Sulzberger and the New York Times political desk are engaged in an interesting experiment, to wit: whether it’s possible for a newspaper to direct the outcome of a campaign and election through sheer, relentless posting
I think 2016 is a much weirder case, given that you had a genuine exogenous shock with the Comey letter that publications like the NYT chose to run with, amid polling that had Clinton pretty comfortably ahead. This year has been a considerably more naked and sustained effort
The “Biden is old” media freak out (which I think is somewhat distinct from the facts around Biden’s age and diminished capacity!) is almost entirely a New York Times created- and sustained project, seemingly at Sulzburger’s direct behest
This is “But her emails” all over - it’s the exact same playbook of normalizing the abnormal shitshow of a confederate circus while dragging down and relentlessly shanking the “normal” side then calling the result balance. We just notice it more when it’s run against a white guy than *any* minority.
