In a fact-filled column for The Federalist, R.J. Lehmann points out that The New York Times has virtually eliminated any reference to GOP presidential candidate and renowned doctor Ben Carson as Dr. Ben Carson, while continually referring to Vice –President Joe Biden’s wife Jill, who holds a doctorate in education, as Dr.Jill Biden.
Despite Carson’s legendary career as a neurosurgeon, including his successful separation of Siamese twins, through October 26, 2015, Carson was mentioned in the Times 373 times, with only 32 instances where the first mention of him in the piece called him “Dr,” and only 13 occurrences on second reference.
Biden, on the other hand, has elicited 61 mentions, with seven references as “Dr.” on first reference and another seven times on second reference.
Thus data shows Carson has been called “Dr.” in 12.1% of the Times stories in which his name appears; Biden, comparatively, 23.0%. In Times blogs, Biden’s name has appeared 58 times, called “Dr.” on first reference 28 times, amounting to 48.3% of the time; Carson’s name has appeared 191 times, and called ‘Dr.” only 11 times, 8.9% of the time.
Lehmann notes, “Even if one is charitable about the many times she was referred to as ‘Dr. Jill Biden’ in political and national desk stories where only her status as second lady was actually relevant, Biden has received the title on first reference in stories from the style desk, on the ArtsBeat blog, and even on the Bats baseball blog. In none of these cases is her status as a doctor of education even remotely relevant.”
Lehmann then points out exactly how hypocritical the Times is: “Incidentally, our prior second lady, Lynne Cheney, holds a PhD in British literature from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. By my count, her name has appeared in The New York Times or its blogs 293 times. She has been identified as “Dr.” on either first or second reference exactly zero times.”
“Even if one is charitable about the many times she was referred to as ‘Dr. Jill Biden’ in political and national desk stories where only her status as second lady was actually relevant, Biden has received the title on first reference in stories from the style desk, on the ArtsBeat blog, and even on the Bats baseball blog. In none of these cases is her status as a doctor of education even remotely relevant.”
R.J. Lehmann
It is instructive to remember that even before Barack Obama was elected to the White House, the Times dutifully gushed that their leftist icon was a law professor, echoing his own repeated claims that he was a “constitutional law professor” a complete falsehood.
Should it be surprising that the Times is unwilling to acknowledge the achievements of a GOP presidential candidate while lying about their own preferred candidate?