New York Times: Bret Stephens article on Ashkenazi Jews was 'fact-checked'

According to POLITICO, Bennet did not specify how Stephens's references to claims of Ashkenazi Jewish intellectual superiority passed the editing process.

JANUARY 5, 2020 23:38

Bret Stephens, former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post and winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times (photo credit: Courtesy) — Bret Stephens, former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post and winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times

(photo credit: Courtesy)

James Bennet, New York Times editorial page editor, told POLITICO that a recent controversial article by Bret Stephens, a Times columnist and former Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief, was edited thoroughly before it was published.

“All our columns are fact-checked and edited,” he said in a statement to POLITICO.

According to POLITICO, Bennet did not specify how Stephens's references to claims of Ashkenazi Jewish intellectual superiority passed the editing process.

The column entitled, “The Secret of Jewish Genius” referenced a 2005 paper that insisted that Ashkenazi Jews had higher IQs than people from other ethnic groups. After the column was published, the Southern Poverty Law Center said one of the paper's authors, Henry Harpending, held white nationalist views and promoted eugenics, which was practiced by the Nazis.

Now, at the beginning of Stephens' column on the Times' website there is an editor's note that reads:

"An earlier version of this Bret Stephens column quoted statistics from a 2005 paper that advanced a genetic hypothesis for the basis of intelligence among Ashkenazi Jews. After publication Mr. Stephens and his editors learned that one of the paper’s authors, who died in 2016, promoted racist views."

"Mr. Stephens was not endorsing the study or its authors’ views, but it was a mistake to cite it uncritically. The effect was to leave an impression with many readers that Mr. Stephens was arguing that Jews are genetically superior. That was not his intent. He went on instead to argue that culture and history are crucial factors in Jewish achievements and that, as he put it, 'At its best, the West can honor the principle of racial, religious and ethnic pluralism not as a grudging accommodation to strangers but as an affirmation of its own diverse identity. In that sense, what makes Jews special is that they aren’t. They are representational.' We have removed reference to the study from the column."

The column blew up online, with many questioning not only Stephens, but the Times' editorial editing process.

“As we've added columnists in recent years, we've added a new layer of editing on top of our traditional practices, to help accustom them to writing for Times Opinion,” Bennet wrote in an email to POLITICO. “Longtime Times columnists, who have well-established relationships with particular editors, have continued with the approach they're used to."

However, POLITICO says that it interviewed Times "insiders" who describe the editing process as "an ad hoc system." These same sources reportedly said that well-established columnists do not have a primary editor, but new ones typically do.

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"It also can vary greatly, they say, as to how closely columnists work with research assistants on fact-checking and with copy editors prior to publication," POLITICO senior media reporter Michael Calderone wrote in the article.

Andrew Rosenthal, who served as the Times' editorial page editor from 2007 to 2016, told Calderone that during his tenure at the Times, columnists did not have editors, but would consult with one. However, Rosenthal said that copy editors would alert him or a deputy editor of major concerns.

Times columnists had long not had editors, though that’s changed in recent years as new hires have typically been assigned editors.
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) January 3, 2020

“The editorial page editor is their boss,” Rosenthal told Calderone, referring to Times columnists. “The editorial page editor can fire them. The editorial page editor can kill their column if necessary.”

“Staff writers should get challenged more than the guest writers are. Their reputations land on the Times itself,” Siva Vaidhyanathan, a University of Virginia media studies professor who wrote an opinion piece in The Guardian following the onslaught of reactions to Stephens' column, told POLITICO.

“If I mess up I take all the blame. If Stephens messes up it speaks poorly of Bennet’s judgment and the whole paper,” Vaidhyanathan added.

Stephens, Bennet's first hire, is no stranger to controversy. When working at the Wall Street Journal, the columnist was known for his harsh criticism of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Upon his arrival at the TImes, Stephens wrote a column questioning climate change, which angered many readers.