Margaret Sullivan, public editor for the New York Times, is criticizing the publication for what she and some readers have seen as unfair coverage of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
In a blog post on Wednesday, Sullivan said she has received several reader complaints that the Times has been dismissive of Sanders, if not outright hostile.
“The Times has not ignored Mr. Sanders’ campaign by any means but it also hasn’t always taken it very seriously,” Sullivan said. “The tone of some stories does seem regrettably dismissive, even mocking at times. Some of it is focused on the candidate’s age, appearance and style rather than what he has to say.”
She cited a recent interview for the Times, in which Sanders was asked about news coverage of Hillary Clinton’s hair compared to his, and another story that cast him as a curmudgeon on the campaign trail.
Clinton remains the national front-runner for the Democratic nomination, but her poll numbes have fallen in some primary states, shrinking her lead to within a few points of Sanders.
Sanders, a self-described socialist who serves as an independent U.S. senator from Vermont, has captivated many grassroots Democratic voters, drawing some of the largest crowds of any candidate from either party with his populist rhetoric on economic inequality.
When Sanders launched his campaign at the start of May, he was polling nationally at around 6 percent, and much of the news media saw him to be mostly a non-factor.
Sullivan juxtaposed the Times’ coverage of Sanders since he began his campaign with that of GOP candidate Donald Trump, who was also considered to be an unserious candidate when he jumped into the race in June.
“While it’s certainly realistic, and reflective of reasonable news judgment to give Mr. Sanders significantly less coverage than Mrs. Clinton, that’s not happening with another presidential long shot — Donald Trump — whose every utterance and dust-up seems to be breathlessly chronicled.”
