Janine Jackson FAIR
To translate from the Murdochian, “hateful” here means being opposed to genocide, police brutality and rent-gouging (New York Post, 6/24/26).
The win by a number of progressive candidates in New York City primaries told us something about corporate media. Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post (6/24/26) surprised no one with a front page declaiming: “The Hateful Slate: Three Israel, Cop and Private Property Hating Mamdanites Win Democrat Congressional Primaries.”
(They might want to focus group “Mamdanite” again. It’s hard to say, much less shout angrily.)
But check also the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal’s references to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a “kingmaker” because he endorsed some of the day’s winners. AP (6/24/26) referred to the “Mamdani slate” as showcasing his “rising influence.” The wire service called this a
potential headache for Democratic leaders, who fear that Mamdani and his loyalists may push the party too far left ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The barely concealed subtext is that voters didn’t elect these candidates because they vowed to fight for things their constituents want, like childcare, a billionaire tax and abolishing ICE; they’re just mindlessly following their new overlord. For these outlets, regular, working people are something to invoke, not people to actually listen to.
A New York Times headline (6/17/26) obscured the fact that the Goldman/Lander race was between two Jewish Democrats.
Of course, part of the upset around the upset is because New York City’s primary results show that uncritical material and ideological support for the state of Israel and its genocidal attack on Palestinians is no longer a requirement for electoral acceptance. That shift is real, and you can watch elite media struggle.
For instance, a New York Times story (6/17/26) on the contest between Dan Goldman and Brad Lander was headlined “A Jewish Democrat’s Support of Israel May Cost Him His NYC House Seat”—but might have just as easily been headlined “A Jewish Democrat’s Criticism of Israel May Win Him a NYC House Seat.” It all depends whose views you think are worth representing.
Janine Jackson is FAIR’s program director and producer/host of FAIR’s syndicated weekly radio show CounterSpin. She contributes frequently to FAIR’s newsletter Extra!, and co-edited The FAIR Reader: An Extra! Review of Press and Politics in the ’90s (Westview Press). She has appeared on ABC‘s Nightline and CNN Headline News, among other outlets, and has testified to the Senate Communications Subcommittee on budget reauthorization for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Her articles have appeared in various publications, including In These Times and the UAW’s Solidarity, and in books including Civil Rights Since 1787 (New York University Press) and Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism (New World Library). Jackson is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and has an M.A. in sociology from the New School for Social Research.
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