You may remember that he was outrageously ousted as New York Times opinion page editor some time ago for… running an editorial by Republican US Senator Tom Cotton urging military intervention to quell violent riots and looting. We enjoyed his talk. It was very thoughtful. He pulled no punches either and he got a standing ovation.
He believes that the Times brought in young reporters who are “detached from life as it’s lived in America,” and who brought the culture of their “Ivy League” educations into the newsroom and who thought they were part of, his word, “the resistance.” They saw the publishing of the Cotton column as a “betrayal,” he said.
The leadership of the paper “lost control” of the culture of the newsroom, he believes.
He said the Times decided a mainstream conservative argument was too scary to publish. He believes they’re now trying to “reel it back in, but it’s hard.”