Appallingly slanted reporting from the Guardian -- DC plane crash

[GeneralPeter]

This article describes Trump's theory that DEI had something to do with the crash using debunking words throughout. 'Baselessly', 'without providing evidence' etc etc.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/30/trump-washington-dc-plane-crash-dei

The thing is, this isn't 'baseless'.

The FAA has said that the tower was understaffed. We don't know if that was relevant or has not. We do know that FAA recruitment cratered because of a (very well-evidenced) extremely crude attempt at DEI. There is a long-running class action lawsuit that is on public record and not made up. The test really did award points for saying you had more Ds than Cs at school, for saying science was your weakest subject, etc etc and they did then give the answers to candidates of a particular race before the test.

Sometimes things that sound like loonish right-wing conspiracy theories actually turn out to be true. If you think I must be a right-wing loon, please read this thread first (and many others out there -- this is all public record in court documents and not denied by the FAA).

x.com/tracewoodgrains/status/1752091831095939471

You would not know any of this if you read the Guardian article. Their reporter must surely know this stuff. So it's another attempt to bury with slurs an ideologically inconvenient actual truth. We've seen this before with sex-based rights, and the Guardian should stop it.

(Obligatory: I'm not a Trump fan, think he is appalling in many respects, several of them disqualifying for the presidency. But while comment is free, facts should be sacred).

Trump literally said his own claims were baseless. What the hell were the guardian supposed to write?

Oh dear OP. I’m embarrassed for you.
I hope you don’t apply for any postdoctoral research positions with those incredible research skills of yours? 🤦🏻‍♀️

The actual ATCO who was working is not at fault as far as anyone knows.

Mmmm… but do you like his chances if any Trump supporting media outlets find out he is Mexican, or gay, or in a wheelchair, or has autism etc?

Which is why Trump should STFU.

@RafaistheKingofClay They could have talked to the FAA about their initial report which does cite ATC understaffing as the initial factor to blame.

I'm not agreeing with Trump, btw. I think he's a horror and I think bringing up DEI was ridiculous and very disrespectful. I've seen a lot of very young skaters and fans posting in devastation about the kids who died, so nothing im saying is coming from "oh Trump is fine, it's all cool". I just think that the newspapers should be held to the same standard.

Ok - I would stop worrying about the 'lax' journalistic standards of the U.K. paper the Guardian, it's not killing folk, and start worrying about the rest of ATC centres and beyond. Perhaps looking at what should be done right away about the allegedly dreadful results of DEI before they damage other people - maybe campaign or ensure it's not happening in your country.
You are clear that you believe ATC (and others) have been forced to have folk who can't do the job - this must be national so it's obviously essential to start by grounding all planes that rely on them, including refusing to land all those flying in internationally - possibly also all military air travel depending how DEI impacts them.
Then look at all life affecting services and see if it's ok to keep going or they have too many DEI recruits not 'upto the job'. Trump, if he is confident in what he said, should not play with American citizens lives, or international travellers' lives. At least all USA folk who are also convinced of this should also be on the streets trying to stop air travel until it is clear every ATC centre is only staffed by the 'very best'. It's not a typo it's a very, very serious concern if it's believed ATC are at least partially staffed by incapable staff.
And breathe ...

Trump's statement was baseless.

I'm extremely concerned for him or her, actually. Again, not sure why you're assuming I think Trump is doing a good thing. That's quite the leap. I just happen to hold everyone to the same standard.

I’m not sure I like their chances if they are white without any disability. Trump just stuck a massive target on them and MAGA s are hardly known for their ability to think about the veracity of anything Trump has claimed.

But Trump didn't say the crash was caused by understaffing.

He didn't even say the cause was incompetent air traffic controllers.

He said that the cause, or a cause, was the focus on diverse hiring. I.e. that the FAA deliberately hired people to meet diversity targets, and not based on ability; implying that the people they hired were incompetent. And he admits there's not actually any evidence to support this claim...

Trump, who acknowledged that there was no evidence to support his claim that people hired for air traffic control roles were not always qualified, responded with "it just could have been", the paper reports
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgljeq0w5po.amp

But yeah you're right, no one should point out that there's no evidence to support it...

Trump is utterly unreliable and cannot be trusted on facts, and is making political capital out of a tragedy.

My point is about the Guardian, which has written an incredibly one-sided article that seeks to mislead for ideological reasons. Starmer claims "without providing evidence" that public sector budgets were cut during Austerity. No? Of course not. It's provable fact that the FAA is being sued on this. Exploring that would have raised questions in the reader's mind that maybe Trump wasn't totally off base. So they have gone for the man and not the ball.

The Guardian is still my main daily paper. I really want it to do its job.

I know Trump is awful. But the Guardian calling people awful because they raise ideologically inconvenient issues is a movie I've seen before and it's journalist malpractice.

Because whilst you might interpret trump’s words about being linked to hiring practices and staffing levels, it is certainly possible to interpret them as “some specific person who is not a white middle class man was on duty and was not up to it”. Which is why it is important for reporting to stress that the claims are baseless ie without basis at this time, to mitigate that Trump put a target on this guy’s back.

The man is a fucking idiot. I hope all the ATC staff on duty were well educated fit healthy white men. See how that fits his uneducated disabled ethnic narrative

At this stage all he should be saying is an investigation is underway and thoughts to the family

He's a buffoon

The mainstream media so often simply reports its agenda with no interest in the facts.

It is the case that in some circumstances in the USA "diversity" factors were rated above ability to do the job. I don't know if that was a factor here but I would like to see an actual objective analysis of the crash not just the guardian promoting its hate of trump

@LordEmsworth That's exactly my point. All they want to do is the "easy" win of dunking on Trump and going "hahaha dummy said another dumb thing and it's extra bad this time because..." - And it is extra bad. I agree. There are dead children.

But his comment was specifically about ATC, and ATC are directly involved, so responsible and balanced reporting would address that too, covering both the unlikeness of any individual blame based on evidence so far (could quote an expert reviewing the audio) and the understaffing issue (both chronic and in this case, acute).

Something like that would give due weight to the tiny grain of validity in what Trump says (problems with ATC exist), while correctly and thoroughly refuting his cruelty and idiocy.

@SheilaFentiman See my most recent comment about why that is exactly the reason that reporting needs to be more balanced and thorough, rather than falling crudely along party lines.

I don't know.

I'm with OP.
I'm no trump fan and i do think him claim is WILD and irresponsible, but it does have some basis in reality, thus not baseless.

Agreed that we don't know what caused the crash yet. So trump may be right or wrong. But the guardian needs to report actual news instead of their dislike of trump

Yes exactly. This has happened in the past in the USA. We need a full investigation

@LordEmsworth

What do you mean by 'no evidence'? We know the FAA's hiring process broke down and that the changes were made for explicitly DEI reasons. We know that some groups were given the answers to the test, and that they were told to give certain answers that would increase their chances (like answering "Other US" for their state).

That's certainly evidence that standards were compromised because of DEI. Is it proof? No. Might it convince you if you looked into it? Maybe.

One-sided demands for rigour are a way to mislead. I don't want my paper to be in the misleading game at all.

Again, I would encourage everyone to read the detailed thread on PPRuNE dot org (the title is "AA5342 Down DCA") if you're interested in the technical aspects and what is likely to have happened. It makes far more sense than anything Donald Trump has ever said.

Yes, that is the key point.

Well, reading The Times it was perhaps a bit more balanced I thought - I always find both The Guardian and The Telegraph ridiculously biased.

I absolutely think it was horrendous of Trump to bring blame and politicising a tragic situation like this when focus should be on the deceased and their grieving families.

However, there is certainly aspects of the FAA DEI recruitment that need looking at, as there has been issues brought up before and lawsuits.

For what it's worth, friends in the NHS recently said that due to the acute shortage of nurses, and the targets HR/talent acquisition have, answers pre interview have been given to applicants. Unbelievable really. Frightening.

I suspect that even though Trump can't claim to have the evidence yet, as President he will have the fullest briefing of anyone on this planet of what information is available. So he may know more than is out there.

But of course, even if that is the case, he should not have brought it up. He really doesn't have a filter and is certainly no statesman. That said, I worry about the polarisation of facts v emotions across the board not only to do with Trump!

This

We are going in circles here. The Guardian (and other outlets) have reported plenty of comments eg about past concerns on separation of aircraft. My understanding is this airport was under some political pressure a while back to accept some new routes etc.

If you are criticising coverage for lack of balance, all the coverage should be looked at.

I will leave it there.

@GeneralPeter even Trump himself has said there's no evidence for his claim. Wouldn't that be the definition of "baseless"?!

We have no idea what will come out of the investigation. There may well be issues with hiring policy. Having a very quick skim of some of the stuff you links to it was going on during his last stint as president. But at the moment there are no facts at all to base this on.

It is horribly profoundly concerning that the leader of the United States chose this course of action following this awful tragedy. If I was a PoC in the US now I'd be very afraid indeed.