Tumult at the 'reflexively liberal,' 'predictable' NY Times

The Observer has an extensively reported piece on alleged discord among staff at the Times. The rift pits "more than two dozen current and former Times staffers" against one Andrew Rosenthal, who edit's the publication's editorial page and opinion pieces.

Credit: New York Times

From the report:

“He runs the show and is lazy as all get-out,” says a current Times writer ...

The Times declined to provide exact staffing numbers, but that too is a source of resentment. Said one staffer, “Andy’s got 14 or 15 people plus a whole bevy of assistants working on these three unsigned editorials every day. They’re completely reflexively liberal, utterly predictable, usually poorly written and totally ineffectual. I mean, just try and remember the last time that anybody was talking about one of those editorials. You know, I can think of one time recently, which is with the [Edward] Snowden stuff, but mostly nobody pays attention, and millions of dollars is being spent on that stuff.” ...

One veteran reporter who has been at the paper for more than 20 years said, “‘Bullying’ and ‘petty’ are Andy’s middle name. He’s very smart, he’s very funny. But any place he’s gone where he’s had a position of authority, he’s bullying and petty. ..."

A Times rep told the Observer: "The power of the editorial page is in the strength of the ideas it expresses. Some editorials are read more widely than others, but virtually all generate discussion and response among our readers, policy-makers and thought leaders.