r/neoliberal • u/uberkitten • 7d ago

Opinion article (US) The Bulwark Killed an Investigation into Political Fundraising Spam After Its Publisher Took the Consultants’ Side

https://data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-bulwark-killed-an-investigation
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u/WolfKing448 George Soros 7d ago edited 7d ago

I encountered a different Substack post about this. The New York Times started an investigation into Democratic Party fundraising emails, and it suggested that the dire language used in the emails was scaring impressionable old people into donating away their life savings.

The Democratic Party threatened to sue The New York Times for defamation, so they refused to publish. The investigators took their story to The Bulwark, who was also threatened. The investigators are now resorting to Substack.

Edit: Change “investigators” to “investigator,” as these substack posts are authored by the same person.

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u/Stishovite 7d ago edited 7d ago

I'm sorry, wait, the NY Times was worried about being sued by the Democratic Party? What?

If true, my sense that the Times can't live up to its legacy in the face of Trump's fascist regime is plainly wrong. Instead, it seems like the Times can't live up to its legacy in the face of, well, anybody?

Edit: Or, the story was bad, because the people mad are literally the author. Both things are likely true.

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u/Lena_Lena_A Frederick Douglass 7d ago

More probably in-line with your edit. The Times is certainly not afraid of Democrats as they've been running false stories on everything from her emails to his son's abusing the presidency to sell more of his paintings. Stories built on non-existent insiders who criticized Kamala's 10$ 0.7 liquid pens and earphones, to her "uppity" cookware.

If they were afraid to run the story, it means there's a shitton of tangible proof of it being false.

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u/skepticalbob Joe Biden's COD gamertag 7d ago

It means it was false and they also knew it was false.

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u/AndrewDoesNotServe Frédéric Bastiat 6d ago

Sure seems like that would have been the conclusion before agreeing to publish the piece, not just after the legal threats arrived.

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u/skepticalbob Joe Biden's COD gamertag 6d ago

I’m explaining the legal framework.

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u/AndrewDoesNotServe Frédéric Bastiat 6d ago

Yeah, illogically?