After President Trump's election, his opponents rushed to subscribe to the New York Times because the truth was more important now than ever. Now they are canceling their subscriptions because of an opinion column on climate change by the paper's new right-leaning columnist, Bret Stephens.
Some liberals were outraged when the New York Times on Friday published Stephens' column, which compared election pollsters' confidence that Hillary Clinton would win to climate scientists' assurances that climate change will be lead to catastrophic disaster. Many unhappy readers vented their frustration on social media and said they were canceling their subscriptions.
I'm on hold with the @nytimes trying to cancel. They told me they're slammed with people canceling subscriptions because of Bret Stephens.
— Sean Kent (@seankent) April 29, 2017
Why I cancelled my @nytimes subscription. @BretStephensNYT pic.twitter.com/A3lFZNJdhY
— Stefan Rahmstorf (@rahmstorf) April 27, 2017
Climate scientist Michael Mann canceled his subscription and urged others to use the hashtag #ShowYourCancellation.
.@nytimes Folks, it appears that the @NYTimes wants you to PROVE your subscription cancellation.#ShowYourCancellation
RT https://t.co/a1MyFOM9z1— Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) April 25, 2017
@MichaelEMann @nytimes .@NYtimes ad boasts "Truth. It has NO alternative." So why did they hire a climate denier? #ShowYourCancellation - My @nytimes subscription. pic.twitter.com/g4j4sTNt1z
— Franke James (@frankejames) April 26, 2017
Important to cancel.@nytimes sided with climate deniers and labeled climate science left-leaning. #ShowYourCancellation, "cancel ny times" https://t.co/OUseD5zAHP
— Susan Hatch (@SusaMorgan) April 29, 2017
#showyourcancellation pic.twitter.com/6wQCg7FgSG
— Jeannette Burr (@myviennasausage) April 26, 2017
Even some of Stephens' colleagues have mocked their employer's decision to publish his column.
<starts stress eating> https://t.co/V790Re8mmy
— Michael Roston (@michaelroston) April 28, 2017
CC @BillNyehttps://t.co/zKsvYJXLvr pic.twitter.com/UaU3uckrB3
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) April 28, 2017
The Times' editorial page editor released a statement that defended the decision to publish the op-ed.
Here's the statement of NYT editorial page editor James Bennet about Bret Stephens' op-ed on climate change. pic.twitter.com/gJ0RSqc0le
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) April 30, 2017