Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax offered surprisingly balanced coverage of Elon Musk's war with the ADL because it pointed out the spread of anti-Semitism on Twitter (well, X) after Musk took it over. Then Musk was credibly accused of endorsing anti-Semitism. Mark Swanson served up another surprisingly balanced account of that in a Nov. 16 article (though he did lean a bit into trying to do cleanup for Musk):
Elon Musk was replaced as a speaker in Thursday's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit a day after he sided with a social media post widely viewed as antisemitic.
Officially, Musk dropped out due to a "schedule change" and was replaced by former Secretary of State John Kerry. However, the 11th-hour swap came in the aftermath of Musk agreeing with a Wednesday post on X that said Jewish communities spread "hatred against whites."
"You have said the actual truth," Musk replied, later clarifying that he doesn't believe "all Jewish communities" hate whites. But Musk did rail against the Anti-Defamation League.
"The ADL unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel. This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat," Musk weeted.
He added, "I am deeply offended by ADL's messaging and any other groups who push de facto anti-white racism or anti-Asian racism or racism of any kind."
On Thursday, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt took to Musk's X platform to accuse him of validating antisemitic theories, in this case, the theory that Jews encourage the influx of minority populations into the U.S. to thin out white majorities.
"At a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging around the world, it is indisputably dangerous to use one's influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories," Greenblatt posted.
Newsmax published a wire article noting the White House's condemnation of Musk's tweet, followed by an article by Nicole Wells offering another balanced approach: "Though [Musk] later suggested he was referring mainly to the Anti-Defamation League, the tech billionaire did not delete his original reply." Meanwhile, Eric Mack helped Musk do a little cleanup in a Nov. 22 article:
Democrats and liberal activist group Media Matters have attacked X owner Elon Musk, alleging he is profiting from a platform for free speech, including for antisemites, but Musk is undercutting their narrative.
"X Corp will be donating all revenue from advertising & subscriptions associated with the war in Gaza to hospitals in Israel and the Red Cross/Crescent in Gaza," Musk wrote Wednesday on X.
His pledged support for the state of Israel comes after Democrats in Congress wrote him Tuesday alleging X is profiting from premium accounts that glorify violence against Israelis.
In the letter to Musk and X chief executive Linda Yaccarino, the lawmakers noted reports from nonprofit organizations that showed people with X Premium accounts "glorifying barbaric acts of violence against Israelis" on the platform.
That was followed by more damage-control stenography from Jim Thomas in a Nov. 24 article:
Elon Musk is set to visit Israel next week to express support for the residents of Gaza, the New York Post reported.
According to Hebrew-language media, Musk, the Space X mogul and owner of the X — formerly Twitter — social media platform, plans to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit.
Musk has been embroiled in past controversies, drawing criticism recently for a post on X in which he appeared to endorse an antisemitic conspiracy theory alleging that Jews were involved in facilitating mass migration to the West, according to The New York Times.
In recent months, Musk clashed with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a civil rights organization combating antisemitism in the U.S. Musk threatened legal action against the ADL, accusing the group of dissuading advertisers by asserting that X harbored neo-Nazi and antisemitic content.
That was joined, though, by a wire article the same day noting that "Elon Musk-owned social media company X could lose as much as $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of the year as dozens of major brands pause their marketing campaigns." That was followed by a Nov. 26 wire article noting Musk's actual meeting in Israel.
An anonymously written Nov. 29 article noted Musk's tepid apology and vulgar insult of advertisers who quit Twitter over the repeated controversies:
Elon Musk, addressing the mainstream media on Wednesday after an earlier post on X was dubbed antisemitic by many critics, apologized Wednesday for his “dumbest” ever social media interaction.
At the same time, though, he blasted advertisers leaving his platform because of rising antisemitism on X.
“I don’t want them to advertise,” he said at the New York Times DealBook Summit in New York, reported by CNN Business.
“If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or money go [expletive] yourself. ... Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel” he added.
The anonymous writer didn't note that it took 12 full days for Musk to issue that apology, and that the offending tweet was still live. A Nov. 30 article by Wells noted that X CEO Linda Yaccarino "seemed to support Musk's feelings on" his vulgar diss of advertisers.
