The New York Times has confirmed that the paper has investigated and ‘disciplined’ its high-profile public health and Covid-19 reporter after using racist insults on a trip with high school students in 2019.
Donald McNeil Jr, a 45-year veteran of the newspaper and the main reporter of the coronavirus pandemic, was accused by a number of students of using the N word during a Times-endorsed educational trip to Peru. The reporter also suggested that he did not believe in white privilege and used stereotypes about black teens, according to complaints filed with the paper and reported by the Daily Beast.
Six students or parents filed a complaint with the newspaper after the trip, which was part of the Times’ “student journeys” program, for which participation typically costs more than $ 5,000.
On Thursday, the Times confirmed that McNeil had used “racist language” during the trip in a statement to reporters.
“In 2019 Donald McNeil Jr. took part as an expert in a Student Journeys,” the statement said. “We then became aware of complaints from some of the students during the trip about certain statements Donald had made during the trip.
“We conducted a thorough investigation and disciplined Donald for statements and language that were inappropriate and inconsistent with our values,” the statement continued. “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. “
The paper did not provide further details on how McNeil was disciplined.
Following the Daily Beast’s coverage, Dean Baquet, editor of the New York Times, sent an email to staff informing them that he was “outraged” by the comments and had expected to fire the reporter when he submitted the complaints. heard it first. But after the investigation, the editor concluded “that his comments were offensive and that he showed extremely poor judgment, but that it did not seem to me that his intentions were hateful or malicious.”
His email continued, “I think people should be told in such cases that they were wrong and that they should be given another chance. He was formally disciplined. He couldn’t get a pass. “