New York Magazine writer admits media 'afraid' to criticize the left on COVID, Black Lives Matter

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New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait was mocked for being two years too late when admitting the liberal media censors itself in a tweet and article on Tuesday.

Chait promoted an article he authored that urged "progressive media" to "speak out against the madness" to counter what he admits has been a culture refusing to question left-wing ideas. On his Twitter account, he also emphasized that many media pundits have admitted the same to him privately.

"The Washington Post's media critic admitted publicly what many people have told me privately: they didn't criticize crazy left-wing fads because they were afraid for their jobs," Chait tweeted.

Chait was then slammed for revealing the cowardice of many progressive writers such as himself.

Jonathan Chait revealed many media members admitted to him in private that they were afraid of speaking out against attacks on COVID-19 origin questions out of fear of losing their jobs. ((Colter Peterson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))

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Ron DeSantis Rapid Response director Christina Pushaw wrote, "Democrats are the party of censorship, and ironically, their hall monitors with the title ‘journalist’ are some of the most ardent and vocal censors for the regime."

"Why didn’t you admit it publicly?" The Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller asked.

"I'll commend these people for their bravery two years from now, just like they discovered their nerves two years late," conservative personality Noam Blum joked.

Radio host Erick Erickson tweeted, "It's almost like there's a threat to a free press from the left."

Townhall.com columnist Brad Slager tweeted, "I love that Chait writes this out: He bluntly confesses his ‘posture was one of cowardice and midcareer risk management.’ Yet his tweet admits to his own cowardice. Why not previously report what these people said to you?"

Jonathan Chait criticized a lack of debate of the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

CNN contributor Mary Katherine Ham wrote, "There’s ton of cowardice and conformity in media. I have the advantage of coming sorta pre-canceled -a symptom itself of the conformity- so it’s easier for me to deviate. But would my midcareer be better if I’d just said whatever everyone else did? Of course. Buck up & be weird!"

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Chait’s article on the topic gave the Black Lives Matter riots and the origin of the COVID-19 virus as examples of issues considered "taboo" by progressive writers at the time.

"For every person humiliated or fired for a small or nonexistent offense, many other people will refuse to criticize even transparently absurd left-wing pieties," Chait wrote. "Denouncing the arson and looting that often sprung up around the George Floyd protests violated one such taboo."

The George Floyd riots were a subject that Jonathan Chait admitted was "taboo" for some media members. (Fox News)

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He added, "Progressives decided that the hypothesis that COVID-19 may have originated in a laboratory rather than zoonotically was ‘racist’ — even though this was a purely scientific question, the evidence was and is murky, and it was easier to imagine racist behavior resulting from a theory blaming COVID on Chinese cultural practices than a theory blaming China’s government. Journalists at mainstream organs followed this convention, essentially turning a scientific question into a political one. When institutions adopt illiberal norms of debate that make it impossible to challenge an accusation of racism or sexism, they open themselves inevitably to abuse."