“I replied informing them that I actually got my ideas from the New York Times, and provided them links to their past articles,” said Owens.
QUICK FACTS:
- Conservative commentator and Daily Wire host Candace Owens tweeted Monday that the New York Times (NYT) had sent her an email asking about her remarks that “Ukraine was a corrupt country.”
- In their email, NYT told Owens her remark “matched” comments “seen from Russian state media,” implying she was in error for holding such beliefs.
- Owens posted a screenshot of the NYT email, as well as her response to the news outlet, writing that she had “learned about ‘the idea that Ukraine was a corrupt country’ from the New York Times” itself.
- “You guys have covered the corruption of Ukraine extensively, for years,” she said in her response email to the Times. “As just one example, here is a piece from the NYT Editorial Board entitled, ‘Ukraine’s Unyielding Corruption,'” she wrote before pasting a hyperlink to the piece.
- “Corruption has been pervasive in Ukraine since independence, fed by close-knit ties between politicians and oligarchs and a weak justice system,” the 2016 NYT piece stated, which even cited then-Vice President Joe Biden, who said that “corruption was eating Ukraine ‘like a cancer.'”
- “I educated myself about both the neo-nazi problem in Ukraine and the unyielding corruption by reading your newspaper, not Russian state media. Is there something specific I said that was different from what you guys have written in the past?” Owens rhetorically asked the NYT reporter.
- In a follow-up email, Owens cited two more NYT pieces—along with articles from The Hill, The Daily Beast, and The Guardian—covering “the corruption and neo-nazi problem in Ukraine.”
- “For more good measure – here are some more past articles written from reputable sources over the past few years about the corruption and neo-nazi problem in Ukraine,” she wrote the NYT reporter in the second email.
- “For clarity, are you now suggesting that what the western media covered extensively over the last few years is now just Russian propaganda? Are you suggesting all of these articles were sponsored by Russia state media?” she went on to ask the reporter. “Again, I would love to provide you with a quote for your article, just want to be clear regarding what you mean when you say that I am advancing ideas that Ukraine was a corrupt country when in fact I got my ideas from your publication.”
OTHER LINKS TO NYT ARTICLES OWENS CITED TO THE REPORTER:
- NYT: “Ukraine’s Newly Elected President Is Jewish. So Is Its Prime Minister. Not All Jews There Are Pleased.“
- The Hill: “The reality of neo-Nazis in Ukraine is far from Kremlin propaganda“
- NYT: “What Ukraine’s Jews Fear“
- The Daily Beast: “Ukraine’s Anti-Russia Azov Battalion: ‘Minutemen’ or Neo-Nazi Terrorists?“
- The Guardian: “Neo-Nazi groups recruit Britons to fight in Ukraine“
TWITTER USER POINTS OUT NEGATIVE MAINSTREAM MEDIA COVERAGE OF UKRAINE BEFORE RUSSIAN INVASION:
BACKGROUND:
- “Nobody obliterates the @NYTimes as well as the @NYTimes,” tweeted @JDRucker.
- “You’re smarter than them and backed by a better more loyal team. Keep it up Candace,” @chrisknowz tweeted at Owens.
