Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.: The NYT Disapproves Of You Knowing The Truth--But At Least It's Up-Front About That; And I Add: This Is PC Progressivism--It's Not About The NYT

It, like the rest of the PMSM, is still suppressing Russiagategate.

How did it report on the Danchenko revelations?:

   So how did the New York Times handle the outing of Mr. Danchenko this week? As if somebody definitely did something wrong, and it was whoever brought Mr. Danchenko’s identity to light.
   “Trump Allies Help Expose Identity of F.B.I. Informant,” went a headline over a 2,200-word story, exuding disapproval that Congress and members of the public were holding a previous administration to account when the Times had chosen not to.
   Don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say. The paper’s coverage of the Danchenko outing is everything a Freudian slip should be—a full-blown Technicolor revelation of neurosis. But that doesn’t mean the newsroom is not full of curious, persistent and hardheaded people who are trying to find out things. You can see it in much of their reporting. But in the perfumed ranks of senior editors, where this story was likely reshaped to meet institutional and political needs, something else prevails: fear. Fear of the loss of status, fear of being thrown to the wolves in the next social-media eruption.
   I might even be tempted to say that everyone involved in the paper’s pathologically revealing treatment of the Danchenko story should be frog-marched out of journalism on principle. Except for one thing: At least the Times reported the story, and even confirmed Mr. Danchenko’s identity after it was exposed by diligent volunteers on the web. Other news outlets almost uniformly ignored the latest revelation despite its centrality to the melodrama that engulfed the country for three years. If you think something is wrong with American journalism, you’re right.

And: some commenters suggest that this is a shot across the bow of the WSJ's news division for also not covering the story. Others say: if you want to know what's going on, you have to read the WSJ...but you have to read the editorial page...

   One other thing, to harp on the point:

This isn't about the NYT nor even the MSM generally: this is political correctness. This is the PC left--PC progressivism. The problem is the political view that has taken over the American left. Its central tenet--or, rather, attitude or commitment--is: facts must be subordinated to dogma. This attitude or commitment simply becomes most notable in its application to institutions that are supposed to be devoted specifically to finding and disseminating truth: academia and journalism. There the application of the view is most notable, in part because it requires the suppression of rational discussion and criticism, and in part because something more like an iron fist is needed to do that there. 

   But don't blame the Times. Nor the Post. Nor NPR. Nor the rest of the PMSM--blame progressivism and its central commitment: the idea of the politically correct and incorrect.

   Well, you can, of course, blame the media and those who comprise it for accepting such an evil, inhuman, antirational view... But don't fixate on the fact that they have the courage of their convictions.

Blame the convictions.