Episode Details

How much power does The New York Times really have , and what happens when that power is used to shape narrative instead of pursue truth?

In this episode of The Curious Middle, we speak with Ashley Rindsberg, author of The Gray Lady Winked, about the Times' reporting on some of the most important stories of the last century: the Nazi invasion of Poland, Stalin's Soviet Union, the Holocaust, Israel, the 1619 Project nd more.

Ashley Rindsberg is an investigative journalist and author focused on media malfeasance, information warfare, and the hidden systems influencing public discourse.

Ashley joins us to explain why he believes the paper has repeatedly protected power, buried inconvenient truths, and helped shape public opinion in ways that changed history. We also talk about the Sulzberger family, the culture inside elite newsrooms, the collapse of trust in journalism, and how listeners can build a healthier media diet today.

Follow Ashley's Substack

• What first inspired Ashley to write The Gray Lady Winked
• Why the New York Times is unlike any other media institution
• The Times' Holocaust coverage and what was buried
• How tne NYT Created a Narrative on the Soviet Unioo, Hitler, Cuba, Iraq, Israel and the Intifada,
• The 1619 Project and narrative-driven reporting
• The Tom Cotton op-ed controversy, safe spaces, silencing dissent and newsroom ideology
• How to find better journalism in a fractured media environment

Books:

• Buried by the Times by Laurel Leff
• Stalin's Apologist: Walter Duranty: The New York Times's Man in Moscow by S.J. Taylor

Articles

• About the NYT Nazi Correspondent from Tablet Magazine
• NYT journalist Walter Duranty, who downplayed the Ukraine famine.

"Committed to protecting his own influence and to a future "greater good" promised by the Soviet regime, Duranty at first dismissed rumors