Michael Goodwin: Why Bari Weiss' resignation letter is 'devastating to The New York Times'
Weiss said social media acts as the ultimate editor at The New York Times
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News contributor Michael Goodwin said that former opinion columnist Bari Weiss’ scathing resignation letter to The New York Times is “devastating” to the news organization.
“The picture she paints of what is going on there is, I have to say, worse than I suspected,” the New York Post columnist and former New York Times bureau chief told “Fox & Friends.”
“What she describes is bullying, harassment, and anti-Semitism. Attacking her all the time to her face, behind her back on these discussion chat rooms. It’s quite striking.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“She also describes how the publisher did nothing about it. The top editors did nothing about it but they privately encouraged her and praised her for her bravery and she said, ‘Why does it take bravery to come to work in a newsroom?’”
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Weiss announced Tuesday she was leaving the Gray Lady, saying she was bullied by colleagues in an "illiberal environment." Weeks before, she said there was a “civil war” going on in the newsroom.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It is with sadness that I write to tell you that I am resigning from The New York Times,” Weiss wrote.
Weiss then explained that she joined the paper in 2017 to help offer a different perspective, as the Times’ “failure to anticipate the outcome of the 2016 election meant that it didn’t have a firm grasp of the country it covers,” and fixing that issue was critical.
Weiss then wrote that “Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times,” but social media acts as the ultimate editor.
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Goodwin said that The New York Times does the “bullying to its own staff as it is to the outside world.”
“Demonizing and demanding that we all agree with The New York Times. Well, that’s what they’re doing in-house as well,” Goodwin said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Goodwin rejected the Times editor's claim that the news outlet will continue to voice opinions from across the political spectrum, arguing that they “have a mob-like mentality there.”
“No, that is not what they have been doing at all. This editor who made that statement is an acting opinion editor," Goodwin said. "She replaced the man who was fired who dared to publish the Tom Cotton essay on why he supported President Trump’s appeal to bring in the U.S. military into the cities being ravaged by riots.”