Ted Koppel’s CBS Sunday Morning segment on media polarization earned wide-circulation this week, due mostly to his contentious exchange with Sean Hannity.
But buried under the coverage of that exchange was a statement made by New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet who was also interviewed by Koppel. Asked by Koppel whether there’s “any way” the New York Times can “help to close the gap, heal the rift,” Baquet pushed back, contending that it is not the duty of journalism to unify political opponents.
Baquet transitioned that argument into a surprising defense of new media’s impact on the country and on his profession. “Some of what’s happening in the country is healthy,” he said. “There is an ability now for people to talk to each other. We’re all focused on the people who say nasty things to each other, and who say nasty things out loud, but that’s not all that’s going on.”
“You can’t convince me that this is not a more open, wide world,” he continued.
“As much as it sort of throws us off our game a little bit … maybe we needed to have ourselves thrown off our game a little bit,” Baquet speculated.
The powerful editor previously made news for admitting after President Trump won the November election that New York and Washington-based media powerhouses such as the Times, “don’t get the role of religion in people’s lives.”
“I think there are things that we can be more creative about to understand the country,” he said in December.
Baquet’s willingness to at least examine the failures of traditional media models in light of recent political developments is refreshing. Whether or not his outlook will improve the New York Times, however, is yet to be determined.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
