New York Times Reporter ‘Spat On’ in Public By Person Enraged By Paper’s Trans Coverage
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
New York Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger spoke to the paper’s staff at the annual State of The Times meeting on Thursday and addressed a host of topics including misinformation in the media, union negotiations, and the recent controversy surrounding the paper’s coverage of trans rights, which Sulzberger noted has led to harassment of some Times reporters. Sulzberger even noted an incident in which one writer was “spat on” in her own neighborhood last weekend.
Sulzberger defended the paper’s coverage of the transgender community, saying, “We understand that outside groups will always try to influence our work. But by focusing on a handful of individual stories — even individual sentences and sources that they disagree with — those campaigning to discredit our coverage also overlook how thoughtfully and broadly we’ve explored this topic.”
In mid-February, some of the biggest organizations fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S. today released a scathing letter demanding changes at the Times over what the hundreds of signatories see as “biased coverage of transgender people” in the Times.
“We won’t stand for the Times platforming lies, bias, fringe theories, and dangerous inaccuracies,” the letter read, adding, “We demand fair coverage, we demand that the Times platform trans voices as both sources and full-time writers and editors, and we demand a meeting between Times leadership and the transgender community.”
The criticism, backed by hundreds of celebrities, activists, and even Times contributors, led to internal divisions within the paper and ongoing divisions within the organization, including a letter by prominent Times journalists slamming the head of their own union for backing the criticism under the guise that the trans coverage at the paper created a hostile work environment.
Times correspondent Jeremy Peters drafted a reply, signed by dozens of top writers including Peter Baker, Charlie Savage, Michael Grynbaum, and Kate Zernike denouncing the union’s stance as undermining “the ethical and professional protections that we depend on to guard the independence and integrity of our journalism.”
Sulzberger too defended the journalistic integrity of the paper’s coverage, saying:
We’ve documented the worrying wave of anti-trans legislation advancing in statehouses across the country; we’ve detailed the horrific violence and discrimination trans people face; and we’ve illuminated the lives and experiences of trans people here and around the world.
And since our reporters involved in this coverage have also faced nonstop attacks, let me also say that the price of reporting fairly and independently about any topic should not be months of threats and harassment. We even had a colleague involved in this coverage confronted in her neighborhood last weekend and spat on.
While Sulzberger did not elaborate on the incident, he did note that other writers at the paper “who were also attacked for sensitive reporting on trans issues,” including Megan Twohey, Christina Jewett, Azeen Ghorayshi, Michael Powell, and Katie Baker.
“I cannot tell you how troubled I am by how common it has become for newsroom colleagues who are simply doing their jobs — and doing them with distinction — to be targeted by activist campaigns aimed at intimidation, whether it’s Nikole Hannah-Jones’s work on race; Apoorva Mandavilli’s work on Covid-19; Maggie Haberman’s work on politics; Muyi Xiao’s work in China; or Farnaz Fassihi’s work on Iran,” Sulzberger added. concluding:
At the heart of this criticism is a growing polarization that makes it easier than ever for people to avoid views and experiences different from their own. Our job is to provide the windows that foster understanding across these differences. Because understanding, especially in one of the most diverse countries on earth, allows people to come together.
