New York Times journalists rip union boss for defending employee attacks on paper's transgender reporting

New York Times journalists slammed the head of the outlet’s staff union for defending employees of the media outlet who recently attacked the paper's reporting on transgender issues.

The journalists wrote a letter Tuesday criticizing NewsGuild of New York President Susan DeCarava after she defended an open letter signed by Times columnists last week that admonished the paper for publishing columns that were deemed attacks against the trans community.

Organized by New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters, and signed by dozens of other Times journalists, including Peter Baker, Charlie Savage, Adam Goldman, and Michael Grynbaum, this most recent letter accused DeCarava of having a "fundamental misunderstanding of our responsibilities as journalists" in her endorsement of those criticizing the company.

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The turmoil began with a letter signed by nearly 200 Times contributors who claimed that because the outlet published stories "debating the propriety of medical care for trans children," it was promoting "an eerily familiar mix of pseudoscience and euphemistic, charged language."

The letter claimed that such coverage followed "the lead of far-right hate groups in presenting gender diversity as a new controversy."

In response to the letter, New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn and opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury sent out an email to staff, warning them not to get involved with activism campaigns or advocacy groups, and urging them to refrain from "attacks on colleagues on social media and other public forums."

Though DeCarava composed her own letter defending staff rights to engage in such organized protest, which she characterized as pushing back against a "hostile working environment." The union boss wrote, "employees are protected in collectively raising concerns that conditions of their employment constitute a hostile working environment. This was the concern explicitly raised in the letter at issue here."

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In a statement provided to Vanity Fair on Tuesday, NewsGuild rebuked Kahn and Kingsbury for suggesting there could be discipline for anyone who endorsed the original letter. It stated, "It would be a violation of federal law for The New York Times to threaten, restrain or coerce employees from engaging in such activity." 

It added, "The journalists we represent at the New York Times, and across all of our union newsrooms, understand the difficulty of navigating such rights to speak on different issues, and are aware that protecting those rights often includes defending members expressing a variety of viewpoints."

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Though Peter and other Times journos slammed DeCarava for defending the protest and framing the disagreement into a matter of "workplace conditions."

Peter’s letter stated, "Factual, accurate journalism that is written, edited, and published in accordance with Times standards does not create a hostile workplace."

It continued: "Every day, partisan actors seek to influence, attack, or discredit our work. We accept that. But what we don’t accept is what the Guild appears to be endorsing: A workplace in which any opinion or disagreement about Times coverage can be recast as a matter of ‘workplace conditions.’"