Paul Krugman, the winning economist of the Nobel Prize and columnist for a long time left of the New York Times, left Gray Lady last month after more than two decades, accusing editors of effective censorship of his opinion articles, cancellation of his beloved newsletter and “has made me my life”. hell. ”
A grieved Krugman, who was heavily criticized for advertising President Joe Biden’s economic policies, despite rampant inflation, complained that Times editors “were practicing a very heavy hand on what came under my name.”
Krugman told Columbia Journalism Review that he “approached Mondays and Thursdays (when his rubrics appeared) in fear” and that he “often passed in anger” after publication.
Krugman, who launched his independent bulletin on the Substack platform, pointed his finger from Patrick Healy, who was his deputy.
“Patrick often – not always – rewritten crucial passages,” Krugman CJR told Krugman CJR.
“Then I would rewrite his rewriting to restore the original sense and I felt I was working more – certainly more emotional energy – in repairing the damage from his editing than to write the original draft.”
Krugman acknowledged that although “nothing was published without my approval”, he was angry by “front and back” that “for my eye made my life hell and left the columns of flat and colorless.”
The columnist said the editors of the Times opinion were not as gentle as it used to be.
“I’ve always been very, very easily edited in the column,” Krugman Cjr told.
“And that ceased to be a case.”
Krugman said “editing became extremely intruders”.
“It was a lot of toning of my voice, the tone of feeling and a lot of pressure on what I considered a false equivalence.”
He accused Heal and his superiors of trying to “dictate the topic”.
The last point for Krugman was when he was informed by Healy last September that his workload – two columns a week and a weekly newsletter – would be reduced.
According to Krugman, Healy told him that the bulletin was being canceled.
“This was my” Network “moment,” Krugman said, quoting the character Howard Beale from the famous 1976 film: “I am crazy like hell and will not endure it anymore.”
Healy’s boss, the editor of the Times Opinion, Kathleen Kingsbury, denied that the Krugman Bulletin had been killed.
Kingsbury told the CJR that it was “undoubtedly untrue” that Times wanted to remove the newsletter, which stopped appearing in October.
According to Kingsbury, she sent email Krugman on September 30 to ask him to stay in Times, which would allow him to continue the bulletin, though without guaranteeing that he would be published every week.
Kinsbury told CJR that Krugman was allowed to “use [the newsletter] To weigh when you and your editor agree that it is necessary. ”
But there was one condition: Krugman could keep the bulletin if he agreed to reduce the frequency of his rubric once a week.
Krugman refused.
Healy denied any suggestions that he was censoring Krugman.
“He never called or emailed me saying that I was changing his meaning or censoring his views and he never made me a opposition I had overcome,” Healy CJR told him.
Kingsbury told CJR that the Times columnists have been edited more since it followed James Bennet as an opinion editor in 2020.
Bennet resigned as the editor of the Times of Times in June 2020 after a fierce reaction to the publication of a controversial article by Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ar.), Who defended the use of military force against protesters in the wake of George Floyd’s assassination .
The option caused internal and external criticism, with many Times employees arguing that it endangered colorful journalists, leading to Bennet’s departure.
After leaving Times, Bennet criticized the newspaper for what he saw as a withdrawal from journalistic independence and open debate, arguing that it had become very responsible for criticism.
He claimed that his forced resignation reflected a wider shift in Times to ideological conformity and hesitation to publish controversial views.
Krugman claimed that he was singling out and that his former colleagues on Times’ opinion site – including Thomas Friedman, Maureen Dowd and Gail Collins – did not undergo the same editorial review.
Friedman supported Healy, saying CJR: “I have a wonderful editor at Patrick Healy and I have not experienced any change in editing my column since we started working together in 2020.”
When asked to comment on Friedman, Dowd and Collins, Krugman told CJR: “I don’t have a quarrel here. All I know is that I was actually treated very differently than the past.”
A Times spokesman told The Post: “There are few places in journalism where the voice of a writer shines more than in Opinion rubrics.”
“Paul’s voice remained distinct, free to experiment and above all encouraged by his editors until the last word he published in our report,” said Times spokesman.
“We would fully oppose any insinuations that he was prevented or censored by the production of original creative journalism.”
The newspaper’s representative said that Krugman “is a legend of Times” and that the publication “respected his decision to leave and wishes him success in his current efforts.”
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