Yahoo News defends ‘see all sides’ on immigration ad

Yahoo News defended a controversial ad it released earlier this month in which “immigrants endanger us” appear on a mock border fence.

With our diverse news partners, and original reporting from our team of journalists, the new Yahoo News app provides multiple perspectives to help you see all sides of the story. Download it today! https://t.co/Cc7UyL0GSN pic.twitter.com/SKHWYwlp9N

— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) November 8, 2018

“These ads are meant to reflect the current state of our country, and the polarizing conversations taking place on a number of issues. Yahoo News has a long history as a non-partisan news organization, with a mission to present divergent perspectives,” a Yahoo News spokesperson said in a statement

{mosads}The ad was released to promote Yahoo News’ new Newsroom app. It urges readers to “see all sides” to certain issues, citing immigration, health care, privacy and climate change. The immigration portion shows two mock border fences with the words “immigrants endanger us” on one side and “immigrants enrich us” on the other. The other topics feature similarly opposing statements. 

Social media lit up with criticism of the ad, with many arguing that ad was offensive to immigrants. 

“Hey @Yahoo. Hating immigrants and spreading lies that they are dangerous is not on a level playing field with thinking immigrants are humans. One is racist garbage, the other is not,” one Twitter user said.

Another Twitter user wrote, “I’m pretty sure that the approach espoused by this Yahoo News ad [is] the exact problem with many news organizations today. There aren’t two legitimate sides to every story. There’s the truth.”

Hey @Yahoo. Hating immigrants and spreading lies that they are dangerous is not on a level playing field with thinking immigrants are humans. One is racist garbage, the other is not. https://t.co/EBThV68dAx

— Tufted GRITTMOUSE (@kayteterry) November 29, 2018

I’m pretty sure that the approach espoused by this Yahoo News ad iis the exact problem with many news organizations today. There aren’t two legitimate sides to every story. There’s the truth. They should try that sometime. https://t.co/d8MXZRQBQe

— elissa taub (@ejtaub) November 29, 2018