Rep. Ed Towns, D-N.Y., defended a Democratic candidate for Congress from New York City who attributed his defeat in the primary to “white media” attacks by placing them in historical context.

“That’s the only media you have in New York,” Towns told The Washington Examiner. “All he had to do is just say media; there’s no black newspapers like they had back in the old days.” Charles Barron, a former Black Panther whom Towns had endorsed to replace him in Congress, blamed “the white media” for his struggles at the polls. Barron attracted the endorsement of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, who hailed Barron’s “anti-Zionist” positions on Israel.

Pressed about whether he thinks The New York Times is racist, Towns said no. “No, I think that now that the media in the black community which was owned and operated — editorial boards and all that were maintained and held by blacks –  doesn’t exist anymore,” he said. “I think that’s probably what [Barron] was referring to.”

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“Some of these newspapers have black reporters,” Towns added. “I don’t know [about] these executive boards; I generally don’t see anybody there, [but]I wouldn’t refer to it as white media, I think that’s a mistake.”