As Twitchy reported Wednesday night, there was a coordinated effort among New York Times writers and other employees to tweet, “Running this puts black New York Times staff in danger” after the paper published an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton calling for the president to send in the troops to police the George Floyd protests and handle the looting and rioting and arson sweeping cities across the country.
We came across quite a few conservative Twitter accounts we follow who read the piece and disagreed with Cotton, which is how op-eds are supposed to work; you can read it and agree or disagree or even — in the words of the woke — “open a dialogue.” But Times writers are not happy and Nozlee Samadzadeh posted that she and a couple dozen employees were calling in sick Thursday in protest.
Along with well over a dozen of my colleagues who work on publishing tools at the @nytimes, today I am calling out sick in protest of the Tom Cotton op-ed.
— Nozlee Samadzadeh (@nzle) June 4, 2020
I can't speak for them, but I can speak for myself: I've worked as a developer building tools for journalists at variety of organizations for seven years now. I've always been incredibly proud to help the news reach the public.
— Nozlee Samadzadeh (@nzle) June 4, 2020
Today I am ashamed that the content management system I help build was used to publish work—inaccurate, un-fact-checked work—that actively causes harm to the Black community, and not to be dramatic, to our democracy!! I can't go to work and pretend like that's okay.
— Nozlee Samadzadeh (@nzle) June 4, 2020
It's not okay. Black lives matter. Not all opinions deserve a platform, and I join my colleagues in and out of the newsroom in calling for clarification about the decisions that went into publishing this op-ed, and change to guarantee that it doesn't happen in the future.
— Nozlee Samadzadeh (@nzle) June 4, 2020
This week my inbox was full of all-staff messages from Times leadership professing support and empathy. I will end by saying that I'm personally struggling with how to trust leaders who pledge support to underrepresented employees while publishing work that actively harms them.
— Nozlee Samadzadeh (@nzle) June 4, 2020
Edited to add: make that over two dozen of my colleagues 🙂
— Nozlee Samadzadeh (@nzle) June 4, 2020
But she’ll be back at work tomorrow, and the Times will be back to publishing plenty of left-wing content as usual.
— 100 Proof (@ChampionCapua) June 4, 2020
— Spencer Scott (@IslandDog) June 4, 2020
Must be nice to be able to fake a sick day while 30 million Americans are unemployed https://t.co/nZOcMohqZx
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) June 4, 2020
Privileged much?
— Ryan Gilbert (@NavyGilbert) June 4, 2020
Is there a single person at @nytimes that gets just how out of touch they are?
— My Boss Sucks (@nivratsmom) June 4, 2020
Talk about privilege.
— ? (@chooch0574) June 4, 2020
Stunning and brave
— ??⚾️Jack Needs Sports Back⚾️?? (@Kodak__Jack__) June 4, 2020
Stunning AND brave.
— Michael (@tullster21) June 4, 2020
Wow. Soooo noble. Gotham is safe. pic.twitter.com/MM2oe4fcGB
— Maroon Baboon (@maroon_baboon) June 4, 2020
As if anyone will notice
— Talisman (@Hoya1789) June 4, 2020
You aren’t missed. Take a year.
— Julie H Wright✝️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Text TRUMP to 88022 (@juliew38138) June 4, 2020
Resign then.
— Micheal Smith (@MilitantMustach) June 4, 2020
You should really show them and quit
— Allah (@Johnson43558380) June 4, 2020
Oh no. Anything but that!
— Phreddie (@RealPhreddie) June 4, 2020
"Calling out sick", which means you are using paid sick leave. So you're not really so enraged that you're willing to forego the wages, you just don't want to do the work. How principled you are.
— Non-essential Gray Hoodie (@grayhoodie) June 4, 2020
Umm, that’s brave? You have sick time, right? So you just used a day. Big deal.
— Darwin's Money (@EverydayFinance) June 4, 2020
Must be nice to still have a job unlike the rest of us. Do you get paid even if you don't work today?
— PointlessToil (@pointlesstoil) June 4, 2020
Lots of Americans have been out of work not collecting a paycheck since March. Be more tone deaf.
— J.S. (@Hey_Kehd) June 4, 2020
Opinion pages should only publish opinions I agree with.
— Floyd Lawson (@FloydLawson78) June 4, 2020
Good. Words are violence. Opposing viewpoints are genocide.
— Travolta (@JustinHeaslip) June 4, 2020
I don’t know how I am going to get through the day after hearing this news.
— Hoss and Hound (@Bruce90338105) June 4, 2020
They published Op-Eds from the Taliban, Putin, and Maduro (days after Venezuelan security forces gunned down opposition). But a sitting US Senator is too far?
— Will (@mustang_will) June 4, 2020
Aw, you poor fascist things, demanding a newspaper not run opinions with which you disagree.
Say, did you stay home sick when they ran opeds from the Taliban?
— Jay Dubb (@JayDubbTX) June 4, 2020
If your take is “opinion pieces should only be published if I agree with the opinion,” then you aren’t a journalist you’re an activist.
— Madison Morris (@madisonc_morris) June 4, 2020
Hopefully they fire you for being ridiculous
— Justin (@Icecreammanjust) June 4, 2020
Must be nice to have a job. And not just any job, but one where you can fake being sick in order to not got to work (and still expect to keep your job).
— Bob Mann (@BobMann2001) June 4, 2020
Faking illness, so brave, much stunning
— Joe (B) [for Bastard] (@Josef_Lemonovic) June 4, 2020
— John Kimball (@MoPolitiks) June 4, 2020
My employer – a newspaper- ran an opinion piece I disagree with, so I will stay home. You seem to be a perfect fit for Journalism in 2020.
— Michael Graham (@mcg1971) June 4, 2020
Why are you against the use of military force against white supremacists?
— Dan Larson (@DanielPLarson) June 4, 2020
His words made me feel unsafe as well. His wrongthink must be corrected. I will put him on one of my very bad people lists.
— OK Taco ? (@fastnerman) June 4, 2020
I learned a lot from @TomCottonAR ‘s Op Ed. Thanks for helping get it to me to read.
— Tipping Odds Podcast. Mitch (@TippingOddsLV) June 4, 2020
Now all of the people who claimed they were canceling their subscriptions over Bret Stephen’s column will have to resubscribe so they can unsubscribe again in protest.
Related:
New York Times: Study suggests ‘widespread use of tear gas’ could intensify COVID-19 pandemic https://t.co/cyTdGxEmsd
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 3, 2020
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