In a Divided Era, the New York Times’s Publisher Makes a Stand

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

President, Barack, News, Politics, Wnyc, Obama, Lizza, Washington, Wickenden

4.3 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2023

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over the past several years, as democratic institutions come under attack and authoritarians try to destabilize factual truth, some journalists have argued that the traditional principles of neutrality, or independence, are no longer adequate: they believe reporters need to state their beliefs, and defend threatened principles and peoples. “The traditionalists in the ranks have long believed that their long-standing view speaks for itself,” says A. G. Sulzberger, the publisher of the New York Times. “I became increasingly convinced that the argument doesn’t make itself.” Sulzberger tells David Remnick why he needed to make a stand in an essay for the Columbia Journalism Review. Sulzberger insists on a clear-eyed pursuit of truth in reporting, even if it leads to uncomfortable conclusions. “In this hyper-politicized, hyper-polarized moment, is society benefiting from every single player getting deeper and deeper, and louder and louder, about declaring their personal allegiances and loyalties and preferences?” Sulzberger discusses scandals that have rocked the Times’s newsroom, including an inflammatory editorial by Senator Tom Cotton, and recent public petitions on the coverage of trans issues. And he explains why he still can’t hire a Trumpist.

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Transcript

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1:12.6	This is the political scene, and I'm David Remnick.
1:23.1	Five odd years ago, I sat down in this studio with the man who had taken on the most powerful position
1:29.1	in the most important news gathering organization in the country, possibly the world.
1:35.1	A.G. Salzberger, not yet 40 at that time, had been named the publisher of the New York Times.
1:41.0	He is the sixth of the Ox Solzberger family to run the paper, and under
1:45.7	him, the Times has rebounded from a period of constant cuts and potential sale to a position
1:52.3	of financial stability. It remains, though, an extremely tense time in the news business.
1:58.2	Donald Trump's rhetoric about fake news and enemies of the people
2:02.3	has had real and lasting traction on much of the country.
2:07.4	People like Barry Weiss, who resigned from the Times a few years ago,
	...

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