After blowback, NYT public editor walks back criticism of reporters
The public editor of The New York Times says she should have been more restrained in criticizing some of newspaper’s reporters’ tweets during a recent interview
“In retrospect, I should have held back more, not knowing what the context was for the tweets. I think that’s a fair criticism,” Liz Spayd told Politico in a Tuesday report.
{mosads}”But I stand by my view that journalists should be careful, sometimes more careful than they are, with what they say on social media,” she maintained. “That includes how it can be interpreted.”
On Friday’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Carlson asked Spayd about tweets by Times journalists including Eric Lipton, Peter Baker and Michael Barbaro that appear to be more opinion than straight news reporting.
White House as QVC. It has started. pic.twitter.com/jk0DeQJ9vV
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) November 15, 2016
For a new president from reality television, a cabinet selection that resembles a pageant. @nytmike @shearm https://t.co/g6odeaQ6sM
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) November 21, 2016
We had fearless journalism throughout 2016. Voters wanted they wanted. https://t.co/Qqs08OJ5Wo
— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) November 9, 2016
Carlson slammed the Tweets during his interview with Spayd, claiming the reporters were anti-Donald Trump and didn’t care to hide their feelings about the president-elect.
“We tried to keep this guy from getting elected, but did anyways,” Carlson said in characterizing the tweets.
“Yes, I think that’s outrageous. I think that that should not be. They shouldn’t be tweeted,” Spayd responded.
“I don’t know that any of those people should be fired, but I do think that when people go over the line like that, and I think some of those are over the line, that there ought to be some kind of a consequence for that,” she added.
Progressive journalists and professors took to Twitter to complain about Spayd’s comments.
to say nothing of the fact that the agreement in question here is @spaydl throwing her own people under the bus live on fox news
— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) December 5, 2016
This editor appears to be from 1987 or earlier. Sorry – get in the game or get out #resign https://t.co/sZyp82xmyI
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) December 5, 2016
I think @spaydl, the Times public editor, is wrong here. Wrong to the point of retrograde. https://t.co/6QLti9FnrP
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) December 5, 2016
Kicking her own reporters’ asses while giving Trump free passes. @spaydl has got to go. https://t.co/0fOMgDDDgt
— Doug Farrar (@BR_DougFarrar) December 5, 2016
Spayd was named the Times’s public editor in July following the departure of Margaret Sullivan after four years with the paper.
