Headline Roundup • March 2nd, 2024
Former NYT Editor Says He Was Shamed by Paper’s Staff for Liking Chick-Fil-A
Summary from the AllSides News Team
This week, former conservative New York Times Opinion (Left bias) editor Alex Rubenstein alleged in an op-ed published in The Atlantic (Left bias) that he was shamed by the paper’s staff for saying he liked Chick-Fil-A, drawing media perspectives.
The Details: Rubenstein said he was at an orientation session when he was asked his favorite sandwich as part of a team-building exercise. Claiming he wanted to be relatable, he suggested Chick-Fil-A’s spicy chicken sandwich. Rubenstein said the HR representative leading the orientation told him, “We don’t do that here. They hate gay people,” which was met by applause from his coworkers.
For Context: Rubenstein oversaw the publishing of the infamous June 2020 Tom Cotton op-ed which suggested the federal government should use military force to quell the George Floyd riots. The piece caused a lot of discontent among the Times’ staff at the time. Chick-Fil-A has long been seen as an organization whose leadership has conservative values and anti-LGBT sentiments.
Debunked Accusations?: Several liberal journalists, including Nikole Hannah Jones of the Times accused Rubenstein of fabricating the story. A spokesperson for The Atlantic defended Rubenstein’s claim, saying The Atlantic confirmed the story’s authenticity with Times staff members. Erik Wemple of The Washington Post (Lean Left bias) reported that several of Rubenstein’s colleagues at the Times verified his claim as factually accurate.
How The Media Covered It: The story was widely and almost exclusively covered by outlets on the right.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Phelan M. Ebenhack via AP
Earlier this week Adam Rubenstein, a former New York Times editor scapegoated in the Tom Cotton op-ed affair at the Gray Lady back in 2020, published a tell-all about his experiences at the paper.
In his lede, Rubenstein recalled being chided for identifying Chick-fil-A’s spicy chicken sandwich as his favorite after being asked a seemingly innocent icebreaker at his orientation.
According to Rubenstein, an HR rep replied, “We don’t do that here. They hate gay people,” and his new colleagues celebrated the rebuke by snapping. While Rubenstein provided many more serious examples of bias at the Times, it was this...
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty.
On one of my first days at The New York Times, I went to an orientation with more than a dozen other new hires. We had to do an icebreaker: Pick a Starburst out of a jar and then answer a question. My Starburst was pink, I believe, and so I had to answer the pink prompt, which had me respond with my favorite sandwich. Russ & Daughters’ Super Heebster came to mind, but I figured mentioning a $19 sandwich wasn’t a great way to win new friends. So I blurted out,...
Susan Vineyard | Dreamstime.com
Adam Rubenstein is a journalist and former opinion editor at The New York Times. As a person of right-leaning political sensibilities—Rubenstein previously worked for The Wall Street Journal and The Weekly Standard—he was brought to the Times opinion pages with a mandate to help diversify its ideological offerings. His bosses said they expected him to use his contacts in conservative media to solicit, research, and improve op-eds that would advance contrarian arguments and challenge the paper's editorial point of view, as well as its readers.
This mandate resulted in the now-infamous publication of an editorial by Sen....
