Back to the Utah State Aggies Newsfeed

Erik Wemple: New York Times faces backlash over half-baked profile of white nationalist

Related Topics: The New York Times, Face-to-face

A New York Times reporter traveled to New Carlisle, Ohio, for “hours of face-to-face conversation” with a “Nazi sympathizer.” He then filed a story under this strong headline, “A Voice of Hate in America’s Heartland.”

A meta-narrative in the story, by Richard Fausset, explains much of the negative reaction. It profiles 29-year-old Tony Hovater and starts with this fine bit of feature writing:

“Tony and Maria Hovater were married this fall. They registered at Target. On their list was a muffin pan, a four-drawer dresser and a pineapple slicer.

“Ms. Hovater, 25, was worried about Antifa bashing up the ceremony.