Stephen E. Herbits Hurls Harsh Critique: Claims NYT's Integrity Sold for Clicks

Decades-Long Subscriber Says Bye to NYT, Cites Loss of Journalistic Soul

NOTE: As the editor of this publication, I'm tasked with presenting perspectives that both challenge and enlighten our readers. Today, I introduce a compelling critique from Stephen E. Herbits, a distinguished figure whose multifaceted career spans from consulting for the Pentagon to advising on Global Jewish Affairs and ending America's debate on an all-volunteer armed forces.

Stephen E. Herbits

In the interests of full disclosure, Stephen and I have worked together on several projects. He is a brilliant man, a legendary public servant, and a man of faith.

His work in the 1970s went on to impact millions of American lives. He is the person most singularly responsible for the end of Selective Service.

His later work as the chef de cabinet to Seagram Chairman and President of the World Jewish Congress, Edgar M. Bronfman, enabled him to help untold numbers of Jews escape persecution in the former Soviet Union.

On 9-11-2001, the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were attacked. On 9-12-2001, Herbits was in Washington, D.C., at Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s specific request (or “direction,” says Herbits, “if you knew Rumsfeld.”)

“One of my gifts is that while crisis frazzles others, who are generally good thinkers, it focuses me. Something just turned on, and I could manage extremely effectively in that environment,” Herbits once told me.

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Born in 1942 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and holding degrees from Tufts and Georgetown University Law Center, Herbits has lived a life rich in experience and insight, residing in cities around the world from Boston to Tokyo to Miami and now Western North Carolina.

Herbits’ instant critique of the New York Times is rooted in a relationship that began in his childhood in 1952 and has extended over seventy years. With a sense of urgency and disappointment, he voices his concerns over what he perceives as the NYT’s departure from the journalistic integrity that once defined it.

Herbits's letter, published below, is not just a personal declaration but a broader call to action for media integrity and accountability, challenging us to reconsider how we present the news in an era increasingly dominated by 'clickbait' tactics. It's a reminder of the critical role media plays in the defense of democracy and our institutions and the importance of striving for fairness and depth in reporting.

Here is the text of Stephen E. Herbits’ letter to the leadership at the New York Times:

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[Dear Sir or Madam:]

In 1952, when I was ten years old, my parents introduced me to the New York Times. I have read your paper consistently since. Now, at eighty-two, I must unsubscribe. Your attempt to imitate the Murdochs by chasing greed with clicks and views instead of being the former “paper of record” has driven me to this decision.

This is not my first time unsubscribing. On November 9, 2016, I unsubscribed because your coverage of your hometown candidate – Trump – was so biased that you helped elect him despite what a large portion of the national leadership community located in New York City knew to be true: that he was a liar, a cheat, an egomaniac, and a power-hungry and thoroughly disgusting human being. I decided to give your paper another chance. I resumed reading the Times in 2017 because of my interest in the Russian interference scandal and my personal background expertise as a consultant to several Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries of Defense.

I will sorely miss Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Maureen Dowd, and Frank Bruni, but that is not enough to ignore my only vote with you – to stop subscribing.

Not yesterday’s coverage of Biden’s age alone sealed my decision. Patterns teach more than incidents. It is not the pattern of the behaviors, qualifications, or performances of those about whom you are reporting; it is the pattern of your own distorted, incomplete, highly selective, and, frankly, ghastly coverage that forces me to change a lifetime habit.

And it is not your occasional editorials that you seek to “balance” coverage. Your editors decide which articles, tone, and facts you want to use and how much of one versus the other is to blame.

You could have adopted, for instance, a daily chart with the following elements for the candidates: date of the statement, candidate, and designation of party, quoted assertion from the previous 24 hours, the audience or media outlet to whom the person made the statement, and the facts that might show an expanded context of the statement or challenge to the statement and that might change possible interpretations, or at least show a competing statement if there appears to be “truth” on both sides.

If you were even to make an attempt at fairness on the candidates’ age issue, you ought to recommend that each retain a physician of their choosing and that the two appoint a demonstrably non-partisan third physician and the same three examine both candidates.

Included in that examination should be both physical and mental health.

You write often about the drama of physical terrorism. But there is another form of terrorism that is threatening our democracy, the fact that you consciously ignore — the terrorism of our politicians who mislead the public using “alternate facts.” As one of the world’s leading newspapers, you have sold your legacy and integrity for profit. Or does Trump have something outrageous on one of your owners or officials that you have succumbed to a form of extortion?

Even imagining that such is a possibility of the “grand old lady” Times reveals the depth you have traveled over the past ten years.

US media is transitioning, making it considerably easier to obtain thoughtful, fact-produced, investigative reporting and expert commentary from other sources. Your “clickbait” tactics and biases are propelling your eventual demise – a demise you have brought on yourself and a demise you deserve.

Respectfully,

Stephen E. Herbits

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Herbits

sherbits@gmail.com

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