It's Not the NYT's Job to Publish Press Releases for the Trump Regime

I don't subscribe to the New York Times, but I sometimes see their stories reprinted in my local newspapers. 

On Monday, the Pioneer Press reprinted Ana Swanson's coverage of how the U.S.-Canada tariff deal fell apart. The headline, deck, and first 14 paragraphs were a completely one-sided version from the U.S. trade rep's point of view.

In paragraph 15 (which came well after the jump), she wrote, "The Canadian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on [the trade rep's] description..." And then went on to give a vague descriptions of Prime Minister Mark Carney's criticism. 

By the time her story was written, I had read online what the Canadian criticisms were, so it seems likely the New York Times also knew. In paragraph 18, Swanson mentions that the U.S.

asked for concessions that would affect Canada's culture and maintenance of protections for the French language and demanded that Canada take out tariffs against non-U.S. trading partners...

Seems like more detail on those two things could have been offered to balance the 14 paragraphs that started the story.

Yesterday I heard a story on The Daily about how the talks fell apart, which was much more balanced and made clear what was being asked of the Canadians. 

Today, the Star Tribune carried a second New York Times story by Swanson and Matina Stevens-Gridneff, the voice heard on that Daily podcast. It shows just how shallow that first Swanson story was. 

The talks had been going well. Carney had even put a distasteful thing Trump wanted on the table for discussion (completing the Biden-canceled Keystone XL pipeline inside Canada). But then, as we know always happens with the Trump regime, "it was as if 'shadow figures were suddenly in the room' raising topics that had supposedly been settled in previous days." 

The story makes it clear that these late-developing topics and concessions, which the U.S. made clear were required for a successful outcome, were imposed on Canada. This is the opposite of what the first story had implied. Canadian sovereignty was very much on the line: Not only what languages it speaks, but its right to make trade agreements. 

In rushing to a scoop for the Monday story, Swanson misrepresented what happened and created propaganda for the Trump regime. The Pioneer Press helped by reprinting it. 

Whether most people will hear the Canadian side of things and understand that this is no different from any other bunch of lies the Trump regime tells, I cannot say. But we will all feel the effect of price increases if the tariffs happen.