Key Takeaways:
- Erik Wemple, a media critic for the Washington Post, acknowledged on Thursday that James Bennet, a former New York Times article page supervisor, was on the right track.
- Bennet informed Semafor that he has never expressed regret for airing the commentary and that attaching a contrite manager’s note to it is his main regret.
Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple conceded on Thursday that while he had consistently realized that previous New York Times article page supervisor James Bennet was on the right track to distribute a commentary from Congressperson Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) requiring the Public Gatekeeper to subdue vicious revolting in American urban areas throughout the mid-year of 2020, he and his associates shunned expressing so at the time since they were “apprehensive.”
Bennet left the Times — authoritatively, he surrendered — only days after the commentary was distributed. In a new meeting with Semafor, Bennet said that he was dealt with like an “uncouth extremist” by his partners and that distributer A.G. Sulzberger “set me ablaze and tossed me in the trash and involved my veneration for the establishment against me.”
As per Wemple, senior administration at the Times, including Sulzberger, “mixed with pummeling the article to justify protests coming in from Twitter,” however the paper’s “audit didn’t convey the genuine bloodbath claimed by pundits,” and “Sulzberger appeared to be disheartened.”
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At that point, the enthusiasm to find a mistake with the pieces was driven by a revolt from Times staff members, a significant number of whom tweeted out a variety of the line “Running this seriously endangers Dark @NYTimes staff.” Wemple contacted 30 staff members to check whether they concurred with the declaration, and none proposed to go on the record with their answers.
“In a first standing up for the Times’ part in distributing dubious admission, Sulzberger had it right. The paper had distributed an assessment by a U.S. congressperson (and conceivable official competitor) pushing a legal demonstration by the president,” contended Wemple.

“Our analysis of the Twitter explosion comes 875 days past the point of no return. Albeit the void of the inner ruckus against Bennet was quickly obvious, we answered with a fair investigation of the Times’ flip-flop, not the proud guard of reporting what is going on required,” he composed. “Our stance was one of weakness and mid-career risk to the board. We heap another lament onto a debate covered with them.”
The Times declined to remark on the specifics of the story, referring to Bennet as “a capable writer with profound honesty,” for whom the paper has “extraordinary regard.”
Bennet let Semafor know that he has never apologized for running the commentary and that his main lament is fastening a contrite manager’s note to it.