New York Times editorial page editor resigns following backlash to Tom Cotton op-ed

The New York Times building.
(Image credit: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

James Bennet, the editorial page editor at The New York Times, resigned Sunday in response to outrage over an opinion piece written last week by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), which called on President Trump to invoke the "venerable" Insurrection Act to send the military to U.S. cities so they could "disperse, detain, and ultimately deter lawbreakers."

The essay was published online Wednesday night, and it almost immediately drew ire from readers and Times staffers alike, with many arguing it endangered black employees. An internal review found that the op-ed shouldn't have been published the way it was — the headline "Send in the Troops" was "incendiary and should not have been used," and Cotton made sweeping statements accusing "left-wing radicals like antifa" of infiltrating George Floyd protests, despite scant evidence.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.