“Twitter is not at the head of The New York Times,” Weiss wrote. “But Twitter has become its latest editor.”
“The stories are chosen and told to satisfy the narrowest audience, rather than allowing a curious audience to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions,” Weiss added.
“I am personally committed to ensuring that The Times continues to publish voices, experiences and views from across the political spectrum in the Opinion report,” said Kingsbury. “We see every day how impactful and important that approach is, especially through the enormous influence that The Times’ opinion journalism has on the national conversation.”
Weiss faced criticism in June when the newspaper faced a backlash over the publication of Republican Senator Tom Cotton’s opinion piece, which called for sending military troops to US cities to quell the unrest that had erupted after the George Floyd’s death. In a series of tweets, Weiss tweeted that there was a “civil war” that has been “furious” within the Times between the “wokes” and the older “liberals.” The tweets sparked public reactions from some of Weiss’s colleagues.
Weiss said in her resignation letter that she was subject to “constant harassment” by her colleagues at The Times who disagreed with her views. She wrote that her colleagues called her a Nazi and a racist and that she was “downgraded on Slack channels throughout the company.”
“There, some coworkers insist that I have to root for this company to be truly ‘inclusive,’ while others post ax emojis next to my name,” Weiss wrote. “Still other New York Times employees publicly defame me as a liar and fanatic on Twitter without fear that harassing me will meet the appropriate action. They never are.”
Eileen Murphy, a spokeswoman for The Times, did not respond to details of Weiss’s resignation letter. But Murphy said: “We are committed to fostering an environment of honest dialogue, searching and empathy among colleagues, one where mutual respect from all is required.”
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