5 men own as much wealth as almost half the population. Zinoman also gave Camp a segue. He used the opportunity in his response to remind America that the New York Times was a cheerleader for the War in Iraq among other things.
I want to conclude with a little bit of context about the New York Times, and how they’ve become such a propaganda outlet that they would even hire journalists who pump out loads of fake news like this article on me.
Chris Hedges worked for 15 years as a foreign correspondent at the Times and won a Pulitzer for his work. He now hosts the show “On Contact” at RT America. He once said of his former employer,
…many at the paper have no real moral compass. They know the rules imposed by the paper’s stylebook. They know what constitutes a ‘balanced’ story. They know what the institution demands. They work hard. They have ingested the byzantine quirks and traditions of the paper. But they cannot finally make independent moral choices. The entire paper — I speak as someone who was there at the time — enthusiastically served as a propaganda machine for the impending invasion of Iraq.
Hedges went on to say,
[The senior editors] do not question the utopian faith in globalization. They support preemptive war, at least before it goes horribly wrong. And they accept unfettered capitalism, despite what it has done to the nation, as a kind of natural law.
The Times was a strong cheerleader for the War in Iraq. (Don’t worry though – they still have reporters out there looking for the weapons of mass destruction. …Any day now.) When Hedges came out against the Iraq War, the paper reprimanded him for “public remarks that could undermine public trust in the paper’s impartiality.” …So basically they said, “Either stand behind this flawed, illegal invasion of Iraq or else you’re not welcome at the Times.” Hedges left the paper soon after.
Want some more evidence of exactly how the New York Times operates? Here’s world renowned political philosopher Noam Chomsky going through a single issue of the Times in 2015 explaining how it is pure propaganda.
Best-selling journalist Greg Palast (BBC, Rolling Stone) wrote to me after he saw the article. Here’s his unsolicited opinion –
The hatchet job on Lee Camp by the NY Times is the pathetic new Red-baiting 2.0. The Times man claimed Lee was afraid to attack Trump because that would displease the owners of RT. Really? What in Lee’s statement, ‘Fuck Trump,’ sounds like an endorsement?
So the next time you’re reading so-called journalism in the New York Times, remember… context matters.
Read Lee Camp’s complete deconstruction of New York Times reporter Jason Zinoman’s article that smeared Lee Camp here. And don’t forget to call them at (844)698-6397 or email them at nytmews@nytimes.com to tell them you want unbiased news, not smears and propaganda. In these times of Trump, we need functioning institutions.