NY Times Staffers Speak to CNN About Internal Tensions: ‘We Are Not F—ing Part of the Resistance’

New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet hosted a town hall this week within the newsroom to address employee questions or concerns, according to CNN Business.

The town hall came after a recent front page print headline deemed to be un-skeptical of President Donald Trump’s remarks in light of the mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso. “TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM,” the original headline read. After backlash from many on the left, including presidential candidates, it was changed to “ASSAILING HATE BUT NOT GUNS.”

The instance brought to light a bigger discussion within the Times — how to cover Trump and whether or not to plainly label his remarks as racist, according to nine employees who spoke with CNN Business.

The Times has practiced the “show don’t tell” method throughout the Trump presidency. Baquet believes in explaining what Trump said, allowing readers to decide for themselves whether or not the comments were racist.

“We have to remember we are not advocates for the left,” one staffer explained, before adding “We are not fucking part of the resistance.”

The tactic has sparked internal debate. “I think there is a general feeling of frustration that we are doing a lot of good work, but there is also a feeling that we need to be doing more to hold Trump rigorously accountable,” said one staffer, according to CNN Business.

Baquet acknowledged the tension, saying it seemed to play out along a generational divide. Older staffers preferred the “show don’t tell” method while younger staffers felt the need to be more aggressive and explicit in covering Trump. “My own view is that we are covering Donald Trump very aggressively,” said Baquet.

He said the paper’s role is not to be the “leader of the resistance,” because when the resistance comes  to power, “what are you? You’re just a chump of the people who won,” said Baquet. “Our role is to hold everybody who has power to account.”

But the headline wasn’t the only issue that sparked Baquet’s call for a town hall, he said. A series of poorly thought out tweets from a top editor had added to frustrations. Baquet was likely alluding to Washington deputy editor Jonathan Weisman. Weisman has come under fire for a since-deleted tweet saying two freshman progressive congresswomen of color aren’t really “from the Midwest.” He also tweeted that the Justice Democrats were trying to unseat an African-American Democrat by backing primary challenger Morgan Harper, who informed him she is also black.  Weisman demanded an “enormous apology” from writer Roxane Gay when she called him out for it and he was subsequently demoted.

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