NY Times reaches out to subscribers who left over conservative columnist
The New York Times is reaching out to readers who cancelled their subscriptions over conservative columnist Bret Stephens, Politico reported on Friday.
Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger reiterated that the opinion section is separate from the other parts of the newspaper in an email to subscribers that was obtained by Politico.
{mosads}“Our customer care team shared with me that your reason for unsubscribing from The New York Times included our decision to hire Bret Stephens as an Opinion columnist. I wanted to provide a bit more context,” Sulzberger writes.
“The Times’s Opinion pages remain an independent and unblinking forum for debate from a wide range of viewpoints among open-minded, informed writers and readers. I don’t think, in these polarizing and partisan times, there’s anything quite like it in American journalism,” he added.
The controversy began after Stephens, a Pulitzer Prize-winning commentator, published an opinion piece criticizing aspects of climate change science.
His column led to a wave of backlash from readers, some of whom decided to cancel their subscription to the paper.
According to Politico, Sulzberger also pointed out several articles on climate change, lauding the newspaper for its past reporting on the topic.
“This journalism is unrivaled in its sophistication and imagination,” he said. “The support of our subscribers is what allows us to pursue such ambitious stories all over the globe. I encourage you to sign up for a free newsletter from our climate desk to discover future stories and insights.”
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