Charlotte, NC — Opinion writer and editor, Bari Weiss, resigned from the New York Times. The announcement came as Weiss shared her resignation letter on her website. Throughout the letter, she shares what most of us have known all along. The NY Times has no journalistic integrity.
Weiss sent the letter to publisher A.G. Sulzberger and shared her feelings throughout. She stated that she was brought to the paper three years ago as the Times realized that they had lost touch with Americans after the 2016 election. She described her centrist views, but then she unloaded.
She said that “the lessons that ought to have followed the election—lessons about the importance of understanding other Americans, the necessity of resisting tribalism, and the centrality of the free exchange of ideas to a democratic society—have not been learned.” She said the paper was not interested in collective discovery and understanding the full picture.
She also described bullying that she had experienced while working at the paper. She continued with the following statement about her work that it has,
made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m “writing about the Jews again.” Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers.
Perhaps the most interesting part is when she accused the paper of holding the same moral values as the social media company Twitter. In those comments, she said:
Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions.
Weiss said the paper was being used to write stories to push a predetermined narrative. She talked about the lack of journalistic integrity and the actions of her coworkers. She said, “I do not understand how you have allowed this kind of behavior to go on inside your company in full view of the paper’s entire staff and the public.”
The Times is accused of selectively enforcing rules and silencing opinions that may spark backlash or bad publicity for the paper. All activities that we, as conservatives, have been talking about for many years.
None of these statements is coming out saying that Weiss is conservative or supporting a conservative viewpoint. She is simply calling out the lack of unbiased coverage from one of the largest publishing outlets in the world. Not one single topic she describes is surprising. The only surprising part is that someone called them out about it.
Balanced journalists that can see the entire picture are hard to find. Someone will quickly bring Weiss on staff to help their organization. This is exactly the kind of journalist we need in a large distributor.
The encouragement of free speech and free press is something that conservatives claim to value. Weiss’ comments specifically point to the fact that conservatives are being prevented from sharing their viewpoint. This is a problem if you claim to be an unbiased organization.
Not one single big media outlet values a different opinion. We see this from the NY Times to the screen at the major news outlets on TV. Each of them has an agenda and a mission, just as Weiss indicates. They twist their plots and stories to fit the requirements, leaving differing viewpoints out of consideration.
I comment Weiss for her comments and for taking a stand. I am sure that her work for 3 years in this environment was challenging and it took a lot to give up a great position at such a large organization.
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