New Delhi: The New York Times has come under fire for its coverage of transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people. However, the leading US daily has issued a statement saying it’s “proud” of the stories.
An open letter signed by over 1,000 The New York Times contributors, in addition to tens of thousands of subscribers and readers of the Times, have criticised the organisation and specific reporters for publishing coverage debating the propriety of medical care for trans children over the past eight months.
It also claims the Times’ coverage of gay people and HIV/AIDS and its treatment of gay employees in its earlier decades to be similar to its coverage of transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people today.
According to Tom Scocca in Popula, in the past year, page A1 of The New York Times has frequently featured stories with one similar theme: “Whether care and support for young trans people might be going too far or too fast.” By his calculations, these front page stories have totaled more than 15,000 words combined, not counting coverage of similar topics in the Opinion section and New York Times Magazine.
The list of signatories include a few prominent Times journalists, including opinion contributor Roxane Gay, culture reporter J Wortham and former reporter Dave Itzkoff, and actors Lena Dunham and Cynthia Nixon.
A second letter signed by the GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Wednesday claimed that The New York Times has “repeatedly” platformed cisgender people who spread misinformation about transgender people. “This is damaging to the paper’s credibility. And it is damaging to all LGBTQ people, especially our youth, who say debates about trans equality negatively impact their mental health, which is a contributing factor to the high suicide rates for LGBTQ youth.”
GLAAD has also accused the reputed newspaper that it has allowed for “extremist” anti-LGBTQ activists who have shaped their careers on “denigrating and dehumanizing” LGBTQ people.
The letter acknowledges the few “fair” human interest stories carried by the newspaper but claims that those stories do not get front page placement and are not sent to readers of the app via push notifications.
GLAAD also demands the Times, including a meeting with trans community members and more hiring of trans employees.
The Times responded to both letters, addressing them in the same statement. It acknowledged GLAAD and its cosigners’ view of its coverage but argued that the formers’ “advocacy mission” and the newspaper’s journalistic mission “are different.” NYT spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander went on to say that the paper is “proud” of the stories cited in the letter.
(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)
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