After receiving internal and external backlash for publishing a controversial op-ed by GOP Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, the New York Times is walking back its decision.
“We’ve examined the piece and the process leading up to its publication,” a New York Times spokesperson said. “This review made clear that a rushed editorial process led to the publication of an op-ed that did not meet our standards. As a result, we’re planning to examine both short term and long term changes, to include expanding our fact checking operation and reducing the number of op-eds we publish.”
Several staffers at the New York Times expressed concern and disagreement with the paper publishing Cotton’s op-ed, which argued for the president to enact the Insurrection Act if the national unrest over the last week did not end. The act allows the president to send the military to control domestic situations.
Protests sparked across the country after George Floyd, a black man, was killed by a white police officer. In some cases, protests quickly turned into several nights of violence, arson, looting, and even shootings.
Journalists at the New York Times argued publishing the op-ed put the lives of the paper’s black staff members in danger.
The paper later ran a separate article on the backlash it received from running Cotton’s piece. Three unidentified journalists said they had informed their editors that sources told them they wouldn’t provide them with information anymore because of his article. Others online vowed to cancel their subscriptions to the paper because they couldn’t support an outlet that would publish a stance such as Cotton’s.
Cotton stood by his stance he wrote in the piece and called those criticizing the paper’s publishing of his words “hypocritical” and not willing to listen to opinions that don’t match their own.
