Eric StarkmanEric Starkman

I’m fessing up to a secret that will cause me great shame among my mostly liberal family and friends: I read Breitbart News. Not only that, despite attracting some readers whose views I deplore, I don’t regard Breitbart as any less biased than what has become of the New York Times, a newspaper I’ve read every day for more than three decades. For all the talk about Breitbart being a source of “false” news, it was the New York Times that deceived its readers into believing Donald Trump had absolutely no possibility of being elected president.

My entrée into the world of Breitbart was sparked by Hillary Clinton’s derision of Trump supporters as “deplorables.” I’m instinctively wary when Ivy-educated coastal elitists resort to trashing swaths of less privileged people because they have differing views and principles. My journalism and PR executive idol, former Times columnist William Safire, for years was called all sorts of derogatory names by liberals because he once worked as a speechwriter for Richard Nixon, but they eventually had to sing a different tune when he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for exposing wrongdoing in the Carter Administration. Among Safire’s impressive insights was fingering Clinton as a “congenital liar” nearly 20 years ago.

Based on what I read in the Times about Breitbart being the bible for white supremacists, racists and anti-Semites, I was expecting a publication with screaming derogatory headlines about blacks and Jews and featuring photos of men donning swastikas and parading with hoods and white sheets. It is, in fact, simply a chaotic website featuring news and commentary that has appeared elsewhere, with a conservative spin. The site’s aggressive hawking of Breitbart-branded clothing and the overabundant display of “click bait” ads remind me of a zany discount department store in my native Toronto called Honest Ed’s that features such slogans as “Come in and get lost” and “Only the floors are crooked.” Breitbart makes no pretense about having any class or decorum.

If Breitbart is indeed guilty of publishing “fake news,” it’s because virtually all its news content links to articles and broadcasts from mainstream publications. Moreover, the site routinely features articles and comments that paint Trump in a negative light. Breitbart’s critical coverage of mainstream media dishonesty and bias is stellar and easily verifiable; the site’s readers have good reason for distrusting mainstream media publications and believing that “CNN sucks.”

As a Jewish person who has long been sensitive to anti-Semitic undertones, I’ve yet to read anything on Breitbart that remotely suggests or promotes hatred of Jews. The site is decidedly pro-Israel, perhaps because it was launched by two committed Jews who hatched their business idea while traveling through the country. Israel runs travel ads on the site. One of Breitbart’s most high profile journalists is an observant, Yarmulke-wearing Harvard law graduate who majored in Jewish studies. The site is more critical of Rep. Keith Ellison’s comments at a private gathering that Israel has undue influence on U.S. foreign policy than The Forward, a liberal Jewish news and cultural affairs publication.

As for the New York Times, the newspaper’s wholehearted endorsement of Hillary Clinton and its unbridled hatred of Donald Trump has caused it to lose any semblance of fairness or objectivity. This article, by former public editor Margaret Sullivan, is but one example of the lengths the Times’ editors went to hamper the emergence of Bernie Sanders, who polls repeatedly showed would have trounced Trump. Times columnists engage in name calling that does Breitbart’s readers proud; Frank Bruni derided Trump for being “fat,” “having an extra chin” and “a guy you wouldn’t want to see riding above a bathing suit.” Paul Krugman recently tweeted that affluent, educated suburbanites who voted for Trump are “fools.” Such is the current level of media discourse that even Nobel Laureates are hurling insults.

It's disingenuous of President Obama and Hillary Clinton to be waging campaigns against the dissemination of “false news.” Obama’s foreign policy advisor is on record saying how gullible reporters are and bragging how they lapped up information he fed them about the Iran deal that the Times says was false and misleading. Hillary Clinton, along with husband Bill, have been caught in so many lies and media deceptions they deserve a lifetime achievement award in the fake news Hall of Fame.

Sadly, the rise of social media has led to a world where “truth” is increasingly not based on facts, but rather a person’s beliefs and prejudices. The New York Times perhaps could once legitimately claim it was the “newspaper of record,” but it has morphed into a publication no more objective or non partisan than Breitbart. Anyone who relies on just one of them for their news and information sees the world through a very narrow and distorted prism.

Just ask Dean Baquet, the Times’ executive editor. Baquet has admitted his newspaper “did not have a handle on how much anxiety there was in the country.” Had Baquet taken the time to familiarize himself with Breitbart and the anger of its readers, his newspaper’s credibility wouldn’t be so badly damaged.

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Eric Starkman is co-founder and president of public relations firm STARKMAN.