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Journalistic Fraud: How the New York Times Distorts the News and Why It Can No Longer Be Trusted

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The full subtitle of JOURNALISTIC FRAUD is "How the New York Times Distorts the News and Why It Can No Longer Be Trusted." This is not, as one might expect, a 312-page treatise concerning the Jayson Blair fiasco and how it brought disgrace upon the New York Times, though certainly Bob Kohn could easily have done such a treatment. As Kohn notes near the end of JOURNALISTIC FRAUD, the Blair scandal actually deflects attention from the real scandal at the Times, which is its practice of passing opinion as straight news. What JOURNALISTIC FRAUD is, however, is a thorough, point-by-point analysis of the journalistic mechanisms by which the so-called, self-styled "Newspaper of Record" (a term that, incidentally, is a marketing ploy, nothing more) permits its editorial viewpoint to distort its news coverage.

A couple of decades ago a major weekly magazine used to proudly advertise that within its pages, "Fact is presented as fact, and opinion is signed as opinion." It wasn't true then and it isn't true now, but the magazine in question was at least savvy enough to know that the appearance of fairness and objectivity is important. This standard was the rock upon which the Times built its reputation. The Times's editorial page has always leaned, if not fallen, leftward. Fair enough. That is the function, the reason for existence, of the editorial page of any newspaper: to present the viewpoint of the editors. Once upon a time, however, an effort was made to keep the editorial pink ink from seeping through to the rest of the Times. Kohn notes that Arthur Hays Sulzberger, who shepherded the Times to the reputation of respectability that it is currently squandering, wrote in the 1950s that "...no matter how we view the world, our responsibility lies in reporting accurately that which happens."

As Kohn demonstrates, to devastating effect, those days are long gone. Under the captaincy of Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger, Jr., the grandson of Arthur Hays and the current publisher of the New York Times, the ship he commands does not merely float on the Red Sea. It's taking on water, and he's standing amid ships, bailing it onto the deck.

A few years ago I spent several weeks dissecting the Times for my poor, long-suffering New York-born wife, reading their headlines and stories and pointing out the slant and how it was done. I wish that Kohn had written JOURNALISTIC FRAUD back then; he does the same thing I did, and does it much better than I ever could. Kohn examines what journalists refer to as the five Ws and the H --- Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How --- and uses examples culled directly from the Times's pages to demonstrate beyond any reasonable doubt how the Times slants and distorts its reporting to project a left-wing viewpoint.

The indictment of bias here is based not upon a random story here and there but on a demonstrably repeated and systemic pattern of distorting the reporting of its news in an effort to project its editorial viewpoint and to influence the nation's agenda accordingly. This isn't a matter of an off-key note or two. As Kohn demonstrates and documents in JOURNALISTIC FRAUD, this is a symphony that has been playing to the cheap seats for years.

Kohn does more than simply and irrefutably present and prove his case, however. He establishes why this distortion, this disguise of editorial opinion of straight news, is significant. Kohn conclusively shows that on Junior Sulzberger's watch, the Times has systematically and deliberately been blurring the line between fact and opinion.

When one picks up a periodical such as The Nation on the Left or National Review on the Right, one knows what one is getting: opinion in the form of essays, commentary, and broadsides from a particular point of view. When one turns on their radio and listens to Rush Limbaugh or Alan Combs, one does not get news --- one gets opinion. The same is true of a newspaper's editorial page. When the news articles begin taking their tone, content and style from the editorial page, however, it is no longer a news story; it becomes propaganda. And given that most of the gentry tend to skim headlines and lead paragraphs, at most, it becomes extremely easy to insidiously sway public opinion.

So why is this a major deal? Why not simply file this under 'SFW' and read another newspaper? Why not simply boycott it, as legions of rabbis in New York and Los Angeles recently exhorted their congregations to do as a result of the Times anti-Israel news coverage? The reason, as Kohn notes, is that the New York Times News Service has over 650 member newspapers who, to borrow a term from radio broadcasters, rip and print New York Times news stories and "analysis" (spelled in the Times lexicon as e-d-i-t-o-r-i-a-l) as if it is gospel.

This sheep-like behavior is not limited to the print media. Television anchormen, from well-groomed Canadian high-school dropouts to failed morning talk show hosts, take their daily marching orders from the Times. The result, regardless, is the same. The journalistic well is poisoned at the source and trucked all over the country. Millions of people drink this water in some way every single morning, and form opinions from it.

Junior Sulzberger has been widely quoted (though not in the Times) as having told his father in the early 1970s that if an American soldier came face to face with a North Vietnamese soldier he (Junior) "...would want to see the American guy get shot. It's the other guy's country." One could chalk up this unfortunate statement to the exuberance, the impetuousness of youth. However, it appears from the state and slant of the Times that Sulzberger has not set aside all of the follies of childhood.

Yet Kohn sees the possibility of redemption. He sets forth in JOURNALISTIC FRAUD a scenario whereby the Times could regain its respectability and once again become the newspaper that was respected for its objectivity, as opposed to being fit for fodder for late night television monologues. For this, and for so many other reasons, JOURNALISTIC FRAUD is indispensable for anyone who reads, and cares, about the news and how it is reported.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Mr. Kohn hits the nail on the head about the New York Times. Being from the Midwest, I never realized that the Times had such far-reaching influence. With over 650 media outlets that subscribe to their news wire service, their news bias is picked up and run in the majority of daily newspapers throughout the U.S., including my daily newspaper. It is frightening to see how, over the years, they have expanded their editorializing from the editorial and commentary pages to the front page -- which should be used exclusively for reporting, not editorializing. His succinct and popular writing style makes this a quick and enjoyable read.

The New York Times must loath readers like Bob Kohn. He doesn't read just the headlines and the leads, he reads entire articles. Not only does he read the entire article, he analyzes what he has read. His analysis has led him to a conclusion similar to that of many faithful Times readers: the newspaper of record is editorializing under the guise of hard news. But, where most of us make the observation and grumble, Mr. Kohn has written a book, and a convincing one at that. The bonus is that a conscientious reader can use Kohn's analysis when reading any newspaper, whether far left, far right or moderate. Kohn is very clear about several points right up front -- and reiterates them throughout: 1) he is a dedicated NYT reader, 2) he has no objection to the NYT, or any newspaper, editorializing on the Op-Ed pages or in articles that are clearly marked "analysis" but heartily objects to editorializing in articles that purport to be hard news and 3) he believes -- and makes a good case to back his belief -- that the NYT has strayed far from its founding principles to "give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect or interests involved."

As the first step in his analysis, Kohn takes the reader through the basics of hard news writing and objectivity. Then, using quotes from NYT articles, he demonstrates how a writer can introduce subjectivity (i.e., opinion) through manipulation of the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of a hard news article. From there, he explores various other techniques, including misleading headlines, distorted leads, burying information at the end of an article or "below the fold" and polls -- always using NYT quotes as illustration. He is convincing. Actually, he is very convincing.

One of the most fascinating parallels he draws is between NYT coverage of the present Bush administration with that of the Nixon administration and Watergate, when the NYT admirably stuck to the facts without embellishment. Granted, the facts were damning in themselves and needed no embellishment, but that is exactly Kohn's point: let the facts to the damning, not the ideological beliefs of the writer or publisher.

Back in the '80s, I read a very popular book, "Hidden Persuaders", analyzed techniques (and tricks) the advertising industry uses to sell products. Although some of the book seemed to be a bit over-the-top and, at times, reaching to make a point, after reading it, I have never viewed an advertisement quite the same way. "Journalistic Fraud" packs the same wallop: on occasion, Kohn goes over the top and appears to be more conservative than the moderate he claims to be, but having read it, I will never read a newspaper article (in the NYT or elsewhere) with quite the same innocence. That is good.

Mr Kohn, clearly someone who loves the NY Times newspaper, writes a very interesting and engrossing expose of exactly how the Times purposefully distorts the news. Mr Kohn provides a reasoned argument that the Times has lost its way and seems incapable of reporting the news without inserting its editorial opnion.

Throughout the book, Mr Kohn sites numerous, real examples from the Times, and demonstrates the methods employed by the various writers to insert opinion or innuendo disguised as fact. Though the information and examples could have been dry, Mr Kohn's writing style is lively, informative and interesting.

The temperment of this book is even handed, not the shrill tone of some other books purporting to expose wrong doing in other public institutions. Mr Kohn also suggests ways for the the NY Times to improve, get back to reporting real news, and continue as an important institution.

I highly recommend this book. It is useful for not only tracking the distortions of the news by the NY Times, but can be applied, with equal effectiveness, to network news, CNN, Fox, et al

Buy this book, it's outstanding.

The tone of this book is not inflammatory, unlike some others of the same genre from both sides (Al Franken's ".Liars." being a notable example). So if you're a liberal you should be able to get through it without taking a chainsaw to it. Both conservatives and liberals will learn things they might have been unaware of before, and certainly will never read the NY Times the same way again.

Mr. Kohn takes the basic tenets of journalism - who, what, when, where, why and how -- and applies them to specific and numerous examples of headlines and articles from the Times. In many cases, even without his narrative, it is obvious that these basic principles were ignored. Indeed, he helps the argument along further by imbuing this omissions with sinister motivations. One could initially write this off as the whinings of a right-wing conspiracy, but there are really too many examples, with too much impartial evidentiary support, to trivialize the author's possible agenda.

In a best case scenario, if the NYT did indeed commit accidental errors in its practice of journalism, that in itself calls to question the quality of the "nation's newspaper".

As a conservative, I was less angry than saddened that such an eggregious and overwhelming abuse of power has been practiced for the last generation.

This is not the all-too-familiar whine from the right about the unfair and unbalanced "liberal media." The author is a reasonable and perfectly sane citizen who deplores the recent conversion of the NYT from the newpaper of record to a yellow sheet that editorializes in many front page stories. Chapters 3 through 12 analyze in detail, with many pertinent examples, the techniques that reporters and editors of the Times deploy in order to insinuate the paper's editorial slant into what purport to be straight news stories.

The only aspect I dislike is that Bob Kohn harps a bit too much on a theme song entitled "Mean Old Times Picking on Bushie." Aside from that, I fear that the book may become an underground best seller in journalism schools. Read the wrong way, it is an ambitious young reporter's guide on how to move up from the Podunk Chronicle to the New York Times, in 10 easy lessons.

Get it and, as Glenn Reynolds says, "Read the whole thing."

A primer for exposing journalistic fraud. With one example after another, Bob Kohn shows how the New York Times offers lessons on how NOT to practice objective journalism.

Journalism was never pure, professional or objective as some would claim or like to believe. Yes, journalism has exposed crimes, practiced freedom of the press, and serviced multiple causes, but having a degree in journalism or owning an independent newspaper does not appear to guarantee adherence to professional principles. In dissecting the Times, Kohn applies a simple professional process: Take an actual headline or lead, analyze it using basic journalistic standards (who, where, what, when and how), indicate the variations from the standard, and show how the faulty piece could have been easily edited to get the story straight and unbiased.

The American public needs to accept the fact that no newspaper leaves its editorial biases and interests to the editorial page. The examples of some journalism career paths are revealing in this respect: reporters become columnists, columnists become `analysts', newspapers make analysts `experts', and each move adds to the writer's income and book royalties, and new reporters are smart enough to see what pays best.

Yet newspapers claim to be objective or non-ideological in their reporting. As Kohn shows, you can't get past the bias, the distortions in the lead, the misleading headlines, the opinions, the labels (`ultraconservatives' on the right and `progressives' on the left; liberals do not exist), the loaded language, crusades, polls, and placement. Biased reporting describes an event using a misleading, passive voice, or claims without evidence or attribution an event as `staged' or `billed, or mangles simple factual stories, e.g., the non-looting of Iraqi artifacts. And then editors gloss over gross errors with buried, mealy-mouthed corrections. Sadly, such poor journalism is contagious, accepted and perpetuated as standard.

Here is an alternative: Build your own newspaper. Use the Internet. Read multiple sources. Establish a source's credibility and re-assess it often. Get several perspectives. Check blog sites. Look for clear confirmation, not second-tier papers lapping up and repeating the Times' biases.

If you only read one book on bias in the media, read Bob Kohn's "Journalistic Fraud."

Rather than just complain about how the news is slanted, Kohn actually takes you through the process, step-by-step, in the most easily readable style you'll ever come across for a book on the media. Conservatives will love how Kohn takes apart the New York Times, the fountainhead of liberal thought, but moderates and even liberals will appreciate the fact that Kohn doesn't do any name-calling. His keen, beautifully-written media analysis will be respected by everyone.

Nor is this a tirade against the Times's editorial page; he lets others complain about the left-wing ideologies of the Times. He simply takes you though examples drawn from the news pages of the Times, points out both the blatant and subtle techniques the editors use to influence your take on the news, and by letting the facts speak for themselves, he lets you come to your own conclusions.

By the time you're done, well, you'll never read the New York Times, or any newspaper, the same way again. I've never had more fun with a book on media bias and I'm certain this will go down in the annals as one of the classics in its field. I'd like to climb a mountain and shout: BUY THIS BOOK! Your satisfaction is absolutely guaranteed.

Kohn describes well-known techniques of unobjective reporting that afflict many publications, sometimes even accidentally. The NYT, 25 years ago, was my single favorite politcal/economics news source, but after I started reading The Economist, the NYT suffered by comparison, especially in the last few years.

Regardless of one's political persuasion, if someone is not well-versed in these techniques, it's worth reading this book,
plus "How to Lie with Statistics" and "How to Lie with Maps."

Overall, I thought the book was clearly-written, although sometimes unnecessarily strident.

I understand the following was not Kohn's purpose, but I would have rated the book higher if he had included more material on methods that readers can employ to detect and neutralize distortions, whether from the NYT or anybody else.

It is well worth reading several articles on the same topic, especially if derived from the same press release - consistent biases show up quickly when the articles are nearly identical, but whose headlines are radically different. Also, the otherwise hard-to-detect "omitted fact" distortion is much easier to discover.

In high school, we were taught never to take any single source on faith, and were constantly pointed at contradictory writings that we had to compare.... but it was hard work then.

This is much easier for the normal reader in the Web era. For example, http://www.realclearpolitics.com each day offers a useful set of links to online articles and editorials, transcripts of talk shows, polls, etc. Although RCP's own editorial content is right-leaning, one can ignore that and just use the wealth of pointers to articles and opinions that span the political spectrum.

[Note: I'm a Silicon-Valley-type mixed liberal/conservative independent voter, and usually prefer conservative Democrats or liberal Republicans, so I have no anti-NYT axe to grind. I'm sad that the world's #1 newspaper is a less reliable source than it once was ... but thank goodness for the Web.]

Bob Kohn has done an enormous service to the newspaper-reading public. He has carefully analyzed several years of New York Times stories, and demonstrates, with painstaking clarity and unbelievable persuasion, that the NY Times either distorts the truth, or makes it up, to promote its own political agenda. Both Liberals and Conservatives, not to mention Moderates and Independents, will find this book must reading. This is one of the best journalistic commentaries I have ever read, and that goes way back to Walter Lippman and beyond!