The Wolfe Affair

by Gary Fouse

The New York Times is back in the news again. That is a pun because the Times, like all newspapers, should be reporting the news-not making it. Last week the Times fired Lauren Wolfe, a  freelance editor, after she tweeted that watching Joe Biden’s plane land in Washington gave her chills. For that, she was fired.

This, of course, brings back memories of MSNBC’s Chris Matthews telling us how he got thrills going up his leg listening to an Obama speech. And that was live on MSNBC! Did they fire him for that? Of course not, but that’s MSNBC. Eventually, Matthews was canned, but that was for another matter.

Naturally, the Wolfe affair has caused a firestorm on the left who are defending her freedom of speech. In this case, I certainly agree with them though watching Biden’s plane land in Washington basically left me depressed. That is not the point. 

When you Google Lauren Wolfe and the New York Times, you will need to go to about the 7th page to find conservative-source articles on this matter. (Something about those algorithms.) As you wade through the liberal sources, you miss some obvious points that are not mentioned. First of all, how ironic and strange is it that the Times fires someone for showing pro-Biden bias-something the Times does everyday-not on Twitter, but on its front page and opinion page. In fact, had Lauren written a glowing op-ed about Biden’s “historic” landing in Washington, she would still be working at the Times today. In fact, had she written said piece and plastered it on the front page, she would still have a job. When it comes to pro-Democrat, anti-Republican, anti-Trump bias, nobody in the printed media outdoes the New York Times.  

The liberal media rather than point out this irony, prefers to blame Wolfe’s firing on the conservative media/conservative media watchdogs who supposedly were demanding she be fired. Controversial freelance journalist Glenn Greenwald, who last I heard was living somewhere in the Brazilian Amazon, is getting blamed for breaking the story about Wolfe’s tweet. Of course, when it comes to politics, Greenwald is all over the map, but that’s another topic. And since when does the New York Times care about what conservatives think?

Truth is, the New York Times has long since degenerated into a propaganda arm of the Democrat party and has no credibility when it comes to objective journalism. If they are going to fire people for pro-Biden bias, they may as well fire themselves. But what does truth matter in journalism any more? It’s all opinion-based, and so-called journalists and papers like the Times are getting Pulitzer prizes for making stuff up-witness the Russian-Trump hoax.

Wolfe should not have been fired, and the Times should stop pretending to be impartial when it comes to politics. Once again, they have made themselves a laughing stock in the field of journalism.