63 The Contrarians

Earlier this week Paul Krugman left The New York Times. It came as a surprise to me because I have been a long-time reader of his column (and blog at one point, which the Times shuttered a few years ago) and there seemed to be no indication that anything was awry. That is to say, it did not appear to be a planned retirement.

Krugman confirmed that it was not a happy departure. Apparently, things were not as great behind the scenes. He explains—

During my first 24 years at the Times, from 2000 to 2024, I faced very few editorial constraints on how and what I wrote. For most of that period my draft would go straight to a copy editor ... In September 2024 my newsletter was suddenly suspended by the Times ... the editing of my regular columns went from light touch to extremely intrusive. I went from one level of editing to three, with an immediate editor and his superior both weighing in on the column, and sometimes doing substantial rewrites before it went to copy ... I faced attempts from others to dictate what I could (and could not) write about ... Moreover, all Times opinion writers were banned from engaging in any kind of media criticism. Hardly the kind of rule that would allow an opinion writer to state, “we are being lied into war.” I felt that my byline was being used to create a storyline that was no longer mine. So I left. (excerpt abridged)

It is troubling that one of the biggest voices in American journalism, the NYT, appears to be quivering. And Krugman was not the first big-name columnist to leave a mainstream newspaper either. Jennifer Rubin had left The Washington Post about a fortnight earlier but her move might have been expected—some might even say it was delayed—since Bezos owns the Post.

Both Rubin and Krugman are now part of The Contratian which Rubin writes is “Not Owned by Anybody”. But surely it has to be owned by someone? It turns out that someone is Norm Eisen, a former Obama-administration official and registered Democrat. This makes The Contrarian ripe for accusations of partisanship which might not serve its self-confessed “pro-democracy” agenda. For those on the right, this fact alone is sufficient to shun The Contrarian eliminating any chance of meaningful dialogue.

Perhaps Krugman and Rubin will do better to start their own outlet strictly not aligned with any party. And maybe they should request the “throng of veteran journalists” who have similarly “felt compelled to resign” to join their initiative, because if newshouses like the Times are indeed crumbling what America (and the rest of the world) needs is fearless journalism.