Tim Graham devoted a May 31 Media Research Center post to lamenting that the New York Times was eliminating its public editor position: ‘Once again, it is highly ironic that the nation’s top newspapers rage about the president being unaccountable to the public, while they abolish their own offices for dealing with reader complaints.”
Surely Graham could have cited, as an example for the Times to follow, all those conservative news organizations that have public editors and ombudsmen or public editors, like the Washington Times and Fox News and Breitbart and the MRC’s very own “news” division CNSNews.com.
Oh, wait — they don’t, they never have, and they have shown no interest in having one in the future.
Perhaps Graham, being the terrible media critic he is, doesn’t want to admit that the “liberal media” has traditionally had higher standards when it comes to media transparency than the right-wing media ever has. Even if the Times had a public editor for only 20 years, it’s still 20 years longer than any right-wing media outlet has had one.
If Graham is so concerned about the media being “unaccountable to the public” and lacking “offices for dealing with reader complaints,” why isn’t he telling Fox News or Breitbart to pick up where the Times left off and have their own public editors? Why doesn’t he demand that MRC hire an ombudsman?
Because he’s a terrible, hypocritical media critic, that’s why.