A New York Times columnist criticized his own paper Thursday for its handling of an opinion article written by Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, calling it a “a gift to the enemies of a free press.”
In the column titled: “What The Times Got Wrong,” with a subhead of “Tom Cotton speaks for a large part of this country. Will we not listen?” Bret Stephens rebuked the publication for its response to a reported revolt by staff members on the paper, referring to it as “an invitation to intellectual cowardice.”
Some reportedly said it endangered black employees.
James Bennet, the editorial page editor, resigned and the Times subsequently added an editor’s note saying it didn’t meet the paper’s standards after staffers supposedly expressed outrage over the publication of Cotton’s “Send in the Troops” commentary. In it, Cotton urged President Donald Trump to use the military to quell rioting following the death of a black man in police custody in Minneapolis if local police couldn’t.
“Serious journalism, complete with a vigorous exchange of ideas, cannot survive in an atmosphere in which modest intellectual risk-taking or minor offenses against new ideological orthodoxies risk professional ruin,” Stephens wrote.
“It is a violation of the principles that are supposed to sustain the profession, particularly our obligation to give readers a picture of the world as it really is. And, as the paper dismisses distinguished journalists along with controversial opinions, it’s an invitation to intellectual cowardice.”
Stephens, hired by the Times in 2017, has been characterized as a neoconservative for his advocating the use of U.S. military power overseas and for expressing doubt about global warming. But he also was part of the stop Trump movement, comparing the president to World War II Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
One thrust of Stephens’ argument was that Cotton was a “leading spokesman for a major current of public opinion.”
“Cotton isn’t some nobody you’ll never hear from again. He has the pulse of his party, the ear of the president and an eye on higher office. Readers deserve an unvarnished look at who this man is and what he stands for,” Stephens wrote. “Many critics of the piece’s publication think otherwise.”
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