NY Post bans reporters, editors from using CNN, MSNBC, WaPo, NYT as primary sources: report

The New York Post has banned reporters and editors from using CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post and The New York Times as primary sources for their articles, according to a Wednesday report in The New York Times.

Three New York Post journalists told the Times that the newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch has ordered its reporters not to base articles exclusively on any of the four outlets’ reporting.

The instruction was passed along by Michelle Gotthelf, editor in chief of nypost.com, and section editors, the journalists said. 

The New York Post reporters will now have to independently verify reporting from the four outlets that President Trump has labeled as “fake news” before writing up articles. 

The three journalists told the Times that the Post’s management did not provide reasoning for the decision but added that publishing articles based on the outlets would not align with the newspaper’s right-leaning identity.

The newspaper’s owner Murdoch also owns Fox News and Fox Business — outlets that have previously expressed support for Trump.

The New York Post did not immediately respond to a request from The Hill for comment. 

The New York Post’s restriction against using reporting from CNN, MSNBC, the Times and The Washington Post comes about a week after a pro-Trump mob raided the Capitol building in an attempt to disrupt Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. 

The rioters targeted certain lawmakers, including Vice President Pence and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), as well as members of the media, with “murder the media” being written on a Capitol door. The unrest resulted in five deaths, including a Capitol Police officer and a woman shot by a plainclothes Capitol Police officer. 

The New York Post journalists told the Times that editors were upset with the newspaper’s coverage of Trump the weekend following the attack, specifically an article based on a CNN report that Pence had not rejected using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump. The vice president has since dismissed these calls. 

Murdoch’s New York-based newspaper endorsed Trump in the 2020 election but after his election loss, urged the president to concede and commit to a peaceful transition.