New York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss resigns, citing hostile culture and lack of ideological diversity
New York Times Opinion staff editor and writer Bari Weiss announced her resignation on Tuesday, decrying the newspaper's workplace culture as "hostile" toward staffers who hold anything other than left-of-center ideologies.
Weiss’ resignation is the latest development in a tumultuous period for the Times. The media institution is grappling with increased internal dissent, especially over its opinion section, its coverage of communities of color and its newsroom culture.
In a resignation letter posted to her website, Weiss described the Times as an institution where "intellectual curiosity—let alone risk-taking—is now a liability" and where the opinions of Twitter users have become the paper's "ultimate editor." She complained that she felt bullied by colleagues who "called me a Nazi and a racist" and who posted an ax emoji next to her name.
“Showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper should not require bravery,” Weiss wrote.
Weiss joined the Times in 2017 and wrote in her resignation letter that she was tasked with bringing the ideological perspectives of conservatives, centrists and first-time writers to the paper’s opinion pages after the 2016 election. Both her writing and presence on social media became a magnet for criticism.
“But the lessons that ought to have followed the election—lessons about the importance of understanding other Americans, the necessity of resisting tribalism, and the centrality of the free exchange of ideas to a democratic society—have not been learned,” Weiss wrote. “Instead, a new consensus has emerged in the press, but perhaps especially at this paper: that truth isn’t a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else.”
Kathleen Kingsbury, the Times' acting editorial page editor, said in a statement that “we appreciate the many contributions that Bari made to Times Opinion. I’m personally committed to ensuring that The Times continues to publish voices, experiences and viewpoints from across the political spectrum in the Opinion report." Eileen Murphy, a spokesperson for the newspaper, said the Times is "committed to fostering an environment of honest, searching and empathetic dialogue between colleagues, one where mutual respect is required of all."
Weiss courted controversy during her tenure at the paper and recently made news amid the Tom Cotton op-ed episode in June. After scores of Times employees publicly wrote that the Cotton piece put Black lives in danger, Weiss struck back on Twitter.
“The civil war inside The New York Times between the (mostly young) wokes [and] the (mostly 40+) liberals is the same one raging inside other publications and companies across the country,” Weiss wrote.
Times employees then called on Weiss to be fired for criticizing young colleagues on a platform where they could not defend themselves, Vice reported.
James Bennet later resigned as editorial page editor following the public uproar at Cotton’s column advocating for military force to be used against rioters in American cities, and after it surfaced Bennet had not read the piece before it was published.
On July 7, Weiss signed a letter published in Harper’s Magazine that derided so-called cancel culture and strongly advocated for the “free exchange of information and ideas.”
“The paper of record is, more and more, the record of those living in a distant galaxy, one whose concerns are profoundly removed from the lives of most people,” Weiss wrote in her resignation letter.
Former 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang expressed disappointment with Weiss’ resignation.
“If someone like @bariweiss feels like she can’t do her best work at the @nytimes they should make some real changes over there,” Yang wrote on Twitter.
