NYT Blurs the Line Between Journalism and Grassroots Advocacy by Asking Readers to Call Senators to Defeat Tax Bill

The New York Times Editorial does not like the Republican tax plan… and they want you to know it.  In a recent editorial, which reads like any late night college screed against the GOP, they encouraged readers to call senators to complain about the reform.  Here are some key paragraphs:

Forgotten in this deal-making are the millions of poor and middle-class families whose tax and health insurance premiums would rise under the Senate bill. Republican lawmakers keep talking about how middle-class families would see tax cuts of about $1,000, or about $19 dollars a week, but those cuts would last only a few years before expiring after 2025. By 2027, families making under $75,000 a year would on average pay more in taxes, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. All told, half of all taxpayers would pay more by that year and two-thirds of people in the middle 20 percent of the income distribution would pay more, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. People earning $40,000 to $50,000 would collectively lose $5.3 billion by paying more in taxes and receiving less in government spending in 2027 while millionaires would gain $5.8 billion, according to the Joint Committee and the Congressional Budget Office.

The bill would also repeal the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that most Americans have health insurance or pay a penalty. As a result, up to 13 million could lose coverage, and premiums would rise 10 percent a year for the next 10 years, the C.B.O. says. Senator Susan Collins of Maine has correctly noted that any temporary tax cuts for the middle class would be more than offset by the higher cost of health insurance — a good reason for her to vote against the bill.

Fine.  The New York Times is a leftist organization that hates it when Republicans do just about anything.  But with this editorial — coupled with their social media — the newspaper blurred the lines from being a journalistic entity into a grassroots advocacy group.  On Twitter, they posted this:

The tweet reads, “The NYT Editorial Board is temporarily taking over this account to urge the Senate to reject a tax bill that hurts the middle class and the nation’s fiscal health.”  They gave their readers the phone numbers of Republican Senators so the presumably liberal readers could barrage the Senators with phone calls expressing their distaste for the plan. “Now is the time to contact senators, if you haven’t done so already, about this tax cut plan,” they tweeted, along with a guide on finding out various Senators phone numbers.

Additionally, they called out specific Senators on Twitter — using their handles — and broadcasting their telephone numbers:

This is just one example of the tweets that singled out possible votes.  Oh, and they created a hashtag: #thetaxbillhurts.

According to Newsbusters, the NYT had a change of heart later at about 2:00 p.m. Eastern: “Thank you for listening to the Editorial Board on why #thetaxbillhurts, and alerting the Senate to your concerns. We’re now back to regular programming here, with our mix of op-eds, columns, videos and more.”

To be honest, I’m glad the New York Times is doing this — we’ve known all along that they are a rag that only thinly veils its radical left-wing agenda.  Now, it’s all out there in the open for all to see.

 Hat Tip: Newsbusters