Jeffrey Lord
Jeffrey Lord is a contributing writer for NewsBusters. Lord is a former White House political director in the Reagan White House and aide to HUD Secretary Jack Kemp.
Last week in this space the focus was on Time magazine’s glorification of now Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
The point was that the then-current cover of Time – an illustration of Harris that, as noted, presented her as “a cross somewhere between Miss America and a religious icon” – was in reality an illustration of just how the “mainstream media” was thoroughly in the tank for Democrats and the left in general, and, this election year, Harris in particular.
A week later, the New York Post is headlining another story about Time – a story that might be seen as reporting on the consequences for Time for tilting so visibly for Democrats.
The Post headline:
Time cuts 22 staffers at magazine, cites ‘significant challenges’ across media industry
The Post story reports:
Time is slashing 22 jobs as the volatile media environment continues to squeeze the iconic magazine.
Time chief executive officer Jessica Sibley said Tuesday that the company is slashing roles across several departments including editorial, technology, sales & marketing and Time Studios.
In a memo obtained by the Post, Sibley told staffers: “It is incredibly hard to say goodbye to our talented colleagues; we are deeply grateful for their contributions to Time’s culture, mission and legacy, and we will closely support them through this period of transition.”
The CEO said the decision was made so that the company can build a “sustainable” future due to headwinds facing the industry and economic uncertainty.
… A rep for Time declined to comment on the company’s headcount.
Time magazine was under fire earlier this month for its fawning cover story featuring Vice President Kamala Harris, despite her refusing an interview with the publication. Conservatives ripped the piece over the absence of Harris’ voice and the vice president’s opaque policy agenda.”
Got that?
After a serious record of tilting coverage of a supposed mainstream news magazine to the left, following that ‘fawning cover story’ on Harris, Time is forced to announce that, as the Post reports, it is:
… “slashing roles across several departments including editorial, technology, sales & marketing and Time Studios” – specifically cutting the jobs of 22 staffers.
And right there is exactly what the inevitable leftist tilt of a so-called mainstream, ‘just the facts’ produces when readers/consumers begin to realize what they are reading is not as what was advertised.
This isn’t rocket science.
The problem is that the ‘journalists’ involved, whether at Time or other so-called “mainstream” publications are in fact seriously left-minded leftist activists pretending – to themselves and readers – to be something they are not. Which is politically neutral, ‘just the facts’ journalists.
And, without question, their audience is not stupid. They know left-wing bias when they see it. They know, as pointed out in this space last week, that when Time glorifies Harris but back there in the ancient age of 2012 went about dissing Senator John McCain’s running mate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, that happens because of left-wing bias. They want a woman on the ticket – but it has to be a leftist woman. Or they will target her. The same, by the way, goes for African-Americans. When Justice Thurgood Marshall, America’s first black Supreme Court justice, retired – the call went up that this was a ‘black seat’ and the nominee to replace Marshall had to be black. Then-President George HW Bush complied – and nominated the black Judge Clarence Thomas. The left went ballistic, because Thomas was conservative.
The fact is that this kind of bias has been going on for so long that the American people – aka the reading and viewing audience – gets the game.
And so, in the current instance, many have stopped reading Time magazine.
Which in turn translates into a loss of revenue and staff cuts.
Imagine that.
This article was originally published by MRC NewsBusters.
