- Reporters for The New York Times rallied against the publication after it ran an op-ed calling for military action to quell unrest at the Black Lives Matter protests.
- The op-ed, written by GOP Sen. Tom Cotton, encouraged the enacting of the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to activate military police, to support local authorities and National Guard troops tasked with surveilling the protests.
- Cotton dubbed protesters as rioters in the editorial and said "outnumbered police officers ... bore the brunt of the violence." People at some of the peaceful protests shared photos and videos of demonstrators getting tear-gassed and shot at with rubber bullets to disperse crowds.
- In light of Cotton's op-ed, several writers for The Times posted the line, "Running this puts Black @nytimes staff in danger," on Twitter.
- James Bennet, editorial page editor for The Times, defended the decision to publish the op-ed, saying that the publication "owes it to our readers to show them counter-arguments, particularly those made by people in a position to set policy."
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New York Times staff openly protested against the publication after the paper ran an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton calling for military action to quell Black Lives Matter protests.
Cotton, a GOP senator in Arkansas, dubbed protesters as rioters in the editorial and said "outnumbered police officers ... bore the brunt of the violence." In the op-ed, he encouraged President Donald to use the Insurrection Act to activate military police to support local authorities and National Guard troops deployed to supervise the protests.
Sparked by the death of George Floyd on May 25, the protests entered their ninth day Wednesday, demanding justice for Floyd and other black individuals who were killed in officer-involved incidents. People at the protests shared photos and videos of demonstrators getting tear-gassed and shot at with rubber bullets to disperse crowds.
In light of Cotton's op-ed, several Times writers, including Pulitzer winner Nikole Hannah-Jones, posted the line, "Running this puts Black @nytimes staff in danger," on Twitter, while others condemned the publication's decision to run the op-ed. Other journalists and Twitter users have also tweeted the line, expressing solidarity with The Times' reporters.
Running this puts Black @nytimes staff in danger. pic.twitter.com/nI887cUYjQ
— Kwame Opam (@kwameopam) June 3, 2020
Running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger. pic.twitter.com/u3btzGTJzi
— Caity Weaver (@caityweaver) June 3, 2020
Running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger. pic.twitter.com/pbNhMQtOS2
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) June 3, 2020
Running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger. pic.twitter.com/04sqq3hiPT
— Lil Uzi Hurt at Home (@lostblackboy) June 3, 2020
I’ll probably get in trouble for this, but to not say something would be immoral. As a black woman, as a journalist, as an American, I am deeply ashamed that we ran this. https://t.co/lU1KmhH2zH
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) June 4, 2020
Amy Qin, China correspondent for The Times, wrote that it was "surreal and horrifying to wake up on the morning of June 4 - the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown - to this headline."
Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii also slammed Cotton's op-ed, tweeting "The New York Times is gonna both sides the fascism so I guess that's good to know. Anyway we got Mattis so that was good. Let's win the Senate. Hang in there everyone."
James Bennet, the editorial page editor for The Times, defended the decision to publish the op-ed in a Twitter thread.
The Times editorial board has forcefully defended the protests as patriotic and criticized the use of force, saying earlier today that police too often have “responded with more violence — against protesters, journalists and bystanders.” https://t.co/XdjnhuAVax
— James Bennet (@JBennet) June 3, 2020
As part of our explorations of these issues, Times Opinion has published powerful arguments supporting protests, advocating fundamental change and criticizing police abuses.https://t.co/B2KZ6qYbQqhttps://t.co/kBoxPSm8Cqhttps://t.co/ZDT6yG0wgvhttps://t.co/aFHsW4juf9
— James Bennet (@JBennet) June 3, 2020
"Times Opinion owes it to our readers to show them counter-arguments, particularly those made by people in a position to set policy," Bennet concluded in the thread.
"We understand that many readers find Senator Cotton's argument painful, even dangerous," he wrote. "We believe that is one reason it requires public scrutiny and debate."
In a story published by New York Times media reporter Marc Tracy on Wednesday, three Times journalists said that their sources would no longer provide information in light of the op-ed.
The NewsGuild of New York, a union that represents many Times journalists, told The Times that Cotton's essay "promotes hate" and "pours gasoline on the fire" amid the times of unrest.
"This is a particularly vulnerable moment in American history," the statement said. "Cotton's Op-Ed pours gasoline on the fire. Media organizations have a responsibility to hold power to account, not amplify voices of power without context and caution."
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