A former top editor of The New York Times scolded the paper in a fiery email that compared the Gray Lady to a 10th grader who needs a “course correction.”
Jill Abramson, the former executive editor of the paper, initially blasted the Times Wednesday after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s stunning upset over Congressman Joe Crowley during a Democratic primary earlier this week.
“Kind of pisses me off that @nytimes is still asking Who Is Ocasio-Cortez? when it should have covered her campaign. Missing her rise akin to not seeing Trump's win coming in 2016,” Abramson tweeted.
Abramson elaborated in an email to Daily Beast reporter Lloyd Grove that was published Thursday, in which she mocked the paper for “making horrible mistakes left and right.”
“I fear sounding like a jealous old-timer. I’ve resisted critiquing the place publicly, but this shit is bad… I’m feeling about the NYT now like I did when my son cheated on a test in 10th grade,” she wrote, according to Grove.
“I loved him to death, believed he was a thoroughly wonderful young man, but he needed a course correction. So I left my desk at The NYT, where I was DC [Bureau] Chief, met his school bus and read him the riot act. He needed a course correction… So does the NYT… it’s making horrible mistakes left and right,” Abramson wrote.
Abramson then listed some of the paper’s recent mistakes, according to Grove. Her examples included “not covering” the upset of Crowley and a “horrible” expose that exposed its own reporter, Ali Watkins, was reportedly dating at least two potential sources.
“That story hung a 26-year-old young woman out to dry. It was unimaginable to me what the pain must be like for her,” Abramson said.
The New York Times recently published a damaging feature about its own reporter, Ali Watkins.
The paper is currently investigating Watkins’ conduct pertaining to an affair with former Senate Intelligence Committee aide James A. Wolfe, who was recently accused by federal prosecutors of lying about leaks of sensitive information to journalists. The indictment strongly suggested he was a source for Watkins and others, though Watkins reportedly has denied using her relationship for scoops.
“Readers, meanwhile, the most important NYT constituency, were left in a state of confusion,” she emailed Groves.
Abramson also reportedly bashed the paper’s alleged narcissistic attitude and decision to launch a television series based on the paper’s reporting.
“Yikes. Distance is part of journalism’s discipline,” she wrote. They need a course correction. Am I wrong?”
"They need a course correction. Am I wrong?”
Groves then continued his chat with Abramson on the phone, where she complimented current executive editor Dean Baquet but doubled down on her criticism of the Watkins expose.
Abramson told Groves it “read like a steamy romance novel in parts,” and called it “crucifying” for the young reporter.
“How do you then show up for work? I don’t see a good resolution for that,” she said.
Abramson, now a creative writing professor at Harvard University, was fired by the Times in 2014. When asked if she is angry over losing her prestigious gig, she told Groves, “Absolutely not.”
The Times issued the following statement to The Daily Beast: “We have enormous respect for Jill and deeply appreciate her passion. Criticism and feedback helps us do better work and we’re always open to it. On these specifics though, we just disagree with Jill.”
A Times spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for additional comment.
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