NY Times ‘Civil War’: Opinion Writer Bari Weiss Gets Buried By Colleagues for Tweeting Her Takes on Newsroom Friction After Cotton Op-Ed
(Don Emmert/AFP, Getty Images)
New York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss got buried by her colleagues for live-tweeting her own take on the newsroom’s work dynamic on Thursday afternoon. After the Times published a highly controversial op-ed from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) entitled “Send in the Military”, Weiss claimed the newsroom has turned into a “civil war” between the “new guard” and the “old guard.”
Weiss’ comments come after dozens of Times reporters were outspoken about the opinion section’s decision to publish Cotton’s comments in an opinion format, a rare move from the writers part of a publication that has historically aimed to restrict criticism from employees via social media.
Times employees tweeted, “Running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger” in response, among other comments.
On Thursday, Weiss said the internal strife at the New York Times newsroom is the “same one raging inside other publications around the country.”
The civil war inside The New York Times between the (mostly young) wokes the (mostly 40+) liberals is the same one raging inside other publications and companies across the country. The dynamic is always the same. (Thread.)
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) June 4, 2020
The New Guard has a different worldview, one articulated best by @JonHaidt and @glukianoff. They call it “safetyism,” in which the right of people to feel emotionally and psychologically safe trumps what were previously considered core liberal values, like free speech.
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) June 4, 2020
Weiss tweeted she wasn’t surprised “by what has now exploded into public view. In a way, it’s oddly comforting.” She also tried to turn the Times‘ motto into a metaphor about how the two sides of the newsroom have conflicting worldview.
Here’s one way to think about what’s at stake: The New York Times motto is “all the news that’s fit to print.” One group emphasizes the word “all.” The other, the word “fit.”
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) June 4, 2020
Her comments come after publisher A.G. Sulzberger called the intra-department criticism “essential.” But subscriptions of the Times have reportedly started to decline following criticism of the op-ed, according to The Slate‘s Ashley Feinberg.
Max Strasser, an assistant editor at the Times, called out Weiss for “livetweeting” her “inaccurate” thoughts during a meeting they were both in. Times colleagues quickly piled on.
I am in in the same meeting that Bari appears to be livetweeting. This inaccurate in both characterizations: It’s not a civil war, it’s an editorial conversation; and it’s not breaking down along generational lines.https://t.co/yioXfTZoJB
— Max Strasser (@maxstrasser) June 4, 2020
nope
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) June 4, 2020
I think we both agree that anyone who represents The NYT should endeavor, at the very least, not to be willfully ignorant of the conversations happening around them.
If any of the “young wokes” you work with had so grossly misrepresented something like this, they’d be fired. https://t.co/CAeIKQA8wY
— Lil Uzi Hurt at Home (@lostblackboy) June 4, 2020
The “woke” “liberals” are staffers who care deeply about their company and want to preserve the integrity of our work and the safety of our colleagues. And it’s not a civil war. It’s a smart, measured discussion fueled by those passions.
— Dan Saltzstein (@dansaltzstein) June 4, 2020
Bari Weiss is seeing and hearing a different conversation in the @nytimes newsroom than I am. Other NYT journalists will testify to this. https://t.co/BnuRR3zYBT
— Edward Wong (@ewong) June 4, 2020
This is not an accurate description of the dynamic in our newsroom. https://t.co/qzjDdmVssG
— dan sanchez (@danieljsanchez_) June 4, 2020
this doesn’t feel accurate or right to me from my purview of our internal slacks and the multiple private conversations I’ve had; and it also undermines the older employees who are rightfully outraged as well https://t.co/eD83QN8PR0
— Jenna Wortham (@jennydeluxe) June 4, 2020
also … b*ri w*iss isnt even in the feedback channel where most of the conversation about that op-ed is happening … someone just added her …
— Jenna Wortham (@jennydeluxe) June 4, 2020
could you grant the slightest possibility that you’ve mistaken cause for effect? this sounds like a victory lap about campus “safe spaces” when the matter at hand is a senator calling for military action inside the US.
— John Herrman (@jwherrman) June 4, 2020
