The "Outnumbered" panelists called out The New York Times for "not doing their job" after former editorial page editor James Bennet blasted his ex-employer over the Tom Cotton op-ed fiasco that cost him his job.
Bennet accused the newspaper and publisher AG Sulzberger of caring too much about appealing to its left-wing subscriber base, saying Sulzberger "set me on fire and threw me in the garbage and used my reverence for the institution against me."
Bennet claimed he was "bewildered" by his treatment from the paper and other editors during the situation.
The "Outnumbered" panelists, however, expressed little surprise by the revelations.
"We know this is how the left acts. It shouldn't have been so bewildering," co-host Kayleigh McEnany responded Wednesday.
"The way that conservatives have been treated in legacy media, because that's what New York Times is, it doesn't shock me," Harris Faulkner added. "It shouldn't shock anybody… But what it should do is really point to the issue that they're not doing their job."
Bennet spoke publicly for the first time about the wrenching June 2020 episode when his section approved an op-ed by Cotton, a conservative Republican U.S. senator, advocating for military force to quell violent uprisings in cities over the George Floyd murder. Cotton's op-ed set off a volcanic eruption at the Times, with liberal staffers tweeting en masse that the op-ed put Black staffers in danger. More than 1,000 Times staffers signed a letter in protest, and Bennet resigned amid the uproar.
Since he left the paper, Bennet expressed regret over an editor's note accusing Cotton of fudging facts about Antifa's role in civil unrest and using a "needlessly harsh" tone." The note was added after the paper conducted a review in response to staffer anger and concluded the column did not meet its standards for publication.
"The free press is supposed to be the arm of the people," co-host Emily Compagno responded. "And yet, here's The New York Times that says one senator isn't good enough to be published."
Former Times reporter Bari Weiss previously called out the paper over an op-ed, claiming a staffer sought to get an op-ed from Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., approved by then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., before publishing the article in 2020.
Compagno responded to Bennet and Weiss' testimonies, calling out The Times for rejecting the people for politicians.
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"The New York Times is catering to them because they saw an explosion of subscriptions in the wake of that progressive political left," she said.
Fox News contributor Brian Brenberg slammed The Times for refusing to embrace political debates and differences of opinion.
"Liberals in the past actually defended the right for everybody to speak," Brenberg said. "That's what we should be doing with The New York Times, with the debates in this country. That's what we've lost, but they're not doing it."
The recent revelations from Bennet and Weiss contribute to concerns about journalism bias and freedom of speech.
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"There is no room for that [politics], for the journalism that we say that we need," Faulkner said.
