CNN's Don Lemon: New York Times Is ‘Extremely Short-Sighted’ If It Bans Reporters From My Show
The New York Times is facing an existential question over whether to allow its reporters to appear on cable news programs that are heavy on opinion and punditry as opposed to straight journalism.
“We have always had a rule saying reporters should be wary of going on very clearly opinionated shows,” Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet told The Daily Beast by text message on Friday. “It isn’t meant as a commentary on any show, just our view that hard hitting stories like the ones we are doing should stand on their own.”
Baquet’s exclusive comments came in response to a Vanity Fair story asserting that Times reporters—many of whom have paid contributor deals with MSNBC and CNN—are being instructed not to appear on two of MSNBC’s highest-rated programs, The Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell, as well as on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon.