New York Times apologizes after staffers complain about Sen. Tom Cotton op-ed
Black journalists for the New York Times were especially offended by Republican Sen. Tom Cotton opinion piece titled 'Send in the Troops'; analysis from Fox News media analyst Howard Kurtz.
The New York Times' "delusional" apology over their decision to publish an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton -- which caused Gray Lady staffers to lash out at their employer --is "fully insane," and represents "absolute cowardice" on behalf of their editorial board, Ben Shapiro asserted Friday.
"The move toward 'America is evil, systemically racist and therefore the only way to fix that is to shut down all the voices we don’t like...' is being made by the whole staff at the New York Times," the "Ben Shapiro Show" host argued.
In the piece published Wednesday, Cotton called on the federal government to "send in the troops" to quell violent uprisings over George Floyd's death. However, what was described as an "open revolt" took place among dozens of Times staffers with all of them tweeting in unison, "Running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger."
"Put them in danger...why?" Shapiro responded. "Are they rioting and looting? Are they flinging Molotov cocktails at cop cars? If not, they probably shouldn’t feel super endangered by this.
"It’s not really the threat of violence," he went on. " It’s the belief that the only way to make a better America is to repress voices you don’t like."
After Times editorial page editor James Bennet and Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger defended the op-ed, a spokeswoman released a statement Thursday evening claiming Cotton's piece never should have been published.
"We've examined the piece and the process leading up to its publication. This review made clear that a rushed editorial process led to the publication of an Op-Ed that did not meet our standards," the statement read. "As a result, we're planning to examine both short term and long term changes, to include expanding our fact-checking operation and reduction the number of op-eds we publish."
"If you are saying that you cannot print an op-ed from a sitting U.S. senator, a Harvard law graduate…who is writing a piece about the use of the military against rioting and looting…you are not only not in the mainstream, you are fully insane," Shapiro responded.
COTTON'S OFFICE BAFFLED BY NYT BACKPEDALING
The outspoken conservative pointed out that staffers outraged over Cotton's op-ed were seemingly not fired up enough to quit, but that "they just want to bit-- about it so that the pusillanimous cowardly upper management would apologize for running a piece that 58 percent of Americans agree with.
"This was just 'please please don’t yell at us! Don't yell at us, we're woke we're woke!'" he mocked, adding "the amount of cowardice in corporate America is stunning.
"Absolute cowardice."
Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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