Bari Weiss Tells Senator Tim Scott About a Behind The Scenes Fight At The New York Times Over An Op-Ed He Submitted
Journalist Bari Weiss spilled the details of an internal battle at The New York Times over an op-ed piece submitted by Senator Tim Scott during his appearance on her podcast this week.
On the Wednesday episode of her show, Honestly with Bari Weiss, she hosted Scott to talk about his time in the Senate and his life story.
At one point during the conversation, Weiss recalled a story from her time as a writer for Times, a position she departed from in 2020 citing bullying from colleagues and an “illiberal environment.”
The story centered around a behind the scenes debacle in the editing room of the paper concerning Scott.
Scott and his staff had submitted a op-ed about a bill he was working on, the Justice Act. It was heavily aimed at police reform in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
“I wanna tell you a little story that I’m not sure if you know,” Weiss began, discussing his proposed bill that was endorsed by a range of people including Senator Chuck Schumer.
Scott said the bill eventually fell apart because, “the Democrats really wanted the issue more than the solution.”
“Well, here’s what happened. I was at the New York Times and you or your staff sent in an op-ed about the bill and why it fell apart,” Weiss recalled. “And this is the part I’m not sure if you know. There was a discussion about the piece and whether or not we should run it. And one colleague, a more senior colleague said to a more junior colleague who was pushing for the piece, ‘Do you think the Republicans really care about minority rights?'”
“Wow,” Scott said.
“And the more junior colleagues said, ‘I think Tim Scott cares about minority rights.’ And then, and here’s the pretty shocking part. The more senior colleague said, ‘Let’s check with Senator Schumer before we run it,'” Weiss added.
She detailed how the younger colleague refused to reach out to Schumer over ethics concerns.
“Are you surprised to hear that? Or does that story feel kind of representative of the way the media has treated you and maybe some of your colleagues?” Weiss asked.
“I am disappointed to hear that. I am not surprised to hear that. You have to remember that The Washington Post fact checked my life, Scott replied.
“I can’t tell you how disrespectful and dishonoring that entire process was — went on for three or four months as they went through records to find out whether or not my grandfather actually dropped out of the school in the third grade, their records suggested he dropped out in the fourth grade, but still didn’t learn to read,” he recalled. “They wanted to know if I had somehow hidden my silver spoon and just was using a plastic spoon instead.”
“And the more they dug, the more they realized that there was no evidence that disproved the fact that I am, who I say I am and that I experienced what I said I’ve experienced,” he added.
“So there is something in national media that wants to frame any conservatives, particularly Black conservatives as being disingenuous or insincere or a tool for the conservatives. When in fact the Black community is consistently as conservative as any community,” he concluded.
Listen above via Honestly with Bari Weiss.
