Former Times Columnist Paul Krugman said editors ‘made my life hell’: ‘exercising a heavy hand’

Paul Krugman, the winning economist of the Nobel Prize and the tall New York Left Times columnist, left the gray lady last month after more than two decades, accusing the editors to effectively censor her parts of thought, canceling the newspaper his beloved and having “my life hell”.

An embedded Krugman, who was heavily criticized for searching for President Joe Biden’s economic policies, despite rampant inflation, complained that Times editors were “practicing a very heavy hand in what came out under my name.”

Krugman told Columbia Journalism Review that he “approached Mondays and Thursday (when his columns appeared) with dread” and that he “often passed in rage” after publication.

Krugman, who continued to launch his independent newspaper on the substance platform, pointed his finger at Patrick Healy, who was his deputy editor of opinion.

“Patrick often – not always – rewrite essential passages,” Krugman CJR told the last week.

“Then I would rewrite his rewriting to restore the original sense, and I felt I was doing more work – certainly more emotional energy – in repairing the damage from his editing than I did to write the original draft. “

Krugman admitted that while “nothing was published without my approval”, he was upset by “back and forth” who “for my eye, the two made my life hell and left flat and colorless columns.”

The columnist said the editors of the Times opinion were not as gentle as it used to be.

“I’ve always been a lot, very easily edited in the column,” Krugman CJR told.

“And that stopped being the case.”

Krugman said “editing became extremely intruders”.

“It was a lot of toning of my voice, the toning of feeling, and a lot of pressure on what I considered the false equivalent.”

He accused Healy and his superiors of trying to “dictate the topic”.

The last straw for Krugman was when he was informed by Healy last September that his workload – two columns a week and a weekly newspaper – would be reduced.

According to Krugman, Healy told him that the newspaper was being canceled.

“This was my” Network “moment,” Krugman said, quoting character Howard Beale from the famous 1976 film: “” I’m crazy as hell and won’t take it anymore. “

Healy’s boss, Opinion Times editor Kathleen Kingsbury, denied that Krugman’s bulletin was killed.

Kingsbury told CJR it was “untrue patents” that Times wanted to leave with the newspaper, which stopped running in October.

According to Kingsbury, she emailed Krugman on September 30th to encourage her to remain in time, which would allow him to continue the newspaper even though without guaranteeing that he would be published every week.

Kinsbury told CJR that Krugman was allowed to “be used [the newsletter] to weigh when you and your editor agree that it is necessary. “

But there was one condition: Krugman could keep the newspaper if he agreed to reduce the frequency of his column once a week.

Krugman refused.

Healy denied any suggestions that he was censoring Krugman.

“He never called me or emailed me by saying that I was changing his meaning or censoring his views, and he never presented me a opposition to me,” Healy CJR told him.

Kingsbury told CJR that the Times columnists have been edited more since it followed James Bennet as an editor of opinions in 2020.

Bennet resigned as the editor of the Times Opinion in June 2020 after the reaction to the publication of a controversial option by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR.), Who defended the use of military force against protesters in the wake of the assassination of George Floyd.

OP-ed sparked internal and external criticism, most times employees arguing that it endangered black journalists, eventually leading to Bennet’s departure.

After leaving Times, Bennet criticized the newspaper for what he saw as a withdrawal from the independence of journalism and open debate, arguing that he had become very responsible for criticism.

He claimed that his forced resignation reflected a wider shift in time to ideological conformity and a reluctance to publish controversial views.

Krugman claimed he was being separated and that his former colleagues on Times’ opinion site – including Thomas Friedman, Maureen Dowd and Gail Collins – did not undergo the same editorial control.

Friedman supported Healy, saying CJR: “I have a frightening editor at Patrick Healy and I have not experienced any changes in the editing of my column since we started working together in 2020.”

When asked to comment on Friedman, Dowd and Collins, Krugman told CJR: “I don’t have a quarrel here. All I know is that I was actually treated very different from the past.”

A Times spokesman told The Post: “There are few places in journalism where the voice of a writer shines more than in the columns of opinions.”

“Paul’s voice remained known, free to experiment, and above all encouraged by his editors until the last word he published in our report,” said Times spokesman.

“We would fully oppose any insinuation that he was held behind or censored by the production of original creative journalism.”

The newspaper’s representative said that Krugman “is a legend of Times” and that the publication “respected his decision to leave and wished him well in his current efforts.”