"It Took Newsweek Three Days and a Staff Revolt to Apologize for Kamala Harris Birtherism "

[Budi]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/it-took-newsweek-three-days-and-a-staff-revolt-to-apologize-for-kamala-harris-birtherism-op-ed


It Took Newsweek Three Days and a Staff Revolt to Apologize for Kamala Harris Birtherism

Editors and executives at Newsweek, a formerly prestigious and popular magazine that in recent years has suffered from self-inflicted wounds and even a criminal investigation of its business practices, are once again digging themselves out of a public relations hole.

Newsweek Editor-in-Chief Nancy Cooper and the magazine’s recently hired opinion editor, Trump-backing conservative activist and attorney Josh Hammer, apologized on Friday after nearly a week of defending a right-wing law professor’s op-ed questioning Sen. Kamala Harris’ U.S. citizenship and her eligibility to be Joe Biden’s running mate.



“This op-ed is being used by some as a tool to perpetuate racism and xenophobia. We apologize,” read the editor’s note that replaced their earlier detailed defense of the op-ed. “[T]o many readers, the essay inevitably conveyed the ugly message that Senator Kamala Harris, a woman of color and the child of immigrants, was somehow not truly American.”

Cooper didn’t respond to email and text messages from The Daily Beast, with which Newsweek was partnered from 2010 to 2013 when IAC, The Daily Beast’s parent company, sold the money-losing magazine to IBT Media’s owners, Etienne Uzac and Johnathan Davis. The two entrepreneurs have a close and controversial financial connection to a charismatic South Korean evangelical minister named David Jang, touted by some of his followers as the messiah.




Hammer—a former Ted Cruz aide and member of the Federalist Society and the right-leaning Claremont Institute, who joined Newsweek in May after writing for Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire—declined to comment, telling The Daily Beast in a brief phone conversation, “I’m not interested in speaking. Thank you.”

And then hung up the phone.

[SunSeeker]

1. Both side-ism run amok.

When will journalists realize giving the right wing equal time on their pages is not fairness. It is propaganda peddling.

[Cha]

2. JHC, NEWSWEAK! WTHH! Self inflicted is right.. an Ugly

Toxic Rat's Nest you got there.

[Hortensis]

25. Most of original staff resigned en mass when Newsweek turned

into a Toxic Rat's Nest tabloid. I'm just surprised to learn those who replaced them had any lines to draw. Of course, they could be worried about losing even these jobs as NW continues its spiral.

[ALBliberal]

3. Worked for the Canadian born Ted Cruz who's citizenship was A OK in his run for President

hypocrites one and all.

[OnDoutside]

4. 100% agree.

[dalton99a]

23. +1

[betsuni]

5. K&R

[struggle4progress]

6. "We are so very deeply sorry that some of you were offended by this"

[Grokenstein]

7. "This op-ed is being used by some as a tool to perpetuate racism and xenophobia."

Well, that's true. And among that "some" is Newsweek itself. The op-ed was straight-up xenophobia.

Step One: Print shit!
Step Two: Urkel it! "Did I do thaaat? Oooophss!!"
Step Three: Return to Step One!

[Tanuki]

13. That got me, too. The op-ed itself was racist and xenophobic,

and not merely some kind of neutral statement that went on to be "used by some" in an unforseen and unrelated way. Too bad they were too cowardly to point out that "some" in this case included the racist and xenophobic White House incumbent. The damage to Newsweek's credibility is profound and the apology does not even begin to go far enough.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Also among the 'some' - Trump. And his campaign.

Q There are claims circulating on social media that Kamala Harris is not eligible to be — to run for Vice President because she was an “anchor baby,” I quote. Do you or can you definitively say whether or not Kamala Harris is eligible — legal — and meets the legal requirements to run as Vice President?

THE PRESIDENT: So, I just heard that. I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements. And, by the way, the lawyer that wrote that piece is a very highly qualified, very talented lawyer. I have no idea if that’s right.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-press-briefing-august-13-2020/

Trump campaign senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis on Thursday shared a Newsweek op-ed that baselessly claims Sen. Kamala Harris may be ineligible for the vice presidency because both of her parents were not naturalized citizens at her birth.

Why it matters: Harris was born in Oakland, Calif. She is an American citizen and is eligible for the office. Critics, including many Republicans, denounced the piece as a new attempt at "birtherism" — the conspiracy theory that President Obama was not actually born in the U.S. — targeting the first woman of color on a presidential ticket.
...
The state of play: Ellis doubled down on her retweet, telling ABC News' Will Steakin that she believes Harris' citizenship is "an open question, and one I think Harris should answer so the American people know for sure she is eligible."

https://www.axios.com/kamala-harris-newsweek-birtherism-citizenship-32acc1e5-418c-4746-a789-78a4f5a22797.html

[radius777]

8. It's still up, so this is basically 'thoughts and prayers.' /nt

[KPN]

9. Oh. So Newsweek has morphed to Newsmax-ish.

Huh!

[Vinca]

10. Newsweek died decades ago. I subscribed to it for years until they hired Jon Meacham

as an editor. The magazine, at that point, turned into Jesusweek. It's been downhill ever since and it seems they're reaching their apex with this Hammer character.

[RhodeIslandOne]

11. Fucking coward.

[sop]

12. I guess Newsweek will publish the same op-ed when Marco Rubio runs again in 2024.

Rubio's parents immigrated to the United States in 1956.

[dawg day]

17. Trump's mother was an immigrant

And not a citizen when he was born.

And as ashamed as I am to have to claim him as American, we never argued that he wasn't a citizen.

[sop]

19. One could say the same about four of his five kids.

Ivana Trump only became a U.S. citizen in 1988, and Melania obtained her U.S. citizenship in 2006, after marrying Trump in 2005. I guess the Trump Dynasty is in Tiffany's hands now.

[onenote]

22. I guess Nikki Haley is out of the 2024 picture as well.

She was born in the US to parents who were didn't become citizens until after she was born.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. Why is this particular item NEVER brought up---

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trumps-immigrant-mother

The media that keeps breathlessly reporting the bullshit birther crap REFUSE to do it and are complicit.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

15. The right-wing cancer continues its spread into American culture.

If the wingnuts can't get a foot in the door by populist means, they revert to buying their way in (just like with our elections).


KY.........

[Maxheader]

18. The plan is simple...

Reduce the USPS to 0, and load the airways with lies and conspiracies....

[samnsara]

20. wish i had a subscription so i could cancel it

[still_one]

21. It was disgraceful giving space to a lie

[dalton99a]

24. Hammer and Eastman are racist Trump trash with college degrees

[Gothmog]

26. Newsweek screwed up

Link to tweet

[Budi]

27. KHIVE IS ON IT!! 😬

Yes they're finding out how badly they screwed up with their new Federalist hire back in May.

Go get em!!