Top NY Times editor reverses position on use of racial slurs, after reporter forced to resign

Dean Baquet, executive editor of the New York Times, has rescinded a statement made earlier this week regarding the departure of a veteran reporter as a result of the newspaper's policy on the use of racial slurs, now saying "intent matters" when using such words.

Last week, Baquet told employees the paper would not tolerate the use of racist language "regardless of intent."

"Of course intent matters when we are talking about language in journalism," Baquet said Thursday. 

The change is the most recent development in the resignation of the newspaper's longtime science reporter Donald McNeil Jr., recently forced out after having using the N-word in 2019. 

Baquet's clarification also coincided with the paper's decision not to run a column by opinion journalist Bret Stephens, in which he criticized Baquet's initial speech.

According to NBC News, which obtained a copy of the column, Stephens wrote, "Do any of us want to live in a world, or work in a field, where intent is categorically ruled out as a mitigating factor? I hope not." 

Stephens later emailed a colleague saying that the paper's publisher, A.G. Sulzberg, had "spiked" the column. 

McNeil's departure and Baquet's muddled messaging are just the latest socio-professional rifts to occur at the Times, which has seen the departure of a number of employees in recent months due to internal disputes.

Reporting by multiple outlets indicates that McNeil's departure has created increased tension among employees, some of whom forced Baquet to apply a harsher punishment to McNeil than he originally received. Others argued Times leadership ignored the context of McNeil's words and overstepped in pressuring him to resign. 

McNeil was initially investigated internally by the Times following a 2019 student trip to Peru, on which he, according to the students, made racially and culturally insensitive statements, including using the N-word once.

McNeil told investigators that he had not used the word maliciously, but in making an inquiry about someone else's usage of the term. Baquet initially concluded that McNeil's use of the word was not a fireable offense – but changed his mind under pressure from staffers. 

Prior to his resignation, McNeil, who emerged last year as one of the nation's leading reporters on the novel coronavirus, was told he would face a demotion and further investigation should he opt to remain at the Times.