The New York Times plagued with insurrection – sources say

Friday, September 07, 2018

Multiple leaks from inside The New York Times cite confusion and disharmony among the staff and high levels of dissatisfaction among supervisors, reporters, editors, sales people and union delivery people.

These sources claim that there is intense competition among editors to retain jobs after recent downsizing with some editors backstabbing others in a passive aggressive campaign of office politics.

These sources claim reporters are forced to choose sides in this bitter power struggle or risk facing dismissal themselves.

Editors and reporters are also reportedly angry over the continued encroachment of sales over editorial content and blame the publishers for emphasizing profit over news.

The feelings of dissatisfaction have risen to the level of dysfunction with some staff becoming radicalized against each other their bosses, and even the publication itself. While most do not disagree with the anti-Trump positions the paper has taken they have come to hate each other almost as much as Trump.

Unnamed sources, of course, are a mixed bag of reliability which is why people need to be wary. All offices maintain a level of politics that rarely gets exposed to the public, dirty little secrets, love and hate affairs, that can be exploited to make the organization seem out of control and worse people leak these things for their own reasons.

Some sources leak information to get in the good graces of the reporter while others leak to get even with a boss or colleagues for some office slight. The most famous of the latter is Deep Throat from Watergate, a deputy director passed over for promotion.

Some people leak because the like to feel important or want to cause trouble generating real or imagined conflicts or exaggerating the standard power trips that take place everywhere from the times news room to the Oval Office.

Even bosses leak stuff either to get a reaction before implementing something bad such as leaks inside The Times ahead of layoffs or the promotion of some questionably unpopular editor.

Sometimes real whistleblowers show up but these are often wolves in sheep clothing such as Dean in Watergate who orchestrated the break in as well as took part in the cover up, turning to a witness in exchange for unquestionably accurate evidence against then President Nixon.

Some leaks come as the calculated-misguiding of media. LBJ frequently leaked misinformation or altered plans when some disgruntled employee leaked accurate information.

Since The Times news room is likely plagued with the same office politics as the White House leaks about the staff's dissatisfaction would be accurate since the same issues plaguing every office with workers peeved about some other person taking too much time off or dumping their work on the shoulders of others or inept people getting raises others do not, or pretty women or even men sleeping their way up the corporate ladder.

Since anonymous sources are anonymous there is no way to know if what they say is true or the real motive behind their leak. But with media needing to imply dysfunction in the White House ahead of the midterm election people should take the recent times report with more than just a grain of salt – a dump truck of salt might do in regards to what the Times prints.