The first sentence of the lead story in yesterday’s New York Times (5/19/16) had some surprising news:

Senator Bernie Sanders is opening a two-month phase of his presidential campaign aimed at inflicting a heavy blow on Hillary Clinton in California….

That would be odd behavior—a political campaign having the professed aim of damaging an opponent rather than advancing its candidate. The New York Times wouldn’t lead with this sensational claim unless it had hard evidence, right?

Well, you have to go to the seventh paragraph of the story–co-bylined by Patrick Healy, Yamiche Alcindor and Jeremy W. Peters–before you find an actual quote from anybody. And that’s this:

Tad Devine, a senior adviser to Mr. Sanders, said the campaign did not think its attacks would help Mr. Trump in the long run, but added that the senator’s team was “not thinking about” the possibility that they could help derail Mrs. Clinton from becoming the first woman elected president.

This is Bad Journalism 101: You come up with a thesis, like “Bernie Sanders wants to hurt Hillary Clinton’s chances of beating Donald Trump.” You take your thesis to your source, and ask them to agree with it; like any sensible spokesperson, they decline to comment on it. You take their no-comment as an endorsement of your thesis—and that becomes the lead headline in the nation’s most influential newspaper.

Full story: http://fair.org/home/first-do-some-harm-how-to-smear-a-disfavored-candidate-on-nyts-front-page/

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