UNDER ATTACK: The New York Times writes hit piece on me with the headline: 'Why Won’t Simon Ateba Stop Shouting?'
Most of the hit pieces downplay the discrimination against me in the White House briefing room or that I am just trying to do my job and ask to be treated with respect
On July 26, 2023, The New York Times, certainly the most influential newspaper in the world, did this hit piece on me and claimed that “The Today News Africa gadfly has become a hero on the right, thanks to his confrontational behavior in the White House briefing room,” indirectly disclosing why I have been under attack by mainly left-leaning publications, from The Washington Post to many others.
They also claimed that I have achieved a public profile that far outstrips many of my colleagues with permanent seats in the briefing room, adding that the public profile has boosted my Twitter or X followers to half a million.
Weeks earlier, The Washington Post did another hit piece on me, claiming that I was “making myself the story at the White House.” Several other hit pieces have been written about me in recent weeks.
Most of the hit pieces downplay the discrimination against me in the White House briefing room or that I am just trying to do my job and ask to be treated with respect rather than be left in the room without a voice.
Joseph Bernstein, a veteran correspondent, wrote the story in The New York Times. He went to great lengths to confirm my claims across different countries.
Having found that I was honest and told the truth, I believe his editors still had to make the article not be positive. The New York Times sent him to spend a day with me from New York to Washington, DC.
He came to my house, went with me to my favorite restaurant, and did not accept that I paid for our transportation or a meal. He said he was writing about me and could not accept anything from me.
We spoke again on the phone to fact-check the story and had several other conversations over one month. He confirmed everything I had claimed, from being arrested to being beaten up by a church while doing my job to being attacked by pirates on the Gulf of Guinea; everything was true.
He spoke to those who worked with me in Africa, watched the press briefings, read online articles, spoke with Tucker Carlson, and contacted the White House and everyone else.
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But even after confirming all that, the liberal New York Times still had to find an angle that cast me in a bad light; thanks, I believe to the editors.
You see, it was impossible to label me as a liar, a conspiracy theorist, a hater, a Trump supporter, or even not a journalist or someone seeking attention; the last thing was to find a wrong angle.
So, while I appreciate Joseph and the effort and his integrity and honesty, I disagree with his editors, the headline, the omissions, the positive story when it was Acosta of CNN, and the negative one when it is Ateba of Today News Africa.
The story in The New York Times ended this way, “Of late, Mr. Ateba’s output has focused less on U.S.-Africa relations and more on national politics — think Hunter Biden’s laptop, Mr. Biden’s age and Mr. Trump’s popularity — as well as himself. On a recent Thursday, a story about the Secret Service investigation into cocaine found at the White House led the homepage of Today News Africa. (The next two stories were about the White House’s warning to Mr. Ateba, and a response to a piece in The Washington Post about Mr. Ateba.) On Twitter, he recently compared attempts to discredit him to the assassination of Julius Caesar.
“Ironically, the once-anonymous Mr. Ateba has achieved a public profile that far outstrips those of many of his colleagues with permanent seats in the briefing room. Mr. Ateba, a self-described moderate who said he used to have an image of former President Barack Obama as the background image on his computer, said he appreciates his supporters on the right.
“They see the truth in me,” he said.
I see jealousy from them. They are jealous that none of them can rise to your level with an inkling of integrity. So, they try to bring you down. Don't let them. Who with even half a brain pays any attention to NYT or WP anyway? I certainly don't.