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Why a Former Rolling Stone Editor Called Out the NYT for Their Headline About the Minneapolis Shooting

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  August 30, 2025 6:50 AM

Former Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi isn’t happy with The New York Times, which opted to use the preferred pronouns of the transgender shooter who murdered two kids at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis this week. Robert “Robin” Westman opened fire during a mass commemorating the new school year. Seventeen others, 14 of whom were also students, were wounded in the attack. Westman committed suicide shortly after the assault. The Times opted to go with this headline: “Minneapolis Suspect Knew Her Target, but Motive Is a Mystery.”

The motive angle is a joke, but Taibbi was more concerned about the multi-level trainwreck with the article, which he says apologizes for reporting what actually happened at the school. They laid out the facts while smothering the copy with liberal talking points. In short, Taibbi noted how the publication was petrified of its readership if they didn’t toe a certain line, which you already know: 

The Times in “The Minneapolis suspect knew her target, but the motive is a mystery” did what news organizations are supposed to do, settling a controversy by telling us a mass shooter “identified as female” in a court document. But the paper was so afraid of conclusions its audience might draw that it surrounded its report with layer after layer of messaging. They strained to put “her” in the headline, referred to those who paid attention to the gender issue as “right-wing” and “conservative activists,” and told you Jacob Frey, “a Democrat,” urged against scapegoating. All this, while insisting others “politicized” the shooting. It’s the most glaring example I can remember of a news organization apologizing for its own reporting.

Walter and I will be talking about it on America This Week, but the degree to which news outlets seemingly as a primary coverage goal are scolding readers into not paying attention to true details has been extraordinary. Apologies for the brief note, but having just come up for air after spending time on a different story, I wanted to express shock. Apparently not even the most awful violence derails the narrative model. 

And some wonder why the legacy press is dying.