Apparently, a scandal has been uncovered deep inside the offices of The New York Times.
On Tuesday, The NewsGuild of New York Local 31003, CWA released a lengthy report arguing that the management of the Left’s favorite paper is not living up to its equitable commitment. The data was compiled by The NYT Guild Equity Committee and reportedly shows that white people are treated more favorably — leading to promotions and better career opportunities — than black, Asian, and Hispanic colleagues.
The back and forth has been going on since November 6, 2020, when the NYT Guild Equity Committee first claimed discrimination was fueling racial disparities in performance bonuses and other metrics. Flash forward two years, and after internal and external reviews — as well as changes to the system itself — the problems still allegedly persist.
“The analysis, which relied on data provided by the company on performance ratings for all Guild-represented employees, found that in 2021, being Hispanic reduced the odds of receiving a high score by about 60 percent, and being Black cut the chances of high scores by nearly 50 percent” the committee alleged on Tuesday. “Asians were also less likely than white employees to get high scores.”
“In 2020, zero Black employees received the highest rating, while white employees accounted for more than 90 percent of the roughly 50 people who received the top score,” the group argued.
Now, according to the committee, the only thing that could explain such differences is the system — not individual efforts.
“It is not clear whether the racial imbalance is a result of problems in the performance review system itself or whether that system is simply revealing barriers to success for employees of color at the company,” the committee opined.
In recent years, The Times has committed itself to diversify its newsroom and hiring more minorities.
“To ensure we tell and share stories with respect, empathy and accuracy, we are committed to fostering a diverse staff that reflects the society we report on. And we’re committed to giving our people a workplace that feels inclusive and rewarding to all,” it says in a Diversity and Inclusion statement.
Nonetheless, staffers argue that recently hired minorities are not given enough support to succeed once they are in the job. Paper management even admitted that new employees were more likely to have bad reviews.
“If our recently hired Black and brown colleagues are disproportionately receiving low performance ratings, that suggests that The Times is not doing an effective job making our workplace a welcoming and nurturing environment for all employees – something we have heard anecdotally from many current and former colleagues, some of whom left the company for this exact reason,” the report claimed.
You hate to see such strife occurring amongst such self-proclaimed defenders of democracy.
Yet there is a solution: Reparations.
The white NYT employees could redistribute their wealth and ill-gotten bonuses to their colleagues who identify as people of color. It would set a great example for leftists across the country who believe in that sort of thing. It is the least they could do.
Take Ben Casselman for instance. He is an economics reporter and recently told NPR that he loves working at The Gray Lady, but he wants to see more done to help diversity efforts.
“The Times is far from unique here. The Times is trying to build a more diverse staff. I believe they really mean that,” Casselman told the outlet. “But building a diverse staff means more than hiring a diverse staff … This whole process has been evidence there’s still a long way to go on all the rest of it.”
Casselman can take the first step of doing “more than hiring a diverse staff” by donating part of his salary to those colleagues less fortunate than him — victims of a system rigged against them. He must have had inherent privileges within the walls of The Times.
In the words of Vice President Kamala Harris, “… Equity, as a concept, says: Recognize that everyone has the same capacity, but in order for them to have equal opportunity to reach that capacity, we must pay attention to this issue of equity if we are to expect and allow people to compete on equal footing.”
What does that mean? Who knows, but obviously all the reporters at The Times have the same capacity, they just need some extra help attaining the same outcome.
The Left has set these standards, and it is time they live up to them. Until that happens, we will just step back and enjoy watching them eat their own.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.