Facing Attacks from Its Left, the New York Times Stands Its Ground

By Nate Hochman

Thursday, February 16, 2023

 

Yesterday, I wrote about an open letter, now signed by upwards of 1,000 New York Times contributors, alleging that the Times had an excessively right-wing “editorial bias” when it came to transgender issues — a “fever dream,” I wrote, that “hails from an alternate universe lightyears away from the reality-based community.” As it so happens, Times executive editor Joe Kahn seemed to think so, too. In a letter to the paper’s staff today, Kahn wrote:

 

It is not unusual for outside groups to critique our coverage or to rally supporters to seek to influence our journalism. In this case, however, members of our staff and contributors to The Times joined the effort. Their protest letter included direct attacks on several of our colleagues, singling them out by name.

 

Participation in such a campaign is against the letter and spirit of our ethics policy. That policy prohibits our journalists from aligning themselves with advocacy groups and joining protest actions on matters of public policy. We also have a clear policy prohibiting Times journalists from attacking one another’s journalism publicly or signaling their support for such attacks.

 

Kahn went on to defend his paper’s allegedly anti-trans reporting on the merits, arguing that “our coverage of transgender issues, including the specific pieces singled out for the attack, is important, deeply reported, and sensitively written.” In conclusion, he fired another warning shot: “We do not welcome, and will not tolerate, participation of Times journalists in protests organized by advocacy groups or attacks on colleagues on social media and other public forums.”

 

The response from the letter’s signatories was more or less what you’d expect:

Molloy, who has been one of the loudest advocates of the absurd idea that the Times has been too friendly to conservative voices on transgender issues, has apparently since deactivated her Twitter account. That’s probably for the best — for her, for us, for the Times, for the cause of justice and domestic tranquility, and ultimately, for America.