As if there weren’t enough news about the New York Times this summer — most of it not great news, either — the paper announced Tuesday that New York Times en Español would no longer be operational.
The announcement said New York Times en Español was being discontinued after three years of producing around 10 original stories per day and also featuring translated versions of Times reporting. The decision was made because “it did not prove financially successful.”
“Our strategy is now focused on our subscription-driven core news report for a global audience,” the announcement said. “Moving forward, editors will continue to translate signature journalism into more than a dozen languages — including Spanish, which will continue to appear at www.nytimes.com/es — as part of our core mission, and we will increase investment in the expansion of these broader translation efforts.”
NYT en Español editor Paulina Chavira wrote on Twitter, “With much sadness and regret we inform you that today closes operations @nytimeses. For NY it is a ‘corporate’ decision, but for us (@albinsonl, @borismunoz, @ebudasoff, @marina_ef, @MJVega, @patynietog, @Nat_Guti, @eldacantu) It was a project that we put all our heart to.”
In a series of threaded tweets, she continued to thank individual colleagues as well as readers, saying, “I still believe that writing in Spanish is always a good business … and time will tell.”
Representatives for the New York Times did not immediately respond to request for comment.
It’s been a rough few months for the Times which, among other things, saw an increase in subscription cancellations after a reader backlash over its lead headline on a story about a President Trump speech in August. On Sunday, the paper added an editor’s note to a Saturday story detailing witness recollection of another purported incident of drunken sexual misconduct from Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his college days, prompting the president to declare it “DEAD.”
At least en parte, he was right.
9 Times New York Times Editorial Made Everyone Freak Out
Bari Weiss: We're All Fascists Now
The New York Times opinion editor set the Internet ablaze after going after college students who she said were trying to shut down free speech. Critics pointed to Weiss mistakenly linking two fake ANTIFA Twitter accounts
MSNBC
David Brooks: 'Girl I Want Your Body'
New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Brooks offered his spin on the MeToo movement in November. But his attempt to speak the language of sex and passion led him to write some lines like "girl I want your body" and "sex is a gold nugget" and the Internet went nuts.
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Bret Stephens' "A Defense, of Sorts, for Harvey Weinstein"
The October, 2017 piece was actually titled "Weinstein and Our Culture of Enablers," but Stephens couldn't resist throwing in the trollish alternative headline see above into a tweeted description of the article -- which promptly precipitated an Internet meltdown
YouTube
David Brooks Urges "Respect to Gun Owners" After Parkland, Florida Massacre
David Brooks set passions aflame after urging "respect" for gun owners after 17 children were killed at a school shooting in Parkland, Florida. "So if you want to stop school shootings it's not enough just to vent and march. It's necessary to let people from Red America lead the way, and to show respect to gun owners at all points," he wrote.
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Quinn "Been Friends with Various Neo-Nazis" Norton
The New York Times got more than they bargained for when they hired tech writer Quinn Norton. Almost immediately after the news was announced old tweets began to emerge including where Norton said she had "been friends with various neo-nazis" and used the N word. The Times cut her loose just hours after she was hired.
YouTube
Bari Weiss Attacks Aziz Ansari Accuser: 'I'll Get Crushed for This'
Weiss risked more wrath on the set of "Morning Joe" in January after blasting a woman who accused comedian Aziz Ansari of sexual misconduct. "It's called bad sex," she told Joe and Mika. "I'll get crushed for saying this."
TheWrap
Bari Weiss Quotes Hamilton: 'Immigrants: We Get the Job Done"
Anti-Weiss Internet mobs were set ablaze after she tweeted out "Immigrants: we get the job done," in response to Olympian Mirai Nagasu's triple axel. Nagasu was born in California to immigrant parents and Twitter furiously dragged her for not paying sufficient deference to the decision.
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James Bennet Diversifies the Times Opinion Pages
Editorial Page Editor James Bennet has said his mission is to broaden editorial diversity on the Times newsroom. The initiative has often been rocky and the paper has been beset by online criticism of hiring choices, and targeted leaks by Times employees unhappy with his changes.
YouTube
David Brooks Sandwich-Shames Less Educated Friend
Perhaps most egregious of all in the mind of Internet warriors was Brooks' confession in a July, 2017 column that he once took a friend "with only a high school degree" into a gourmet sandwich shop but decided to pull a quick switch for Mexican food after, so he said, she appeared overwhelmed by words like Soppressata and Capicollo.
Creative Commons
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Most of the recent fire and fury comes from the paper’s editorial pages
Bari Weiss: We're All Fascists Now
The New York Times opinion editor set the Internet ablaze after going after college students who she said were trying to shut down free speech. Critics pointed to Weiss mistakenly linking two fake ANTIFA Twitter accounts