• Fellowships
  • Reports
  • Lab
  • Storyboard
    • Nieman Foundation at Harvard
    HOME
    About
    Subscribe
    Archives
              
    Foundation
    Reports
    Storyboard
    LATEST STORY
    There’s another reason the L.A. Times’ AI-generated opinion ratings are bad (this one doesn’t involve the Klan)
    Business Models Mobile & Apps Audience & Social Aggregation & Discovery Reporting & Production
    ABOUT                    SUBSCRIBE
    Nov. 6, 2018, 8 a.m.

    The New York Times wants to preface your Election Night panic with some Election Day zen

    Democracy: a single grain of sand slipping through an hourglass.
    By @jbenton Nov. 6, 2018, 8 a.m.

    If Election 2018 has had a Word of the Year, it might be “bothsidesism,” a second cousin to “whataboutism” and au courant rhetorical weapon against those who treat two disparate phenomena as being of comparable importance. (Broadly speaking, whataboutism is a disease native to cable news pundits, while bothsidesism primarily infects newspaper writers.)

    But Election Day has brought the ultimate in bothsidesism from — of course! — The New York Times. Tonight, the paper will drive millions of nervous tappers and clickers insane by bringing back 2016’s bête noire, THE NEEDLE.

    See, you’re tensing up just looking at it, aren’t you?

    Meanwhile, in typical MSM form, The New York Times is trying to have it both ways by allegedly offering “The Calm Place,” a page on the Internet where “Election” is just that Reese Witherspoon movie.

    It even has /self-care/ in the URL.

    It encourages you to share it with your stressed friends lol:

    Really, you can learn all you need to know about The Calm Place from the stock photo credits.

    CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK (GRASS, CANDLE, ROCKS, ORANGES, DOG, HANDS, VAPOR)

    SO WHICH IS IT NEW YORK TIMES?!?! Do you want hours of white-knuckled existential panic or do you want us to center our qi?

    Joshua Benton is the senior writer and former director of Nieman Lab. You can reach him via email (joshua_benton@harvard.edu) or Twitter DM (@jbenton).
    POSTED     Nov. 6, 2018, 8 a.m.
    Show tags
      TWITTER   FACEBOOK   EMAIL
     
    What’s the best way to follow how the news is changing?
    Our daily email, with all the freshest future-of-journalism news.
    Prefer a once-a-week email? »
    The latest from Nieman Lab
    There’s another reason the L.A. Times’ AI-generated opinion ratings are bad (this one doesn’t involve the Klan)
    Joshua Benton
    The NBA’s next big insider may be an outsider
    Jordan Teicher
    Wired’s un-paywalling of stories built on public data is a reminder of its role in the information ecosystem
    Joshua Benton
    New York Times bundles give European publishers a subscription boost
    Hanaa' Tameez
    A pipeline company is suing Greenpeace for $300 million. A pay-to-play newspaper is accused of tainting the jury pool
    Miranda Green
    Join the 60,000 who get the freshest future-of-journalism news in our daily email.
    There’s another reason the L.A. Times’ AI-generated opinion ratings are bad (this one doesn’t involve the Klan)
    At a time of increasing polarization and rigid ideologies, the L.A. Times has decided it wants to make its opinion pieces less persuasive to readers by increasing the cost of changing your mind.
    The NBA’s next big insider may be an outsider
    While insiders typically work for established media companies like ESPN, Jake Fischer operates out of his Brooklyn apartment and publishes scoops behind a paywall on Substack. It’s not even his own Substack.
    Wired’s un-paywalling of stories built on public data is a reminder of its role in the information ecosystem
    Trump’s wholesale destruction of the information-generating sectors of the federal government will have implications that go far beyond .gov domains.
    Help advance the Nieman Foundation’s mission “to promote and elevate the standards of journalism” by making a donation.

    To promote and elevate the standards of journalism

    Covering thought leadership in journalism

    Pushing to the future of journalism

    Exploring the art and craft of story
    © 2025 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College  /  Some rights reserved
    Harvard Trademark Privacy Digital Accessibility
    Walter Lippmann House    One Francis Ave.    Cambridge, MA 02138    617 495 2237