New York Times tries, fails to fact-check DeSantis on book ban hoax
THE New York Times tried – and failed – on Wednesday to verify Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (right) claim that Florida does not ban the books. DeSantis called the claim, repeated by Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), a “hoax.”
Newsom and other Democrats — including, on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre — used the book ban hoax to smear DeSantis and Republicans:
Read banned books to understand what these states are so afraid of. pic.twitter.com/z6eJ01NZJe
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 31, 2022
(Ironically, one of the books Newsom posed with in the photo above, Kill a mockingbirdwas actually temporarily banned by a school district in the California state of Newsom due to concerns about the use of racial language in the text.)
“The whole book ban is a hoax,” DeSantis said when launching a tech challenge on Twitter. There hasn’t been a single book banned in the state of Florida. You can go buy or use the book you want.
THE Time In fact agreed with DeSantis that there is no book ban by the state of Florida, but then tried to claim that DeSantis was wrong because he ignored “bans” by local school districts and libraries public.
What is the Time omitted to mention was that these so-called “bans” involve books deemed inappropriate for kidseither because of overt sexual content or because of radical racial ideology.
As a result, these are not “book bans” but decisions about programs and child protection – the kind of decisions made in both “blue” states and “red” states, although they may differ on the borders.
THE Time writing:
There hasn’t been a statewide one-book ban, but Mr. DeSantis is dramatically downplaying the extent to which school districts and libraries in parts of the state have taken books down. . In fact, Florida ranks second, behind Texas, as the state with the most bans with 357, according to PEN America, a nonprofit that supports free speech.
Legislation Mr. DeSantis signed limiting discussion of sexual orientation, gender identity and race has led teachers and administrations to suppress the books.
PEN America’s report that the Time quotes may also be inaccurate. A recent report found that at least 74% of books listed by PEN America as “banned” were in fact still available for checkout at school libraries.
Joel B. Pollak is editor of Breitbart News and host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot Sunday nights from 7-10 p.m. ET (4-7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book Neither Free Nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellow. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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