‘That Is Hilarious’: WaPo Sparks Criticism After Initially Labeling Reporters ‘Conservative’

The Washington Post is receiving criticism after initially calling reporters “conservative” for their reporting on the “Twitter Files.”

Writer Walter Kirn shared a screenshot of an article published by the Post about independent journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss.

“As head of trust and safety at Twitter, [Yoel] Roth was involved in many of the platform’s decisions about what posts to remove and what accounts to suspend. His communications with other Twitter officials have been posted in recent days as part of what Musk calls the Twitter Files, a series of tweets by conservative journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss,” the Post reported on Monday.

This is baldly inaccurate. @mtaibbi is not a conservative journalist, as anyone familiar with his work knows. pic.twitter.com/vK4mnhf8xc

— Walter Kirn (@walterkirn) December 13, 2022

Twitter users quickly took issue with the label.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted, “The editorial policy of The Washington Post and many Brooklyn-based liberal digital sites is to falsely label people as ‘right-wing’ as some weird punishment for deviating from liberal orthodoxy. All this term really means is: ‘one who sometimes rejects Dem Party orthodoxy.’”

The editorial policy of The Washington Post and many Brooklyn-based liberal digital sites is to falsely label people as “right-wing” as some weird punishment for deviating from liberal orthodoxy. All this term really means is: “one who sometimes rejects Dem Party orthodoxy.”

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 13, 2022

The Chicks on the Right Twitter account argued, “OF COURSE the [Washington Post] is framing the narrative incorrectly. OF COURSE they are. It wouldn’t be WaPo if they didn’t.”

OF COURSE the @washingtonpost is framing the narrative incorrectly. OF COURSE they are. It wouldn’t be WaPo if they didn’t.

— Chicks On The Right (@chicksonright) December 13, 2022

One tweet stated, “LIES LIES AND MORE LIES, [Matt Taibbi], and [Bari Weiss] are classic liberals! I guess that doesn’t fit the narrative [Washington Post].”

LIES LIES AND MORE LIES, @mtaibbi, and @bariweiss are classic liberals! I guess that doesn’t fit the narrative @washintonpost

— EndtheMediaDivide (@BentizK) December 13, 2022

Read more tweets below:

And nor is Bari Weiss.

What they mean is “member of the out-group” because they are programmed to think only of the friend-enemy distinction.

— Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry (@pegobry) December 13, 2022

We are all conservative journalists now. I’d be better described as post-liberal but eh

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) December 13, 2022

Nor is @bariweiss, who is a centrist, far as I can tell. Newsrooms are so far to be the Left that they literally cannot read the world on which they are supposed to report and analyze. And the people who run them don’t care!

— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) December 13, 2022

Newsrooms are so lazy, lacking any sense of due diligence they’re not even aware of the political leanings of fellow journalists? Or is it simply a knee jerk “if you don’t agree with us you’re far right”?

— PA VOTER (Marla) (@PAKAG2020) December 13, 2022

I absolutely hate stuff like this. Journalists are supposed to present the truth, no matter how they feel about it. Instead, it’s become common practice to trim the facts to fit their own version of reality. It’s a total betrayal of journalistic ethics.

— Billy Binion (@billybinion) December 13, 2022

According to Fox News, after the outlet reached out to the Post, the word “conservative” was deleted from the story.

However, as the outlet points out, there was no editor’s note and no correction was posted.

Taibbi reacted to the article, telling Fox News, “That is hilarious.”

He added, “Anyone who steps out of line in any way is labeled conservative or pro-Trump now. It’s automatic and predictable.”

Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced last month he would be releasing the “Twitter Files on free speech suppression.”

He continued, “The public deserves to know what really happened.”

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