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I have an interpretation — would not call it a theory — that helps explain what @nytopinion is up to with Bret Stephens. The core readers have more power now. The editors are anxious about that because they know the core is more liberal than they want the Times to be. 1/
In news it comes out as, "we are not the resistance." In opinion, it's "you're going to have to deal with views you reject, people." When that is the attitude going in, pushback from readers is not a signal that something may be off, but a confirmation: we were right to worry. 2/
This is one reason it's so difficult to talk to the Times, and why you may have asked yourself: is anyone there listening? You might have said: this column doesn't meet Times standards! But they're hearing the equivalent of the big advertiser trying to throw his weight around. 3/
There's a further factor. Some of the younger Times staffers (a cohort more diverse than their bosses) have views on what the Times should be doing that track more closely with the views of the core readers. I am not sure anyone in the building knows what to do about that. 4/
You can find this interpretation in my October 2018 column here: pressthink.org/2018/10/next-t… and in a post I wrote two weeks ago after that terrible headline, 'Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism.' pressthink.org/2019/08/bad-he… 5/
