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Open to Debate

#193 - Has the New York Times Lost Its Way?

Open to Debate

Open to Debate

Education, Society & Culture, News, Government, Politics

4.52.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What's happening at The New York Times? The paper of record is under fire. Critics argue it has sacrificed journalistic and intellectual balance in favor of correcting historic inequalities. In the process, they say, that effort has stifled dissent and promoted social justice above all else. Not so, say its defenders. The paper has indeed evolved, they argue. Yet that evolution has been proven a particular strength in such tumultuous times. Subscriptions are up, while both casting a critically important lens on historically disenfranchised groups and maintaining its core commitment to high editorial standards and a wide breadth of reporting. So here's the debate: "Has the New York Times Lost Its Way?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

And use paper needs to report on the facts.

0:03.3

It still has more reporters doing more things across the country than most any other publication.

0:08.6

We can't let perfection be the enemy of the good here.

0:13.1

The business model that has made the times so financially successful in all the ways that

0:18.2

Frank laid out is corrosive to journalistic values.

0:22.5

I walked through lines of protesters on one side or another of the issue.

0:27.0

Some people thought that the Times was too pro-Palestine, some thought it was too pro-Israel.

0:33.0

For almost every journalist out there and for most of its readers too, the New York Times has never been just a newspaper.

0:39.5

In the words of BuzzFeed writer Ben Smith, before he joined the Times himself,

0:44.0

the paper has been the Vatican of American Journalism, a pretty decent metaphor given what the Times aspires to being also how it markets itself.

0:52.5

And like the Church, when the Times tries to undergo change, it always happens very slowly and always with controversy.

1:01.0

This debate among four writers and journalists centers on the controversy that is engulfing the paper today.

1:06.0

Whether a changing New York Times is still true to itself or whether it has lost its way.

1:11.5

I'm John Don Van and this is Intelligent Squared.

1:16.5

You are going to decide who wins this debate.

1:19.0

And we're going to have you do that, we're going to ask you to do that by casting two votes.

1:23.5

The first one in just a few seconds.

1:26.0

And then the second one after you've heard all the arguments.

1:29.0

We do two votes because that's how we choose our winning team.

1:32.0

It's the team that changes the most minds between the first and the second vote.

1:37.0

All right, it is now time to cast your first vote.

1:39.5

We're going to ask you to do that by going to IQ2US.org.

...

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