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Controversial opinion editor Bari Weiss resigns from The New York Times

July 14th 2020, 4:46:59 pm

Bari Weiss, a controversial editor for the New York Times opinion section, is leaving her job at the legacy paper.

  • Confirming Weiss' departure, the Times' acting editorial page editor Kathleen Kingsbury said in a statement to NBC News that the paper "appreciate[s] the many contributions that Bari made to Times opinion."
  • In a resignation letter, Weiss said she was quitting over what she described as the Times' "illiberal environment" and after facing "unlawful discrimination" and a "hostile work environment."
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

Bari Weiss, the controversial saff editor for New York Times' opinion section, announced on Tuesday that she's leaving the legacy paper.

In a lengthy resignation letter posted to her website, Weiss said she was quitting over what she described as the Times' culture of censoring centrist and conservative opinions and claimed she faced "unlawful discrimination" and a "hostile work environment."

"The lessons that ought to have followed the electionlessons about the importance of understanding other Americans, the necessity of resisting tribalism, and the centrality of the free exchange of ideas to a democratic societyhave not been learned," she wrote. "Instead, a new consensus has emerged in the press, but perhaps especially at this paper: that truth isn't a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else."

Confirming Weiss' departure, the Times' acting editorial page editor Kathleen Kingsbury said in a statement to NBC News that the paper "appreciate[s] the many contributions that Bari made to Times opinion." Kingsbury added that she's "personally committed to ensuring that the Times continues to publish voices, experiences and viewpoints from across the political spectrum."

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Weiss, who's attracted widespread criticism since she joined the paper in 2017, was condemned by many Times colleagues after she wrote a series of tweets claiming that the newspaper was in the throes of a "civil war ... between the (mostly young) wokes the (mostly 40+) liberals."

Weiss was referring to an internal debate over the publication of GOP Sen. Tom Cotton's op-ed calling for the military to be used to quell anti-racism protests.

Many Black New York Times employees and others in the organization protested the op-ed , which they argued put Black Times staff and others "in danger" by advocating for the use of military force against American civilians.

"I've been mocked by many people over the past few years for writing about the campus culture wars," Weiss wrote in her thread. "They told me it was a sideshow. But this was always why it mattered: The people who graduated from those campuses would rise to power inside key institutions and transform them."

The paper ultimately issued a correction to the ope-ed and opinion editor James Bennet resigned .

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