The New York Times wants to protect its reporters from online harassment by encouraging them to minimize their time on Twitter, according to a newly circulated memo.
Dean Baquet, the Gray Lady’s executive editor, told his staff that maintaining a Twitter account is “purely optional” after editorial staff reportedly raised concerns about being targeted by internet trolls.
Baquet told staff that the “reset” of Twitter’s policy was “absolutely not a ban,” according to Insider, which obtained a copy of the memo.
“If you decide to stay, we encourage you to significantly reduce the time you’re spending on the platform, tweeting or scrolling, in relation to other parts of your work,” Baquet wrote in the memo.
Baquet pledged that the paper would strengthen support for its journalists, who are subject to the “industry-wide ban” of harassment on social media.
But the editor-in-chief added that journalists’ tweets would be monitored by their bosses.
“Tweets or subtweets that attack, criticize or undermine the work of your colleagues are not allowed,” Baquet wrote in the memo.
The new policy was endorsed by former Times staffer Taylor Lorenz, the social media beat reporter who moved to the Washington Post after a high-profile departure from the Gray Lady.
Lorenz, who told MSNBC that she considered suicide after being harassed and bullied on social media, said Times editors “constantly make bad-faith attacks online and punish their reporters when they are the subject of … smear campaigns.”
She tweeted Thursday that the Times’ new policy was “disappointing and contradictory to see.”
“This should not reach an internet newsroom or social media,” she wrote.
Lorenz accused Times editors of being “more obsessed” with Twitter than “most of the newsroom” and that they have “hounded employees for every response.”
“To say they’re going to the police even *more* is counterproductive, harmful to journalists, especially those who have to use the internet to report,” Lorenz wrote on Twitter.
A Times spokesperson told Insider: “What Dean is asking for is a reset in our newsroom’s approach to Twitter and other social media platforms. He is telling our journalists that there is no expectation that they individually should be on social media.”
The spokesman added: “It is partly responding to the concerns of many colleagues in our newsroom who told us the change was needed. But this is absolutely not a ban.”
“The New York Times is committed to promoting our best-in-class journalism wherever our audience is, including on Twitter and other platforms.”
Twitter announced earlier this week that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, would join its board of directors after the Tesla boss bought a 9% stake in the company.
Musk pledged to make “significant improvements” to Twitter, which has been accused by critics — including Musk himself — of stifling free speech.
