Israel Matzav

Senior New York Times editor defends use of 'Jew tracker'

Some of you might recall that during the 'debate' over Obama's sellout to a nuclear-armed Iran, the New York Times introduced something called a 'Jew tracker,' which correlated Senators' votes with their religion and the number of Jews in their district. When word got out, the 'tracker' was quickly revised. We now know that at least one senior editor at the Times - Greg Brock - regretted the tracker's revisions.

The Times’ “Jew tracker” was described as anti-Semitic and offensive by pro-Israel officials who slammed the paper for feeding into stereotypes about Jewish power and money.

The controversial chart listed all lawmakers who voted against the nuclear deal and highlighted in yellow whether or not that person was Jewish. The chart also included the number of Jewish persons living in each lawmaker’s district.

Following a report by the Free Beacon on the tracker, the New York Times altered the site by removing the column identifying members as Jewish. The paper also edited the report to remove overt references to the relationship between each lawmaker’s religion and his position on the Iran deal.

Despite altering the website to address the material critics viewed as offensive, a senior New York Times editor praised the tracker and fought back against one Jewish critic who had written to express outrage over the post.

“Are you so ignorant that you don’t understand the historical significance of what you’re doing?  Are you so tone deaf? Why don’t you include addresses so that people’s homes can be attacked?” wrote the reader, who requested anonymity, to Greg Brock, a senior Times editor.

“My parents were Holocaust survivors and the first thing the Nazis wanted to know is: where are the Jews?  This merely furthers the classic anti-Semitic trope of dual loyalty,” the reader added.

In a response, Brock defended and praised the tracker, saying he wished the Times has published it “sooner.”

“I’m not going to get into the gutter with you with name calling and saying your email is ‘stupid’—as you said of us,” Brock wrote. “But it would be helpful if you did your homework. You’ll find that we are in excellent journalistic company. I just wish the Times had thought of it sooner so we do not appear to be copying others.”

Brock maintained that Jewish publications, which are written for local Jewish communities, have run similar reports detailing which lawmakers voting for and against the deal are Jewish.

“Do you ever read the Jewish press—some of the finest journalism around, in my humble opinion,” the editor argued. “If you search online right now, you will see that these publications have been keeping a running count of the voting position of Jewish senators and representatives for weeks.”

Anyone  still believe the Times isn't anti-Semitic?

Shabbat Shalom everyone. Don't get your news from the Times.

Labels: anti-Semitism, liberal media bias, New York Times

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:57 PM