Former NY Times Columnist Rips Paper Over 'Activist Journalists'

Bari Weiss, a former columnist for The New York Times, on Wednesday criticized the newspaper's reporters, describing them as "activist journalists who treat the paper like a high school cafeteria."

Weiss, during the first episode of her new podcast, "Honestly," said that she left the Times because it instils "rage, polarization, [and] distrust" in its readers.

"I’m a newspaper woman without a newspaper. A way less poetic way to say that is that I’m one of those people that maybe you’ve been reading about, who left a big fancy media company to start a newsletter on Substack and now, I know, just what the world needed, another podcast," Weiss said. 

"How did I go from writing and editing at the opinion pages of The New York Times to striking out on my own? Well, the tedious version of the story involves Slack channels with axe and guillotine emojis and bullying in full view of the people in charge of the paper," she continued.

In her resignation letter last year, Weiss claimed that her colleagues at the paper had created an "illiberal environment" and bullied her, saying that "showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper should not require bravery."

"They have called me a Nazi and a racist," she wrote.

"I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m 'writing about the Jews again.' Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers," Weiss added. "My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in."

She said on her podcast on Wednesday that the newspaper’s editors "live in total fear of internet mobs" and the publishers "know what’s right but can’t seem to find the courage to do it."

Although the Times did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment, Kathleen Kingsbury, the acting editorial page editor told the network that "we appreciate the many contributions that Bari made to Times Opinion. I’m personally committed to ensuring that The Times continues to publish voices, experiences and viewpoints from across the political spectrum in the Opinion report. We see every day how impactful and important that approach is, especially through the outsized influence The Times’s opinion journalism has on the national conversation."

• NY Times Columnist Resigns, Says She Was Called 'Nazi'
• Bari Weiss: NY Times 'Living in Fear of Online Mob'