Name: Staff outraged at New York Times response to reporter's racist language
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Staff outraged at New York Times response to reporter's racist language

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This article is more than 1 year oldThis article is more than 1 year oldLetter criticizes handling of complaint that reporter Donald McNeil Jr used racist language while on a company-sponsored student trip Last modified on Thu 4 Feb 2021 16.18 ESTMore than 150 New York Times staffers to its executive leadership criticizing the paper’s response to complaints from parents that the journalist Donald McNeil Jr had used racist language while on a company-sponsored student trip, and for the handling of the scandal once those complaints were first reported.“Our community is outraged and in pain,” staffers wrote, adding that despite the paper’s “seeming commitment to diversity and inclusion, [they’ve] given a prominent platform – a critical beat covering a pandemic disproportionately affecting people of color – to someone who chose to use language that is offensive and unacceptable by any newsroom’s standards”.The letter called on the Times to investigate “any newly surfaced complaints”, noting that in the days since the allegations were first reported, current and former colleagues have spoken up about “bias against people of color in his work and in interactions with colleagues over a period of years”.“We, his colleagues, feel disrespected by his actions,” staffers wrote, adding they were “deeply disturbed” by how the paper addressed allegations. “The company has a responsibility to take that experience seriously.”Last week, the New York Times confirmed it its high-profile public health and Covid-19 reporter after he used racial slurs during a trip with high school students in 2019, including using the N-word during a Times-endorsed educational trip to Peru.The reporter also suggested he did not believe in white privilege and used stereotypes about Black teenagers, according to complaints filed to the paper, .The executive editor, Dean Baquet, however, insisted the investigation concluded that while the reporter allegedly used “offensive” language, and “showed extremely poor judgment”, McNeil’s “intentions were[n’t] hateful or malicious”.The signatories were not satisfied, calling such a conclusion “irrelevant”.They have demanded that leadership should conduct a more thorough investigation of the complaints against the 45-year veteran, as well as the Times’s initial handling of the situation.They have also called on McNeil to apologize to the students and their parents, tour staffers, as well as colleagues.“[Company guidelines] make clear that what matters is how an act makes the victims feel; [McNeil’s] victims weren’t shy about decrying his conduct on the trip,” the letter said.In response to the letter, Baquet – along with the chief executive, Meredith Kopit Levien, and publisher, AG Sulzberger – said late on Wednesday that they “appreciate the spirit in which [the letter] was offered and largely agree with the message”, vowing that the newsroom “will see the results”.

This article is more than 1 year oldThis article is more than 1 year oldLetter criticizes handling of complaint that reporter Donald McNeil Jr used racist language while on a company-sponsored student trip Last modified on Thu 4 Feb 2021 16.18 ESTMore than 150 New York Times staffers to its executive leadership criticizing the paper’s response to complaints from parents that the journalist Donald McNeil Jr had used racist language while on a company-sponsored student trip, and for the handling of the scandal once those complaints were first reported.“Our community is outraged and in pain,”...

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Kenya Evelyn

TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and Guardian Unlimited, is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers The Guardian and The Observer, as well as a substantial body of web-only work produced by its own staff, including a rolling news service.

Staff outraged at New York Times response to reporter's racist language

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