The New York Times has repeatedly denied the explosive account from former Times journalist Bari Weiss that a senior opinion-page editor instructed a colleague to "check with" Senator Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) before running an op-ed from Senator Tim Scott (R., S.C.). But a second source with direct knowledge of the matter has backed up Weiss's story to National Review. The source also quoted a message sent by a senior editor at the time insisting that the Times check with Schumer — even providing the email address of Schumer press representative Justin Goodman.
The second source also revealed that Scott's op-ed, which focused on the Republican senator's police-reform package, was initially solicited by the Times — as opposed to having been pitched to the newspaper — a detail that was not clear from the original account.
Weiss, who cited the "illiberal environment" at the Times as reason for her departure from the paper two years ago, first told the story while interviewing Scott on a Wednesday episode of her podcast, Honestly With Bari Weiss. Weiss recalled:
Weiss: Here's what happened. I was at the New York Times and you or your staff sent in an op-ed about the bill, and why it fell apart. And this is the part I'm not sure if you know — there was a discussion about the piece, and whether or not we should run it, and one colleague, a more senior colleague, said to a more junior colleague who was pushing for the piece, 'Do you think the Republicans really care about minority rights?'
Scott: Wow.
Weiss: And the more junior colleague said, 'I think Tim Scott cares about minority rights.' And then — and here's the pretty shocking part — the more senior colleague said, 'Let's check with Senator Schumer before we run it.'
Scott: Wow.
Weiss: And the colleague, the younger one, refused. Because he said — because that colleague said — it wasn't an ethical thing to do.
Scott: Wow.
The Times swiftly denied these allegations, telling the New York Post that "New York Times Opinion never seeks outside approval or consultation whether to publish guest opinion essays." It reiterated the statement on Twitter in response to a tweet from Scott arguing that Times had "silenced" him:
National Review has reached out to the Times but has not yet received a reply.
But the second source, who confirmed Weiss's account of the story to National Review, shared the contents of messages that contradict the Times's statements and reaffirm Weiss's account. They are consistent with Weiss's recollection that a senior editor at the Times opinion page questioned whether Republicans cared about minority rights and directed a staff member to send the Scott op-ed to Schumer's office, though the junior editor apparently did not do so.
Scott's police-reform package, the central subject of the op-ed, was crafted in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests that swept the country in summer 2020 on the heels of George Floyd's death. Scott, the only black member of the Senate GOP — and one of just three black senators total — told Weiss that he was "disappointed" but "not surprised to hear" about the Times opinion editor's comments after she relayed the story to him. "There is something in national media that wants to frame any conservatives, particularly black conservatives, as being disingenuous or insincere or a tool for the conservatives," Scott said.
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