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A new report from Media Matters and GLAAD finds that The New York Times excluded the perspectives of trans people from two-thirds of its stories about anti-trans legislation in the year following public criticism for its handling of the topic. Media Matters previously reported that the Times helped fuel a right-wing anti-trans panic in 2022 by platforming anti-trans extremists, painting rising transgender identification as a social contagion, and fearmongering about the costs of transgender acceptance. In February 2023, the paper received two separate open letters: one from a coalition of 150+ organizations and leaders, including GLAAD, and a separate letter signed by hundreds of Times contributors that criticized the outlet's contributions to a deadly anti-LGBTQ culture war. The newspaper attempted to conflate both efforts, dismissing all criticisms of its coverage as merely “protests organized by advocacy groups.” Between February 15, 2023, when those letters were separately delivered to the Times, and February 15, 2024, the Times published at least 65 articles that mentioned U.S. anti-trans legislation in either their headline or lead paragraphs. We counted how often the paper quoted openly trans or gender-nonconforming sources, cited anti-trans misinformation or talking points without context or adequate fact-checking, and accurately represented the records of anti-trans figures mentioned in its stories. Our findings: 66% of the articles did not quote even one trans or gender-nonconforming person. 18% of the articles quoted misinformation from anti-trans activists without adequate fact-checking or additional context. 6 articles obscured the anti-trans background of sources, erasing histories of extremist rhetoric or actions.
The NYT is not just a newspaper, it styles itself as “the paper of record”. So yes, it is perfectly valid to set high standards for it.
In that regard it is not too high a standard to require that a paper that writes about a certain community talks to members of that community. You cannot write a credible article about (let’s say) Los Angeles and only quote people from New York. For any newspaper that would be considered absurd and lazy.
I can see both your and @BananaTrifleViolin s point.
You’re not wrong, but neither is he. If there’s an article about some piece of anti-trans legislation that would effect trans people, I think pretty often the interviews on “how do you feel about the legislation” would get similar answers: “I don’t like it and I’d like to have the same rights as other people”
Tangentially related sketch
Mitchell and Webb Train Safety
That’s only if you assume that trans people can’t have legal or other specific knowledge to contribute. Trans people come from all walks of life and it’s not hard to find people who could tell a newspaper about historical precedence, provide medical background information or do political analysis. It’s not just about people’s feelings after all.
If they’re providing objective analysis, it shouldn’t really matter where it comes from?
I’m sure the New York Times is trying to get the best objective information on a subject. If the experts they find aren’t trans, should they then look specifically for experts on the matter, who also happen to be trans?