Right about now, The New York Times’s Matthew Rosenberg might be wondering whether he’ll have a job on Monday.
Project Veritas, the undercover journalism outfit that catches leftists saying stupid and embarrassing things, published a two-part undercover video this week that features Rosenberg’s candid comments about his colleagues, nutty leftists at the Times, and his sources at the nation’s intelligence agencies.
On Thursday, the newspaper’s top editor, Dean Baquet, was forced to address the issue during lunch at the Times’s Washington Bureau, Politico reported. Not surprisingly, the videos haven’t made anyone at the Times very happy.
The Videos
PV’s undercover reporters caught the Pulitzer Prize winner honestly speaking about several topics, including the January 6 “insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol. It wasn’t, he said, a planned breach of the building, and the mostly peaceful protest was not a dangerous place to be. The comment kills the narrative that Democrats and the leftist media have retailed.
Rosenberg’s point in that discussion was that the “left’s reaction to [January 6] was so over the top.”
Among the highlights of Part 1 were these gems:
- There were a ton of FBI informants amongst the people who attacked the Capitol.
- It was like, me and two other colleagues who were there [January 6] outside and we were just having fun!
- I know I’m supposed to be traumatized, but like, all these colleagues who were in the [Capitol] building and are like “Oh my God it was so scary!” I’m like, “f*ck off!”
- I’m like come on, it’s not the kind place I can tell someone to man up but I kind of want to be like, “dude come on, you were not in any danger.”
- These f***ing little dweebs who keep going on about their trauma. Shut the f**k up. They’re f***ing b*tches.”
- They were making too big a deal. They were making this an organized thing that it wasn’t.
Part 2 might have been worse for the newspaper — or Rosenberg.
He said the notorious “pee tape,” which supposedly depicted Donald Trump asking Russian prostitutes to urinate in front of him, “involved CIA and NSA” and “of course doesn’t exist”:
Maybe it does. I mean, nobody’s ever going to see it if it does. But it involved people claiming they had it. Which, of course, they didn’t.
Rosenberg told the PV reporter that “reasonable people” and crazy leftists at the Times are in a “real internal tug of war.”
He also said Timesman Adam Goldberg is a great reporter but awful writer.
Indigestion at Times Luncheon
Understandably, Times staffers are quite unhappy.
“The videos immediately caused tensions to flare among Times staff, according to more than a half-dozen reporters who were granted anonymity to speak candidly,” Politico reported:
During the Thursday lunch, multiple reporters said they were upset about Rosenberg dissing their own coverage and badmouthing his coworkers.
Baquet, the Times staffers told us, responded by criticizing Rosenberg for being careless and stupid. But he said that Project Veritas is trying to “make our heads explode” and divide the Times, and that they should not play into the group’s hands….
While some reporters told us that management needs to address this issue or even want to see Rosenberg punished, there’s deep concern about fueling Project Veritas’ work.
Times staffers, Politico reported, think PV “crossed a line into harassment.” That’s rich coming from a newspaper that published privileged communications between PV and its attorney.
After PV released Part 2, founder James O’Keefe confronted Rosenberg in a restaurant. To his credit, Rosenberg said he “absolutely” stands by his remarks.
He refused to comment further.
H/T: The Daily Caller
