New York Times staff members are blasting the newspaper for publishing an opinion piece penned by Sen. Tom Cotton that supported using force to quell George Floyd protests.
The Republican senator from Arkansas wrote about his support for using the military to stop rioters in his piece titled “Send in the Troops” published in The New York Times on Wednesday.
People around the country have been protesting the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent and destructive.
Times' journalists began criticizing the newspaper’s decision to publish the piece on social media.
“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,” New York Times magazine writer Nikole Hannah-Jones tweeted.
Former Times opinion writer Sewell Chan tweeted that the decision to run the piece “falls short of sound journalistic practice.”
But editorial page editor James Bennet defended the newspaper’s decision to publish Cotton’s opinion on Twitter.
“We understand that many readers find Senator Cotton’s argument painful, even dangerous. We believe that is one reason it requires public scrutiny and debate,” he wrote. “Times Opinion owes it to our readers to show them counter-arguments, particularly those made by people in a position to set policy.”
He also wrote that the Times editorial board has “forcefully defended the protests as patriotic and criticized the use of force" and shared an opinion piece supporting the protests and calling them patriotic.
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