The New York Times columnist Bret Stephens wrote on Friday that the newspaper was wrong to disavow the recent opinion piece written by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., calling for the deployment of U.S. troops to American cities.
“Last week’s decision by this newspaper to disavow an Op-Ed by Senator Tom Cotton is a gift to the enemies of a free press — free in the sense of one that doesn’t quiver and cave in the face of an outrage mob,” Stephens wrote. “It is a violation of the principles that are supposed to sustain the profession, particularly our obligation to give readers a picture of the world as it really is.”
His opinion piece comes as part of a discussion organized by interim Editorial Page Editor Kathleen Kingsbury in response to controversy over Cotton’s opinion piece and the Times’ choice to disavow it. Two of the newspapers’ “more conservative voices,” Stephens and Ross Douthat, joined that discussion on Friday.
Stephens notes that although he does not agree with Cotton, neither does anyone else at the Times or other left-leaning mainstream media sources, and notes, “isn’t this the biggest problem these outlets have faced in recent years — being of a single mind on subjects that sharply divide the nation?”
Stephens adds that polls have shown Americans are divided over sending in troops in response to the protests, and that one recent survey from ABC News/Ipsos showed more than half of Americans favored deploying troops during the week Cotton’s essay came out.
“That’s not a political fringe unworthy of consideration. And Tom Cotton isn’t some nobody you’ll never hear from again," Stephens wrote. "He has the pulse of his party, the ear of the president and an eye on higher office. Readers deserve an unvarnished look at who this man is and what he stands for.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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