Joe Concha: Bari Weiss' resignation letter exposes 'patently toxic' culture at NY Times
Concha says the Gray Lady needs a 'balanced' opinion section
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former New York Times opinion editor and columnist Bari Weiss's scathing resignation letter exposes a "patently toxic" culture at the paper, The Hill's Joe Concha said Wednesday.
In an interview on "Fox & Friends," Concha said that a couple of things about the Tuesday letter stood out to him.
"It talked about…harassment, bullying, and a patently toxic culture at The New York Times that no longer embraces the most important diversity of all and that is the diversity of thought," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BARI WEISS QUITS NEW YORK TIMES AFTER 'BULLYING' BY COLLEAGUES OVER VIEWS
In her resignation -- which was sent to Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger on her personal website -- Weiss described a "hostile work environment" where she experienced "unlawful discrimination" at the hands of fellow editors and writers.
"My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views," she claimed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I do not understand how you have allowed this kind of behavior to go on inside your company in full view of the paper’s entire staff and the public. And I certainly can’t square how you and other Times leaders have stood by while simultaneously praising me in private for my courage," wrote Weiss. "Showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper should not require bravery."
Weiss said that standards for publication seem to have changed over the last few years, taking public opinion and Twitter commentary into account.
"And, she’s not making that up, because we saw it last month with an op-ed Editor named James Bennett," Concha said. "And, he had the audacity to have an op-ed from Senator Tom Cotton published about using the military when there is violent uprisings and protests in the country. And, if you say that's extreme thought, you can say that if [you’d] like. But, polls at the time showed that a majority of Americans agreed with Cotton on that issue and it got James Bennett eliminated from the publication."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"That's all you need to know as far as where they're at as far as diversity of thought, guys," he stated.
Concha also pointed out the removal of a "Public Editor" from the Times: a position that served as a watchdog over editors, "protecting journalistic integrity and good practices at the publication."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"And now the executive editor, at least at the time, said, ‘We’re going to rely on online comments and reader feedback instead.’ In other words, the social media mob now dictates content at The New York Times in terms of what is proper and what is not," he said. "And, Bari Weiss says it best here, guys: ‘Showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper…should not require bravery.’ Apparently, it did."
"This paper needs to prove that it actually has a balanced opinion section. It hasn't right now," he concluded. "I will leave you with this last thought: only one writer at The New York Times went on social media yesterday to defend Bari Weiss. Everybody else was silent."