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The Colab Brief - 126: Houston, We Have A Problem

Welcome to The Colab Brief

Author

Ash + Lizzy
July 13, 2024

In partnership with

The New York Times editorial board recently declared Donald Trump unfit to lead as president. 

This is a problem.

Read Time: Two minutes

For those of you who didn’t see, The New York Times Editorial Board, which is “a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values,” posted a feature-length interactive story series on Thursday, declaring soon-to-be Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, unfit to lead as the United States president. 

Here’s why this is a big issue. 

As one of the longest-standing (established in 1851) and most widely read (10M subscribers and 100M readers) publications in the US, many people believe The New York Times to be a news source. 

Many people also still believe that news is news, not opinions. 

And most people don’t read the fine print. 

Now, most publications have an OpEd section. 

But most editorial boards aren’t the main mouthpiece on that OpEd section.

Starting to see the issue here?

For those of you woo-hooing or those of you seeing red, this has nothing to do with where you stand on the political spectrum. 

This has everything to do with America’s dwindling sources of unbiased, unfiltered news. 

Unsurprisingly, the article first focuses on Donald Trump. But within the initial couple of sentences, it takes aim at all Republicans, calling them "a once great political party [that] now serves the interests of one man.”

How is this journalism?

All of these authors are entitled to their own opinions. And, to be fair, these reporters are always well-researched. But to host an article containing vastly polarizing views on one of the world's most widely-read and respected publications? It’s reckless. 

How are discerning people, desperately seeking truth, supposed to be able to find their information? How on earth are unsuspecting readers expected to know who is offering facts and who is publishing opinions?

Day by day, it seems that more publications are falling to sway. Finding information that isn’t riddled with bias, opinion, and half-truths is getting more difficult than ever. 

The silver lining here is that consumers are more likely than ever to question what they see, hear, and read. Every day, fewer people take information at face value, and they instead take it upon themselves to research in order to find the truth.

And there are resources available that allow you to see where a specific publication lies on the bias spectrum. This is highly important when you’re placing articles - if you unknowingly place an article in a deeply politicized publication (should’ve done your homework), you’re probably going to have a bad time. 

One of those resources is AllSides, which even has a Media Bias Rating Chart to show you which way a publication leans.

Another is AdFontes, which has a nifty little interactive tool to show you where an outlet stands.

And for those of you who have been with us for a while, you know how much we love 1440 - which is an unbiased daily newsletter covering the world’s most impactful topics.

As far as mainstream pubs go, The Wall Street Journal is still largely unbiased. The Hill is a good source of centered political news, Reuters is still relatively straightforward, and Axios does a good job of playing both sides.  

Don’t take this newsletter as some kind of political declaration - it’s not. We would have published the same article if the NYT posted this about Biden, RFK Jr., or Harambe. But do take it as encouragement to comb the content you consume and share. Not everything is fact, even if it appears to be coming from a factual place. 

When placing articles or reading them, you must not continue spreading misinformation. Please do your due diligence to determine the quality and factuality of the content you’re consuming. Very little is as it seems. 

Until next week,

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