NYT says Tom Cotton op-ed derided as fascist ‘did not meet our standards’ for publication: report

On Thursday, The New York Times issued an apology for publishing a controversial op-ed from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) demanding the government "send in the troops" against people protesting the killing of George Floyd.

"We've examined the piece and the process leading up to its publication," said a spokeswoman. "This review made clear that a rushed editorial process led to the publication of an Op-Ed that did not meet our standards. As a result, we're planning to examine both short term and long term changes, to include expanding our fact checking operation and reducing the number of Op-Eds we publish."

Cotton's op-ed was widely considered as advocating a police state, and a number of Black Times staffers took their frustration public, warning on social media that the article put their own lives in danger.

Despite initial efforts from opinion editor James Bennet to defend the decision to publish the piece, one source who claimed to be privy to the Times' Slack channel said that a staffer accused Bennet of having never actually read the op-ed before approving it for publication.