New York Times Editor Admits Inconsistent Use of Political Labels

A New York Times editor has acknowledged that the newspaper applies political labels to analysts and professors inconsistently. Patrick Healy, the assistant managing editor for Standards and Trust at the Times, made the admission during an interview on the "Sound Off" podcast.

Healy was responding to criticism from law professor Josh Blackman, who reached out after being identified as a "conservative" twice by the Times within a 24-hour period. Blackman argued that the paper labels conservative scholars more frequently than liberal ones, suggesting this creates a perception that liberal viewpoints are neutral while conservative ones are outliers requiring distinction.

"Josh, you reached out after the Times twice described you as a, quote, conservative, end quote, law professor. And you said the conservative label was accurate, but that The Times applies labels like conservative and liberal inconsistently to law professors and analysts, and that a scholar’s view should speak for itself," Healy stated.

Blackman conducted his own research, searching a database for "liberal" and "conservative" law professors in the Times' reporting. He found that it was significantly more likely for a conservative scholar to be labeled than a liberal one, even though liberals are quoted more often overall. "So the numbers even have a greater disparity," Blackman said.

He further posited that this inconsistent labeling reinforces a belief that the media and academia view liberal positions as neutral and conservative positions as needing an adjective to describe them. Blackman suggested that news organizations should focus on potential conflicts of interest or biases rather than relying on broad political identifiers.

Healy conceded the validity of Blackman's critique, stating, "I think there’s real truth to your critique and it’s something we need to do a better job on." He added, "It can come off like The Times treats liberals as normal and conservatives as unique and worthy of labeling." Healy emphasized that while the legal academy has many liberals, this does not justify the practice, and that the Times needs to be "more discerning about it."

Blackman proposed that labels should reflect a scholar's specific involvement in a case or issue, rather than their general political affiliation. He suggested identifying instances where a professor has filed briefs or taken actions related to specific administrations or legal battles would be more informative to readers.

Curtis Houck, a managing editor at NewsBusters, commented that acknowledging the problem is only the first step and that it remains to be seen if The Times will implement concrete changes. James Freeman, assistant editor to the editorial page at The Wall Street Journal, praised the Times for acknowledging the criticism in a recent piece.