New York Times readers are canceling their subscriptions to the paper after a new conservative hire published a column urging restraint on the subject of global warming.
The NYT published a column Friday by the new hire Bret Stephens urging readers to examine the facts about the dangers of global warming and to resist the urge to get caught up in exaggerations or overconfident predictions from advocates.
One reporter tweeted the paper was “slammed” with calls from upset readers canceling their subscriptions after the column was published.
I’m on hold with the @nytimes trying to cancel. They told me they’re slammed with people canceling subscriptions because of Bret Stephens.
— Sean Kent (@seankent) April 29, 2017
Other journalists and readers stated they’d cancel their NYT subscription because of the article or directly attacked Stephens.
@nytopinion @BretStephensNYT Think it’s time to cancel my subscription.
— Julie DiCaro (@JulieDiCaro) April 28, 2017
@nytopinion @nytimes @BretStephensNYT No. And I’m considering canceling my subscription. A newspaper has a responsibility not to print demonstrably things. That’s Fox’s job
— bjornapooryoung (@Bjornapoor) April 28, 2017
@BretStephensNYT bret if you think that tweet was “nasty” i have some news for you: you’re a shithead. a crybaby lil fuckin weenie. a massive twat too
— libby watson
In the op-ed, Stephens never states that he believes climate change is fake, but simply notes that people should look at claims from both supporters and deniers.
“Claiming total certainty about the science traduces the spirit of science and creates openings for doubt whenever a climate claim proves wrong,” Stephens wrote. “Demanding abrupt and expensive changes in public policy raises fair questions about ideological intentions. Censoriously asserting one’s moral superiority and treating skeptics as imbeciles and deplorables wins few converts.”
A Change.org petition calling Stephens a liar and demanding that NYT fire him has gained more than 28,900 signatures since Friday.
“The hire of Mr. Stephens compromises The New York Times especially because the fossil fuel industry and its media echo chamber are spreading the lie that science continues to debate whether climate change is real, whether humans are causing it, and whether it has adverse impacts on America and the globe,” states the petition.
“The New York Times has now entered that echo chamber,” says the petition. “The Times now legitimates the lie that human-caused climate change is a political opinion to be debated, when in reality human-caused climate change is a truth already discovered by scientific inquiry.”
Climatologists Michael Mann and Stefan Rahmstorf believe The NYT’s decision to add Stephens indicates that the paper has thrown its lot in with “climate deniers.” They are urging other left-leaning academics to follow their lead to send a signal to the paper that skepticism about global warming is intolerable.
Stephens has defended himself from the climate warriors’ barbs, telling Vox earlier this month that he is not a climate skeptic. He believes that man contributes to rising temperatures throughout the years. However, he believes that climate scientists overstate their degree of certainty about the issue and treat skeptics very badly.
“After 20 months of being harangued by bullying Trump supporters,” Stephens tweeted Friday. “I’m reminded that the nasty left is no different. Perhaps worse.”
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