When the NYT finally admitted yesterday that the Hunter Biden laptop was real and that they have had access to many/most/all of its contents for a long time we reached an important milestone. Not the admission itself, but the fact that the paper did not feel obligated to officially retract its oft repeated charge that the story was “Russian disinformation”. Apparently, the paper is not in the least embarrassed by this disclosure and will not be held accountable by its peers in the media for publishing “fake news”. There will be no downside for this late admission. In fact, to the extent that it helped Joe Biden win the presidency it’s a good thing. As Lester Holt famously remarked “fairness is overrated”.
The damage is more long term. The last shreds of pretense of objectivity have been blown away. No serious seeker of useful, objective, verifiable information will look to the former “newspaper of record”. Instead, it will be regarded as nothing more than a US clone of the old Soviet Pravda. Of course, if you agree with the paper’s agenda, its like eating an ice cream sunday, a real sugar high. Confirmation bias when fulfilled is very satisfying if not informative. The danger is that when this fantasy world view meets reality bad things can happen.