Media

Former White House Correspondent Condemns NYT For Allowing Anonymous ‘Resistance’ Piece

Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Mike Brest Reporter
Font Size:

Kathy Kiely, a former White House Correspondent for the New York Daily News, went after the New York Times for allowing a senior Trump official to publish the now infamous op-ed anonymously last week.

“In a time when reporters’ credibility is under attack, we need to prioritize transparency,” Kiely stated. “This is not the case of some poor low-level bureaucrat who is at risk of losing the only job he or she will ever have. This is a powerful government official who should not hide behind a reporter.”

She went on to emphasize the importance for journalists to share where their information comes from.

Kiely also covered national politics for USA Today and is currently a professor in the school of journalism at the University of Missouri.

The op-ed was titled, “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration,” and was published last Wednesday.

James Dao, the op-ed editor at The New York Times, responded to questions sent to the Times by readers after the op-ed was published. He wrote, “The writer was introduced to us by an intermediary whom we know and trust,” in response to the question, “Did The New York Times seek out the author of this piece, or did the author seek out The New York Times?”

Dao also writes, “The First Amendment clearly protects the author’s right to publish an essay criticizing the president, and absolutely nothing in the op-ed involves criminal behavior. We intend to do everything in our power to protect the identity of the writer and have great confidence that the government cannot legally force us to reveal it.”

The article claimed that the administration’s successes come despite “the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective” and that there is a group of officials in the administration propping it up. (RELATED: Trump Calls Senior Staffer Who Wrote Scathing Anonymous NYT Op-Ed ‘Gutless’ And ‘A Disgrace’)

Follow Mike on Twitter.