Trump slams the New York Times for editorial takeover of opinion section that attacked Trump's tax plan

AP

President Donald Trump.

• President Donald Trump blasted the New York Times after its editorial board took over the opinion section of the paper to advocate against tax plans.
• The New York Times has long been accused of bias.
• They previously defended controversial articles in their opinion section by saying they do not reflect the editorial board's opinion.
• Trump also pointed to the New York Times' updated social media guidelines, that caution against journalists advocating for causes.

President Donald Trump blasted the New York Times as being a "pipe organ of the Democratic party" after the paper's editorial board took over its opinion Twitter account "to urge the Senate to reject a tax bill that hurts the middle class and the nation's fiscal health."

"They are wrong so often that now I know we have a winner!" Trump tweeted, also returning to his familiar refrain of calling the paper "failing."

Trump followed up by tweeting that the Times had "totally gone against the Social Media Guidelines that they installed to preserve some credibility after many of their biased reporters went Rogue!"

The Times issued new social media guidelines in October, which called for its journalists "to take extra care to avoid expressing partisan opinions or editorializing on issues that The Times is covering," so as not to make the organization appear bias, or as an advocacy institution rather than a reporting institution.

On Wednesday, when the Senate voted to begin the debate on Trump's tax plan, the Times' opinion section's Twitter account took to advocating against Trump's proposed tax bill that's currently in the Senate.

The tweet included a graphic that did not appear in the article itself. As of Thursday morning, the Twitter account's biography section had no reference to the editorial board's takeover.

The Times has long defended more controversial articles in its opinion section as not representing the opinions of the editorial staff, but the editorial takeover of the opinion section arguably blurred that line.

Additionally, Trump's proposed tax bill roughly aligns with core conservative principals, so the Times' opposition to it could be considered to show a liberal bias.

In the normal course of journalism, reporters do not advocate for a certain outcome or view, but editorials part from that by taking a stand meant to convey the consensus within a newsroom.

Trump has often blasted the Times and other media outlets for reporting alleged fake news or being biased, even in cases where those outlets have reported factual stories.