By Eric Lendrum
(American Greatness) On Tuesday, a writer for New York Magazine conceded that the mainstream media goes to great lengths to avoid criticizing the Left when it comes to issues such as the origins of the Chinese coronavirus and the race riots of 2020.
As reported by Fox News, Jonathan Chait wrote an article and accompanying Tweet encouraging “progressive media” to “speak out against the madness” of today’s culture. He claims that many of his colleagues in the media have told him privately that they understand his critiques, but are terrified of saying so publicly.
“The Washington Post’s media critic admitted publicly what many people have told me privately,” Chait tweeted. “They didn’t criticize crazy left-wing fads because they were afraid for their jobs.”
In his article, Chait listed the violent race riots of 2020, committed largely by the far-left domestic terrorist groups Antifa and Black Lives Matter, as well as theories regarding the origins of the COVID-19 virus as two examples of topics that are considered “taboo” by the mainstream media.
“For every person humiliated or fired for a small or nonexistent offense, many other people will refuse to criticize even transparently absurd left-wing pieties,” said Chait. “Denouncing the arson and looting that often sprung up around the George Floyd protests violated one such taboo.”
On COVID, Chait added, “Progressives decided that the hypothesis that COVID-19 may have originated in a laboratory rather than zoonotically was ‘racist’ — even though this was a purely scientific question, the evidence was and is murky, and it was easier to imagine racist behavior resulting from a theory blaming COVID on Chinese cultural practices than a theory blaming China’s government.”
Chait was subsequently mocked all across Twitter for his statements. Christina Pushaw, former press secretary for Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), declared that Chait’s comments were proof that “Democrats are the party of censorship, and ironically, their hall monitors with the title ‘journalist’ are some of the most ardent and vocal censors for the regime.”
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“It’s almost like there’s a threat to a free press from the Left,” said radio host Erick Erickson.
“I love that Chait writes this out: He bluntly confesses his ‘posture was one of cowardice and midcareer risk management,’” said Townhall.com columnist Brad Slager. “Yet his tweet admits to his own cowardice. Why not previously report what these people said to you?”
Mary Katherine Ham, former Fox News contributor, said that “there’s ton of cowardice and conformity in media. I have the advantage of coming sorta pre-canceled -a symptom itself of the conformity- so it’s easier for me to deviate. But would my midcareer be better if I’d just said whatever everyone else did? Of course. Buck up & be weird!”
