1y ago

The Washington Post said it had the Alito flag story 3 years ago and chose not to publish

Nine days after The New York Times reported about the political symbolism of an upside-down American flag that flew at U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s home, the Washington Post acknowledged it had the same story more than three years ago and decided not to publish it.

The Post’s story was both an extraordinary example of journalistic introspection and an illustration of how coverage of the Supreme Court has changed since the incident itself, shortly after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

That day, some of the demonstrators who marched in support of former President Donald Trump carried the upside-down flag. Both newspapers reported that the same symbol was displayed outside of Alito’s home in Fairfax County, Virginia, before President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Alito has said that his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, raised the flag as part of a dispute with neighbors who had placed “personally insulting” yard signs directed at them. Judges traditionally avoid partisan symbols to maintain the appearance of neutrality in political disputes that may come before them.

For journalists, it raises a question: Should a public official’s family be held to the same standards as that official themselves?

32 comments

Democracy Dies When the Press is Owned by Billionaires.
- But he promised to give his money away when he dies. Don't you like charity?
  
  Is that the name of his mistress?
  
  Let's make sure that happens soon then.
- Eh, people always bring up Bezos but there’s not really any evidence that he’s exerted any editorial influence. The original interview with the WaPo editor is an interesting insight into the publishing process.
  And yes, I’ve seen the memes where WaPo has pro-Amazon editorials. But that does not reflect reality. Go to their website and search for “Amazon” to see what I mean.
  Edit: funny how people stop replying below when I asked for evidence of this. People just love to believe the easiest conclusion
  
  If you don't think ownership is involved in who gets hired and who becomes an editor and the kind of choices they make... I have a bridge to sell you.
  Bezos' influence comes entirely by hiring the exact type of people who would bury this fucking story.
  
  That's not how this type of influence is exerted. It's done by putting people in charge who will run it in a way that will keep their boss happy, which then leads to them hiring people who will keep their boss happy, and so on and so forth.
  Editorial discretion, self-censorship, or pink slips, that message is going to do one thing: not rock the billionaire's boat.
For journalists, it raises a question: Should a public official’s family be held to the same standards as that official themselves?
Bullshit. It raises the question: Should a Supreme Court Justice be believed unconditionally when he offers an excuse for what really looks like inappropriate bias? The discovery that another flag associated with the January 6 attack flew in front of Alito's beach house has shown that the NYT was correct not to accept his story about his wife. I'm honestly surprised by the discussion of how a judge's family is expected to behave - it's as if a dead body was found in Alito's house, he said that he had no idea how it got there, and the press started talking about whether or not he had a responsibility to monitor access to his property more closely.
Why are people SO UPSET at a Judge flying Seditionist flags? It's not like this Judge is sitting on the HIGHEST COURT in the Land and using his Seditionist Bias to REWRITE Laws so they inflict as much Damage on us as Possible!
- I mean, there's so much more important things to fight about, like litter boxes in classrooms. The news is just woke.
  If I have to say it, you're bad at doing internet.
https://www.semafor.com/article/05/26/2024/in-a-pre-dobbs-world-the-washington-post-deferred-to-a-supreme-court-justice
That’s the actual article that broke this story and it’s a good read. It’s far more complicated than you think
- Good link, but not complicated. Judges got a pass on reporting before they started making politically-based decisions. Now they are treated like politicians. The only complicated part is the WP had this for 3 years without publishing.
We learned nothing from 2016 election
- This. WaPo admits it deflected the narrative and people are talking about what Alito knew.
Wait so is he admitting that he knew about it now? The first article I read about this asserted that Alito had no idea about the flag.
- Of course he knew. He probably attached and raised the flag himself. Both of them.
- That didn't happen. And if it did, it wasn't that bad. And if it was, that's not a big deal. And if it is, that's not my fault. And if it was, I didn't mean it. And if I did, you deserved it.
- No, it's in the article.
Democracy does what in darkness, WaPo?
- On 5th avenue.
For journalists, it raises a question: Should public officials’ families be held to the same standards as the officials themselves?
Ginny Thomas has a dissenting opinion on this question. Piece of shit trash. I hate these people.
Catch and kill for fascism.
While I don't think this absolves the Justice of his responsibility; his wife has her own unique rights to free speech.
Do I think the Justice should suffer consequences for the speech? Hell no.
Do I think it makes him look bad and possibly highly biased? Hell yes.
Does he have to care what my opinion is? No.
- Sorry... you don't think justices should recuse themselves when they demonstrate an obvious bias when it comes to upcoming cases?
- And I don't have to care that Alito and his wife are clearly liars when they claim she put it up in response to a dispute when the photo of the flag is dated January 17th and the ostensible dispute didn't actually happen until February 15th, nearly a month later.
  But sure, let's just let em lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie
  
  "Oops."

32 comments