The New York Times executives are reportedly “outraged” at the newspaper’s treatment of one of their colleagues who allegedly used racist language on an educational trip in 2019.
After The Daily Beast told the story that Times reporter Donald McNeil Jr. accused of making sexist and racist comments, including the ‘n-word’ while leading a student trip in Peru, the outlet reported on Wednesday that more than 150 Times employees signed a letter and sent it to their bosses stating that they were “deeply troubled” by the way the paper handled the controversy.
“We, his colleagues, feel disrespected by his actions. The company has a responsibility to take that experience seriously,” said The Beast.
The letter called on the Times to further investigate the claims against McNeil, including possible claims of racism that may have surfaced since the initial report came out, and to apologize to McNeil the student and parents involved in the trip, as well as to his colleagues.
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“Our community is outraged and in pain,” the letter read. Despite The Times’s apparent commitment to diversity and inclusion, we have provided a prominent platform – a critical beat about a pandemic disproportionately affecting people of color – to someone who chose to use language that is offensive and unacceptable by the standards from an newsroom. He did this while acting as a representative for The Times, in front of high school students. “
The letter was welcomed by Times editor Dean Baquet, publisher AG Sulzberger, and general manager Meredith Kopit Levien, who replied, “We appreciate the spirit in which it was presented and we largely agree with the message.” They added that “teams of people” were investigating issues raised in the letter and that the results will be provided to staff
The Times did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
McNeil, the Times science and health reporter who has spent the past year studying the coronavirus outbreak for the newspaper for the past year, was reportedly disciplined by the Times after leading students on a trip organized by the Putney Student Travel company and was part of a program. called New York Times Student Journeys.
The Beast reported that several participants filed complaints against McNeil, accusing the 66-year-old of “racist and sexist comments during the trip, including, according to two complaints, the use of the ‘n-word.'”
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At least six complaints from the students or their parents outlined allegations that McNeil used inflammatory rhetoric in addition to making statements about disbelieving the concept of white privilege and using “stereotypes about black teens.”
“I expect immediate action based on Donald’s actions. I am deeply disappointed with the New York Times because of the comments he made during our trip,” said one participant in a review of the trip obtained by the Beast. “I think it would even be appropriate to fire him.”
“Not only did Donald make several racist remarks on different occasions, but he was also disrespectful to many students at mealtimes and in other situations,” said another review.
“I would change the journalist. He was a racist,” wrote a third person. He used the ‘N’ word, said terrible things about black [sic] teens, and said white [sic] supremacy does not exist. “
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McNeil, who has been with the newspaper since 1976, was reportedly punished by the Times, according to a statement to the Beast.
“In 2019, Donald McNeil, Jr. took part in a Student Journeys as an expert. We then became aware of complaints from some students during the trip about certain statements Donald had made during the trip,” a Times spokesperson told The Times. Beast. “We conducted a thorough investigation and disciplined Donald for statements and language that were inappropriate and inconsistent with our values. We found that he had used poor judgment by repeating a racist slur in the context of a conversation about racist language. In addition, we apologized to the students who participated in the trip. “