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Editors Keep Resigning As Woke Generation Journalists Revolt Against Their Bosses
by Shelby Talcott, The Daily Caller:
Editors from publications around the country have resigned as newsrooms are revolting, with some over controversial articles and others speaking up about alleged negative workplace cultures.
One of the biggest of these so-called civil wars, as New York Times reporter Bari Weiss described it, is the battle inside The Gray Lady. NYT editorial editor James Bennet resigned, effectively immediately, on Sunday after an article written by Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton was published, causing public backlash among staffers.
Cotton’s piece was published in the op-ed section of the NYT and called for the U.S. military to possibly be deployed in an effort to help squash violent protests following George Floyd’s death. The publication saw many of its employees openly protest the decision on social media, claiming the opinion piece put black coworkers in danger.
Bennet backed up his decision to run the op-ed before resigning. The NYT apologized for publishing the article, although The Times reportedly pitched Cotton on writing the op-ed, according to Business Insider’s Patrick Coffee. (RELATED: ‘It Far Exceeds Their Standards’: Tom Cotton Criticizes NYT For Apologizing ‘In The Face Of The Woke Mob Of Woke Kids’ Over His Op-Ed)
The NYT, however, is far from the only publication to see in-fighting recently spread out into public view.
“All of these are in one way or another the result of current/former staff speaking up and pressuring companies to not tolerate patterns of bad decisions/behavior,” The Daily Beast’s media reporter Max Tani tweeted about all of the recent incidents.
since thursday pic.twitter.com/QNFhzV0xh3
— maxwell (@maxwellstrachan) June 8, 2020
Philadelphia Inquirer’s top editor Stan Wischnowski resigned just one day before Bennet, following open backlash from staffers over a headline titled “Buildings Matter, Too.” The article, written by The Inquirer’s architecture critic Inga Saffron, discussed how America’s current unrest – which at times has led to rioting, looting and destroying buildings in some major cities – has affected some of these structures.
Dozens of staffers organized a walkout following the headline, the NYT reported. “Buildings Matter, Too” was intended to play off of the popular “Black Lives Matter” slogan, according to the NYT.
“The Philadelphia Inquirer published a headline in Tuesday’s edition that was deeply offensive,” the publications’ editors wrote in an apology. “We should not have printed it. We’re sorry, and regret that we did. We also know that an apology on its own is not sufficient.”
