Jill Abramson, former executive editor of the New York Times, defended her old newspaper’s reputation after one of its opinion editors resigned and released a letter decrying the culture in the newsroom.
“I think that the departure of one junior-level opinion editor at the New York Times is really a molehill compared to the mountains of news developments that you’ve just been talking about on your show,” Abramson said Wednesday on Fox News’s Outnumbered Overtime with Harris Faulkner. “Bari Weiss’s letter was a strong letter, certainly, and it was bound to get some reaction, but in the scheme of things it does not spell crisis for the New York Times.”
Weiss, whose resignation was revealed this week, shared her letter to A.G. Sulzberger, the paper’s publisher, on her personal website. In it, she claimed there was a hostile environment toward centrist and conservative writers.
Weiss joined the paper in 2017 from the Wall Street Journal under the leadership of former editorial page editor James Bennet, who aimed to highlight perspectives across the political spectrum. Bennet resigned last month after the publication of a controversial opinion piece by Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas calling for President Trump to use military force on civilians to help control the unrest of protests turned violent sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
Weiss complained in her letter that Twitter has become the “ultimate editor” of the New York Times.
“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,” she wrote.
Weiss also claimed she was bullied by colleagues who disagreed with her viewpoints and that she has been called a “Nazi” and a “racist.”
Abramson disputed the notion that the New York Times has an intolerant atmosphere, saying most of the opinion columnists are centrists. Although Abramson sympathized with Weiss, she stressed that having a thick skin is a must-have for the job.
“I am very sorry if she was bullied by any of her colleagues,” Abramson said. “That should not be tolerated in any organization. The Times does not tolerate it. They have a set of written rules of the road which prohibit that kind of behavior. So, I’m sorry. I’m sorry if she had a rough time. Bari Weiss is someone, she has thousands of Twitter followers herself. She has been in there on Twitter, throwing some punches herself at people she disagrees with. I’m not saying she is a bully, but if you are going to dish it out, you’ve got to be ready to take it.”
Abramson also said despite Trump’s constant claims that the New York Times is “failing” or losing subscriptions because of its harsh coverage of his administration, the paper is thriving. She also dismissed the president’s accusations that employees are leaving the newspaper in droves.
“What the president, as he often says, is not true,” Abramson said. “People are not fleeing from the New York Times. They had the unfortunate departure of the opinion editor, James Bennett, who I think is a fantastic journalist, and now this resignation. But the Times is doing just fine. The truth is it has more subscribers than ever in its history, and more readers. That’s really the measure of success, not who is coming on staff and who is departing.”
Abramson led the New York Times from 2011 to 2014, serving as the paper’s first female executive editor in its 160-year history. She was succeeded by Dean Baquet, who still serves as the paper’s top editor.
