Exposing the dark side of the New York Times, 36-year-old staff writer and opinion editor Bari Wesis called it quits, after less than three years on the job. Weiss graduated from Columbia University School of Journalism, a traditional feeder for the New York Times, cultivating generations of liberal journalists, advancing a progressive agenda in everyday reporting and the opinion page. Weiss found out there’s no place for what she regarded herself as a “centrist.” Bari found out the hard way that there’s a big difference from graduate school and actually serving at an institution with a liberal ax to grind, not, as she hoped, an open forum where different points-of-view would be tolerated. “Twitter is no on the masthead of the New York Times. But Twitter has become the ultimate editor,” Weiss said in a letter addressed to A.G. Sulzberguer, the Times publisher.
Weiss’s public comments are another embarrassment to the Times, riding off an old reputation for ethical journalism. Weiss pointed out that she faced “bullying” for expressing a more centrist voice in a paper now part of the hard left, where a brouhaha was made giving conservative Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ak.) space to advocate the use of the National Guard troops to stop riots, looting, arson and anarchy following the Mary 25 murder of 46-year-old George Floyd by a sick Minneapolis cop. “Stories are chose and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest audience, rather that to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions . . ,” Weiss noted. Weiss found out quickly that the Times pushed a leftist agenda, regardless of the issue, leaving her the odd-women out with obsolete “centrist” views. Weiss found herself bullied for holding more moderate views.
Coming out of Columbia, it was unfathomable to Weiss that the nation’s most prestigious newspaper would not subscribe to accepted journalist ethics. “I was always taught that journalists were charged with writing the first rough draft of history. Now history itself is one more ephemeral thing molded to find the needs of a predetermined narrative,” Weiss said. Weiss couched he complaint in the most diplomatic terms, not accusing the Times or the editorial page of rabid bias against 74-year-old President Donald Trump. Weiss watched her colleagues write story-and-story, editorial-after-editorial tying Trump to the Kremlin, regardless of the abysmal lack of evidence. Yet the narrowly minded focus was not about the truth or a balanced perspective but about advancing an anti-Trump narrative, regardless of the truth. No newspaper crossed the line more than the New York Times, maybe the Washington Post.
Weiss said she didn’t mind writing for a leftist publication but she did mind that her work “made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views,” Weiss said. Weiss made the mistake of going outside the Times to express her frustrations, signing onto a letter in Harper’s sharing concerns about the free exchange of ideas when liberals and conservative become more combative. With the New York Times siding with Black Lives Matter, there was no place for any voice questioning the advisability of vandalizing historic statues and monuments. Weiss stepped out of her lane going on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” openly commenting about her inability to express her views at the New York Times. “We appreciate the many contributions that Bari made to the Times Opinion,” said Kathleen Kingsbury, acting Opinion Page editor, covering the Time’s liability.
Kingsbury knows as acting Opinion Page editor that the Times leans left, having little tolerance for centrist or conservative views. “I’m personally committed to ensuring that the Times continues to publish voices, experiences and viewpoints across the political spectrum,” Kingsbury said. Kingsburg discussed with A.G. Sulzberger the fact that Bari had become a loose cannon to the newspaper. You don’t want disgruntled employees exposing the dirt behind the publication. “We see every day how impactful and important that approach is, especially through the outsized influence The Time’s opinion journalism has on the national conversation,” Kingsbury said, practically admitting that Bari didn’t fit in. Bari wasn’t happy when the Times got rid of James Bennett for publishing Cotton’s op-ed, urging the use of the National Guard to contain street riots and vandalism around the country.
Watching Bari and Bennett get axed for daring to have their own opinions exposes for all to see the narrow mindedness of the New York Times Opinion Page that’s become progressively intolerant of centrist or conservative ideas. “I do not understand how you have allowed this kind of behavior to go on inside your company in full views of the paper’s entire staff and the public,” Bari said. Bari hasn’t gone beyond the Opinion Page in sharing her frustration with ordinary journalism, where the Times publishes front-page stories that lack attribution, often using unnamed sources to raises suspicions, stir doubts and convict individuals in the court of public opinion, just like they did sponsoring the Russian hoax for four years. “I certainly can’t square how you and other Times leaders have stood by while simultaneously praising me in private for my courage,” Weiss said, for daring to express a centrist idea.
