That's not an expression of an intent to make race the story next year. It's his believe that race is a core issue hurting the American soul these days, and tha

That's not an expression of an intent to make race the story next year. It's his believe that race is a core issue hurting the American soul these days, and that he is committing the paper of record to cover the topic in proportion to its significance. Edit: I previously included a paragraph here pointing to this issue being brought up even though it's one among many as evidence for race being a top issue. But reading some past comment of yours, you seem more reasonable than I expected, on that issue and in general. Our disagreement may just be smaller than it appears, or concern "the media" more than the issue of race. If one were to stipulate that BLM was a major story, and maybe even that some of the President-unelect's words and deeds can be interpreted as not entirely lacking a resemblance with something that may, in a certain light, be considered to possibly fall under the umbrella of "being a racist", or even just that he was frequently misinterpreted in such a way by a bit more than half of the population... then race is, de facto, a major issue. Add to that some coverage that's been criticised as tone-deaf, and my starting point of considering the Times to not be the worst, and I think there's a good-faith interpretation of Banquet's intentions. If, instead, you believe journalism in general, and the Times specifically, have been circling the drain for decades, it may sound different.