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).

It’s not just the Guardian OP! It’s pretty much EVERY news organisation.
I’m with you, if Trump says Dwarves were responsible for the crash then I’m sure he’s right. There’s really is no other reasonable explanation other than that.

@GeneralPeter, the terribly conceived DEI programme has not been in place long enough to impact the existing air traffic control workforce. It only affected new entrants - so most air traffic controllers working in the system will have been recruited under the original completely merit-based system.

As ever, Trump is jumping some very important due process to score political points, much as the instigators of the bad DEI programme did. Personally I'd like to stick all the political extremists in a room and let them tear lumps from each other while the professionals get on with investigating the crash, issuing their recommendations, and then implementing improvements, but that's not what the propagandists want.

I agree with you OP. People are criticising Trump without thinking, without looking into evidence themselves, because for years there has been systematic discrediting of him (and other world leaders for that matter) in the press. People really have to start looking into things themselves. And this takes me onto the press. Yes, the old Guardian we used to love has disappeared, sadly. It is most definitely reporting with a slant. I say this because there have been stories about world events which have completely left out huge amounts of relevant information. I have seen international speeches being given completely inaccurate translations and summaries. This is not the world I grew up in and I am extremely hacked off about it.

Basically what we are looking at is huge changes being made to society without being reported on - education, child safety for example - MN is full of threads saying "this happened - this is unbelievable" and the only option given is "complain" whereas complain actually leads nowhere.

It seems that the people who are in control are not the people we think are in control, and ironically the same people who slate Trump accuse Trump and Musk of being the "unelected" billionaire trying to manipulate things behind the scenes - leaving out details of other "unelected" leaders.

All world leaders need to join together and change international law to ensure that all funding is transparent and that media influence must be transparent, and that money market activity affecting governance of any country anywhere is no longer permitted and that unelected wealthy people behind the scenes can no longer influence policies.

I think they were visually impaired dwarves. That probably makes all the difference.

@Bromptotoo I may be wrong of course but my impression is that the jet moved approach from 1 to 33 as instructed by ATC, but the helicopter's focus for visual separation was still on the queue for 1. So the helicopter's crew answered in the affirmative about visual separation, only they were referring to a different jet (approaching to land for 1) whereas the plane that crashed had moved over and would never have been able to change course because of the need to circle in to land. Only the helicopter could have dynamically moved position in time which is why the ATCO was instructing them, right?

I think there was an issue with visual separation and not enough time for the ATCO to correct it.

@RafaistheKingofClay Nothing about it is funny. It doesn't make it okay just because you're poking fun at Trump. Some of the children were only eleven.

Perhaps the pilot of the helicopter was a trans, sight impaired dwarf? I mean who knows? Right? Certainly not Trump, but doesn’t mean that you can’t throw it out there as an option.
Why talk about the tragedy, why says boring things like - we need to see what the investigation into the crash shows, when you can just have a good old rant about DEI instead?

There is evidence there have been recruitment issues in the FAA as a whole. There is evidence that a jet and a helicopter collided. There is, as yet, no evidence that the former had any influence on the latter.

On the simple balance of probabilities the most likely cause is pilot error rather than ATC error.

@squizquiz Bollicks. This thread seems to be being swarmed by people who REALLY want British women to think due process isn't necessary if Trump has found a scapegoat. Even if that DEI program that affected graduate air controllers does turn out to be a factor, it needs to come from the investigators AFTER THEY'VE DONE THE WORK, not from someone repeating fan theories they saw online.

It's disturbing that he puts blame on anyone before the evidence and it's not what a statesperson should do. Focus should be on the poor families of the victims.

However, I'm not sure he blamed non-whites? I think he said "The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency's website."

Unless I've missed a quote somewhere, it's possible.

Actually I’m criticising him because I watched the whole press conference and heard him say there is no evidence that DEI hiring practices were involved in this crash.

Which would make the Guardian’s statement that the claims were baseless fact not biased reporting.

I think Trump voiced it at the wrong time but DEI efforts of the FAA have been really deleterious.

The usual pipeline was deemed too white, so they scrapped their longtime procedures in favor of a biographical test that was rigged.

This put a huge barrier to hiring (you could be washed out before even demonstrating your competence in the field).

It’s the subject of a huge class action lawsuit as mentioned by OP. You can read about it here: www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-faas-hiring-scandal-a-quick-overview

@RafaistheKingofClay I quite literally gave an example of what balanced reporting would look like, and it's not "hahaha Trump is dumb," no matter how much that satisfies the id of journalist or reader.

He is often wrong and he is indisputably a cruel and selfish person, yes. That doesn't mean what he says shouldn't be reported in a responsible way, refuting all that is factually incorrect but exploring what may be true (or have some element of truth) with proper journalistic consideration.

Polarised, politicised journalism is bad journalism.

Ha ha, I agree but at the same time, I'm pretty sure Trump would know if the pilot was a trans, sight impaired dwarf!

Wait until the investigation has finished before leaping to conclusions

We could do with that as a header on so many MN threads

It may be true that ATC is understaffed and that hiring policies have caused difficulties, so in those respects Trump might have a point, but it doesn't necessarily follow that these were the cause - though if they were I'd expect an even larger outcry

Maybe let's just wait and see, and in the meantime remember there's no point expecting balanced reporting from the Guardian, Mail, et al

“Bone deep hatred of Donald Trump as a person doesn't excuse journalists lying and failure to examine facts impartially.”

Totally agree. Trump might be a bright orange moronic jizzrag of a human being with bugger all empathy and judgement, but that is absolutely no excuse to just bin journalistic integrity and start lying in return.

a lot of our media reporting nowadays is absolutely appalling though, so this doesn’t come as a surprise

Maybe the tower was short staffed because last week Trump handed hundreds of air traffic controllers letters to quit whilst sacking half the leadership of the TSA and coastguard. Maybe him blaming DEI is a massive deflection for the chaos he has brought for these organisations in just a week?

Anyway, no-one should be spreading baseless speculation whilst bodies are still being pulled out of the river, especially not the President.

The fact that every aviation expert has since come out and called him unhinged should be a clue that he is wrong. But then what do experts with decades of experience know? Maybe we should just go with Trump's mad theories....because he doesn't have any ulterior motives does he?

I approve of both your post and your username

Do you think this is a respectful way to talk about the crash? Why is it okay when you do this?

I think this is on par with the disrespect Trump showed, frankly,

It is ableist to say, without any evidence at all, that DEI policies played a factor in a plane crash.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/30/faa-dei-trump-fact-checker/

@verysmellyjelly If Trump liobs an accusation from the hip based on a theory he has before an investigation has even started, responsible journalism does need to point out there is no evidence from the crash linked to his assertion.

What would you say if he'd said that he's been dazzled by LED headlights when driving, thought it must have happened to the helicopter pilot, and demanded LED headlights be removed from all vehicles immediately? Insist no-one point out he's jumping to a conclusion out of "respect?"

A short runway, tight air space and military aircraft being on different airwaves to commercial have lead to a long history of REPORTED near misses.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pilots-recall-problems-washington-airport-after-fatal-crash-2025-01-30/

But diversity..........!!!!

Why would using DEI cause a staffing shortage? If anything wouldn’t it be the opposite?

I’ve read there have been funding cuts. Really staff shortages are either due to not recruiting because not enough budget to recruit or not recruiting due to lack of applicants. Which is often linked to conditions and pay. Which comes back to funding again 🤷🏻‍♀️

@RayonSunrise Except literally no one has said due process isn't necessary. That's something you made up.