27 Apr 2022 New York Times Chairman’s Viewpoint Response ‘Just as Fraudulent as the Paper Itself’

Washington, D.C. – Leading shareholder activists with the Free Enterprise Project (FEP) today asked The New York Times Company Chairman A.G. Sulzberger why the company’s diversity goals don’t include diversity of opinion – an important quality for a newspaper that bills itself as objective and neutral.

In response, Sulzberger gave lip service to the value of viewpoint diversity, claiming that the Times is a superior example of a media institution that represents all points of view – a claim the FEP activists called “fraudulent.”

Ethan Peck

FEP’s Ethan Peck submitted the following question at the virtual meeting:

The New York Times makes an outsized effort to champion “Diversity & Inclusion.” Yet it only values “diversity” of surface characteristics such as skin color, instead of the diversity that matters most: viewpoint diversity. Even centrist liberals such as Bari Weiss have found themselves firmly outside the hard-left ideological hegemony of the paper.

Will the Times now either commit to hiring writers and editors of all political persuasions, or at least be forthright by rebranding itself as the exclusively hard-left publication that it is?

Sulzberger responded:

Well, thank you for the question. I should say first that I strongly disagree with your premise. Our newsroom reports independently. And covering the world without fear or favor remains the newsroom’s North Star. And on the opinion side, there isn’t, there just is not another major media institution – digital, print or broadcast – that commits more resources to understanding multiple viewpoints, and fairly characterizing and representing multiple viewpoints, on the most important issues of our time. This type of independent journalism is especially important at a moment when the country is so polarized and so much political debate is made in bad faith. One of the most important things we can do as an independent news organization is to help a diverse and divided country understand itself. So fairly representing a diversity of view and experiences is and will remain an essential part of our mission.

Audio of the question and answer can be heard here. Peck’s question can be read here.

After the meeting, Peck responded:

At least they’re consistent liars. The only thing sincere about his response is that it was just as fraudulent as the paper itself. A free country and a free press mean that radical left-wing publications like the New York Times are entitled to their perspective. The issue is that the Times sees itself as the ministry of truth and makes an intentional effort to hide behind a veil of neutrality and objectivity. All we asked of the board was to be transparent about its obvious biases with the shareholders paying their checks. Evidently that was too much to ask of them.

Investors wishing to oppose media bias and other “woke” policies infiltrating Corporate America should download FEP’s 2022 editions of the “Investor Value Voter Guide” and the “Balancing the Boardroom” guide. Other action items for investors and non-investors alike can be found on FEP’s website.

Today’s meeting marks the 13th time FEP has participated in a shareholder meeting in 2022. To schedule an interview with a member of the Free Enterprise Project on this or other issues, contact Judy Kent at (703) 477-7476.

Launched in 2007, the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project focuses on shareholder activism and the confluence of big government and big business. Over the past four years alone, FEP representatives have participated in over 100 shareholder meetings – advancing free-market ideals about health care, energy, taxes, subsidies, regulations, religious freedom, food policies, media bias, gun rights, workers’ rights and other important public policy issues. As the leading voice for conservative-minded investors, it annually files more than 90 percent of all right-of-center shareholder resolutions. Dozens of liberal organizations, however, annually file more than 95 percent of all policy-oriented shareholder resolutions and continue to exert undue influence over corporate America.

FEP activity has been covered by media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Variety, the Associated Press, Bloomberg, Drudge Report, Business Insider, National Public Radio and SiriusXM. FEP’s work is prominently featured in Stephen Soukup’s new book The Dictatorship of Woke Capital: How Political Correctness Captured Big Business (Encounter Books) and Kimberley Strassel’s 2016 book The Intimidation Game: How the Left is Silencing Free Speech (Hachette Book Group).

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 60,000 active recent contributors.

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