Newspaper in ‘publishes article’ shocker

The New York Times is pleased with itself. A statement, you could argue, which might apply on any Wednesday morning, but is particularly true on this Wednesday morning.

In today’s edition, the Times published the results of an 18-month investigation into the Trump family taxes, revealing — drum roll — that Donald Trump ‘participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s.’ Cockburn expected so much more of a New York real estate magnate!

Forgetting the tax returns debacle in the lead-up to the 2016 election is arguably a forgivable offence: after all, a fair bit has happened in politics since then. So to ensure readers understand the gravity of the situation, the NYT is really laying it on thick.

First, there’s the cute BuzzFeed-esque listicle ‘11 takeaways from the Times’s investigation’ that the Gray Lady decided to slip in a link to midway through the original piece, for readers whose attention spans were already dwindling.

Then we have the breathless behind-the-scenes interview that the reporters gave CNN’s media reporter Brian Stelter for his Reliable Sources newsletter.

‘Buettner, Barstow and Craig worked in a small room on the fourth floor of NYT HQ,’ Stelter gushes. ‘One of the only treats: a bottle of Jameson on the shelf.’ How very naughty.

Still need your fix? This weekend, Showtime are set to air The Family Business: Trump and Taxes, a 30-minute special showing how the cake was baked.

#Breaking: This Sunday, #Showtime to debut new #documentary short, #TheFamilyBusiness: Trump and Taxes, with cameras once again embedded in the @NYTimes as they break news on President #Trump. pic.twitter.com/CJJkyWNzUo

— SHOWTIME (@Showtime) October 2, 2018

‘Fred Trump’s estate tax return is in the building right now,’ says Susanne Craig in the trailer, as if it were delivered to them on stone tablets by God himself.

And if somehow you’d missed this story, the New York Times team oozed some more bitesized servings of smugness on Twitter:

True fact: the @nytimes had to schedule extra workers at the printing factory to publish the monster Trump taxes investigation. Eight pages of the paper.

— Sam Dolnick (@samdolnick) October 2, 2018

https://twitter.com/susannecraig/status/1047347776219226112

The media might not be the ‘enemy of the people’ — but they’re not the most likeable bunch, are they?