# What the fuck is going on at the New York Times?! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 4, 2020, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038 "2020-06-04T12:21:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Unreconstructed\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/76d3ee/32.png) [@Unreconstructed\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unreconstructed_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/281 "2020-06-11T08:11:00Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > The NYT’s Ben Smith was remarkably candid in his interview on the Slate Gist podcast today. He said that the reason black employees stated that they were endangered by the Cotton op-ed was because the union advised them that they could not get in trouble for expressing concerns about a workplace safety issue, whereas a general political complaint would be against The New York Times code of conduct for social media They knew they were never “endangered” by Cotton’s editorial. Claiming otherwise was always a straight up power play. They’re just crybullies, abusing the compassion of others by holding themselves hostage to get what they want. I’ve also cancelled my NYT subscription, and for the exact same reason. Those fucksticks aren’t getting another penny of my money. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/282 "2020-06-11T12:29:47Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > If that were true, and you know it’s not, how is it that there are any on the left left? It seems to me that our old fiend ignorance also happens a lot among leftists that end up as concern trolls. The latest is based into thinking that reporters, even black ones have nothing to fear or that they are just imagining dangers. > **[George Floyd: 'Unacceptable' attacks on reporters at protests](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52880970)** > > More than 100 incidents are being investigated by press groups, including apparently deliberate targeting. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/283 "2020-06-11T13:08:29Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > The NYT’s Ben Smith was remarkably candid in his interview on the Slate Gist podcast today. He said that the reason black employees stated that they were endangered by the Cotton op-ed was because the union advised them that they could not get in trouble for expressing concerns about a workplace safety issue, whereas a general political complaint would be against The New York Times code of conduct for social media. It’s a matter of deciding which avenue to take in addressing a serious concern. That doesn’t diminish the concern. > [@SlackerInc](#): > > He also said that readers these days cannot really tell the difference between straight news articles and stuff from the Opinion section, which is news to me; and that unlike the old model when they were a mass publication where they had to keep advertisers happy by covering the spectrum of political opinion for everyone in a news market, these days the predominant priority in terms of their bottom line is to not piss off too many of their subscribers. That makes sense but I find it profoundly sad. I think what he’s really getting at goes back to my point about amplification. If you repeat the message enough times, it becomes part of the overall truth. When we use mass media, we’re not just creating information, we’re often framing the information and suggesting how people should think about a particular topic. Nobody’s taking away Tom Cotton’s right to express himself, but the Times has a right to decide whether they’re going to give him their microphone. It’s no different than holding a protest. You can organize a protest, but I can decide whether you can use my house to come over and make signs and phone calls in preparation for that kind of event. You can always go on to someone else’s house. NY Times staff were telling the Times management that they didn’t want to be the ones to give Cotton the microphone. They didn’t want their house to be used for his or Trump’s rally. And it’s just in this one case. They never said Sen Cotton can’t write an op-ed ever. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/284 "2020-06-11T13:22:50Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Nobody’s taking away Tom Cotton’s right to express himself, but the Times has a right to decide whether they’re going to give him their microphone. It’s no different than holding a protest. You can organize a protest, but I can decide whether you can use my house to come over and make signs and phone calls in preparation for that kind of event. You can always go on to someone else’s house. NY Times staff were telling the Times management that they didn’t want to be the ones to give Cotton the microphone. They didn’t want their house to be used for his or Trump’s rally. And it’s just in this one case. They never said Sen Cotton can’t write an op-ed ever. Be that as it may, they invited him to write it. Published it. Discredited it. Then folded like a cheap rag to public pressure to fall on their sword and fire the editor-in-chief. Effectively, they failed to live up to their journalistic integrity twice over. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/285 "2020-06-11T13:40:09Z")
That’s some fine virtue signalling! ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/286 "2020-06-11T13:42:47Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > That’s some fine virtue signalling! watnow? ETA: On second though, never mind. I don’t give a fuck about what you have to say if you can’t be arsed to make the effort to express yourself in a way that can be understood. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/287 "2020-06-11T15:25:17Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Be that as it may, they invited him to write it. Published it. Discredited it. Then folded like a cheap rag to public pressure to fall on their sword and fire the editor-in-chief. > > Effectively, they failed to live up to their journalistic integrity twice over. Maybe the real problem, which they more or less admittedly to already, was that they didn’t follow their normal editorial review process. That’s really the underlying problem in all of this: they were grossly negligent in the operation of their press. Again, nobody would care if this were a less reputable and less influential publication. It would have been par for the course had this appeared in the Washington Times, which is known as a right-leaning publication. I don’t think that the Times necessarily has a liberal reputation to live up to, either. I don’t insist that the press have a liberal bias, but that brings us to another point: the truth these days seems to have a liberal bias. Should publications like the Times, like the WaPo, like the Atlantic be less factual in order to be less biased, or should other publications simply abandon their own bias in order to be more truthful? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/288 "2020-06-11T16:08:57Z")
I agree with that and the reality has been that groups like The New York Times are corporate media in the end. Not really liberal as anyone who looked at [Noam Chomsky’ _Manufacturing Consent_](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/edward-s-herman-scholar-whose-radical-critiques-of-us-media-unpacked-the-fake-news-caricatured-by-a8067131.html)can tell you. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/289 "2020-06-11T16:31:33Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I don’t think that the Times necessarily has a liberal reputation to live up to, either. I don’t insist that the press have a liberal bias, but that brings us to another point: the truth these days seems to have a liberal bias. Should publications like the Times, like the WaPo, like the Atlantic be less factual in order to be less biased, or should other publications simply abandon their own bias in order to be more truthful? Facts should remain stubborn things. ‘Other People’s Opinions’, if clearly labeled, have more leeway. If certain publications insist on publishing lies as facts, well, I’m not sure what we can do about that except to call them out and encourage others not to support them. It’s a struggle given that The National Enquirer is still in business. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/290 "2020-07-14T19:13:18Z")
Bari Weiss resigned today. > **[New York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss resigns, citing hostile culture and...](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/14/new-york-times-bari-weiss-resigns-360730#)** > > “Showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper should not require bravery,” Weiss wrote. Here’s her full resignation letter: [Resignation Letter — Bari Weiss](https://www.bariweiss.com/resignation-letter) What do we think about this? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/291 "2020-07-14T19:31:20Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > What do we think about this That her definition of “centrist” is a little off the mark. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/292 "2020-07-14T19:32:01Z")
Aye; that made me snort when I read it in her resignation letter. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/293 "2020-07-14T20:56:13Z")
I recall that she was a centrist in her imagination only. The times already has Bret Stephens and Tom Friedman, both of whom have neo-conish tendencies though Friedman is arguably the more palatable and intellectual of the two. I think Weiss was a lab experiment to see if the Times could lure in some Fox News watchers. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/294 "2020-07-14T21:19:09Z")
She probably just resigned because no one would go out with her: > > > Bari Weiss @bariweiss ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/295 "2020-08-13T04:01:44Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > You don’t want to mainstream ideas that shouldn’t be ‘mainstreamed’. Well, good to know you decide what is mainstream speech. And I’m sure you’d be the first to scream censorship if someone tried to silence you. I bow to you. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/296 "2020-08-13T04:17:19Z")
TGT amirite? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/297 "2020-08-13T05:32:45Z")
And now we have Newsweek running articles about how Kamala Harris isn’t a citizen. And they have the nerve to defend the article, “Oh, no, it’s not racist.” > **[Editor's Note: Eastman's Column Has Nothing to Do With Racist Birtherism](https://www.newsweek.com/editors-note-eastmans-newsweek-column-has-nothing-do-racist-birtherism-1524800)** > > Some readers saw the essay's constitutional analysis as an attempt to ignite a racist conspiracy theory around Kamala Harris. That could not be further from the truth. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/298 "2020-08-13T05:43:58Z")
And they end the piece with > The debate pertaining to the precise constitutional requirements for the Article II phrase “natural born Citizen,” having been aired in 2000, 2008 and 2016, is unlikely to fall quiet soon. Yes, it’s unlikely to fall quiet if they keep publishing columns like that. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/299 "2020-08-13T12:28:26Z")
The author is deliberately stirring bullshit and he knows it, on one hand acknowledging that the Courts have determined that all natural born personas are eligible, yet leaving the door open for controversy by writing that the Courts didn’t reach that conclusion until after Harris was born – as if it fucking matters (it doesn’t). So desperate is the online version of a dying print publication that it resorts to trolling for clicks. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038/300 "2020-08-13T19:32:30Z")
Newsweek is owned by a cult leader who also runs Christian University Olivet University. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-at-the-new-york-times/855038.md?page=16)