The New York Times went out looking for a law license when President Donald Trump’s new — and now former — press secretary, Katie Zacharia, called herself a lawyer. But when Republican Mike Rogers challenged Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s credentials, the Times went out of its way to explain that El-Sayed — who has repeatedly referred to himself as a physician — earned a medical degree but never practiced medicine (while continuing to call him “doctor”).
“President Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, describes herself as a lawyer, and he called her ‘an attorney.’ The New York Times was unable to find a law license for her. In an interview, she said the confusion is the result of a misunderstanding,” the Times said in a post on X.
Zacharia graduated from law school. Whether she is licensed to practice law is a separate question, but the Times took an entirely different approach to handling the self-designation of El-Sayed, who has repeatedly referred to himself as a physician. The Times has apparently foregone investigation into his license and the painstaking examination of whether his self-referral matches his actual qualifications. The Times found time to investigate a Republican’s title but not that of El-Sayed — a candidate who’s been in the public eye for months.
During its Oct. 8 coverage of Michigan’s Senate debate, the Times’ Kellen Browning reported that Rogers argued El-Sayed was “not really a doctor.” Rather than provide the Zacharia treatment of pointing out El-Sayed is in fact not a licensed doctor, Browning ran cover for El-Sayed.
“He earned a medical degree from Columbia University but has never been a practicing physician,” Browning wrote, before continuing to refer to El-Sayed as a “Dr.”
His credentials also earned him a rather glowing treatment from the Times in a past profile, with Michael Kruse introducing El-Sayed as an “establishment-accredited epidemiologist turned anti-establishment avatar.” He then detailed El-Sayed’s scholarships, his Oxford doctorate in epidemiology, and his medical degree from Columbia.
But much like Zacharia never became a practicing attorney, El-Sayed never became a practicing physician. But unlike they did with Zacharia, the media didn’t use the lack of a license to malign him.
The disparate treatment doesn’t end there: Actually practicing medicine doesn’t guarantee Republicans will get the same treatment “Dr.” El-Sayed gets. Ben Carson spent decades as a top neurosurgeon, yet when the Times was reporting on the end of his presidential campaign in 2016, the Times reporters referred to the retired neurosurgeon as “Ben Carson” or “Mr.” but never “Dr.”
“Ben Carson suspended his presidential campaign on Friday, ending an upstart bid that began with promise before fizzling out. Mr. Carson signaled this week that he was winding things down, when he said that he would skip the Republican debate on Thursday night.”
The outlet did refer to Carson as “Dr.” in a separate profile on his medical career, while presenting his work as a brain surgeon as contradictory to his political career. The article also cast doubt on whether Carson was as accomplished as he was (unlike how the Times deployed El-Sayed’s degree to bolster the candidate).
The Times’ affinity for degree-holding Democrats was also clear when Jill Biden’s title came under scrutiny. In December of 2020, the Times’ Michael Levenson wrote a piece criticizing a Wall Street Journal op-ed that suggested people drop “Dr.” from Biden’s title. Biden has a doctorate in education.
Levenson emphasized accusations that the suggestions in the WSJ were sexist and “underscored the way men often dismiss women’s credentials.”
Levenson also quoted anthropology professor Sarah H. Parcak, who said: “If you have a doctorate in pharmacy or education or biology, it doesn’t matter: Call yourself a doctor.”
“You worked your rear end off for years to earn that. Shout it from the rooftops, if you want to. It’s your right,” Parcak said.
When The New York Times is tasked with covering Biden or El-Sayed, the paper’s writer present their academic accomplishments as just that, accomplishments. When Times writers cover Zacharia or Carson, they scrutinize and downplay those same accomplishments.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2