Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and longtime left-leaning New York Times columnist, left the Gray Lady last month after more than two decades, accusing editors of effectively censoring his opinion pieces, canceling his beloved newsletter and having “made my life hell.”
An embittered Krugman, who was heavily criticized for touting President Joe Biden’s economic policies despite rampant inflation, complained that Times editors were “exerting a very heavy hand on what went out under my name.”
Krugman told Columbia Journalism Review that he “approached Mondays and Thursdays (when his columns appeared) with dread” and that he “often spent the afternoon in rage” after publication.
Krugman, who has gone on to launch his own independent newsletter on the Substack platform, pointed the finger at Patrick Healy, who was his deputy opinion editor.
“Patrick often — not always — rewrote crucial passages,” Krugman told CJR last week.
“I would then do a rewrite of his rewrite to restore the original sense, and felt that I was putting more work — certainly more emotional energy — into repairing the damage from his editing than I put into writing the original draft.”
Krugman conceded that while “nothing was published without my approval,” he grew exasperated from the “back-and-forth” which “to my eye, both made my life hell and left the columns flat and colorless.”
The columnist said that Times opinion editors weren’t as lenient as they once were.
“I’ve always been very, very lightly edited on the column,” Krugman told CJR.
“And that stopped being the case.”
Krugman said that “the editing became extremely intrusive.”
“It was very much toning down of my voice, toning down of the feel, and a lot of pressure for what I considered false equivalence.”
He accused Healy and his superiors of trying “to dictate the subject.”
The final straw for Krugman was when he was informed by Healy this past September that his work load — two columns per week and a weekly newsletter — would be reduced.
According to Krugman, Healy told him that the newsletter was being canceled.
“That was my ‘Network’ moment,” Krugman said, quoting the Howard Beale character from the famous 1976 movie: “‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore’.”
Healy’s boss, Times opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury, denied that Krugman’s newsletter was killed.
Kingsbury told CJR it was “patently untrue” that the Times wanted to do away with the newsletter, which stopped running in October.
According to Kingsbury, she emailed Krugman on Sept. 30 to urge him to remain at the Times, which would allow him to continue the newsletter though without guaranteeing that it would be published on a weekly basis.
Kinsbury told CJR that Krugman was allowed the chance to “use [the newsletter] to weigh in when you and your editor agree that it’s necessary.”
But there was one condition: Krugman could keep the newsletter if he agreed to reduce the frequency of his column to once a week.
Krugman refused.
Healy denied any suggestions that he was censoring Krugman.
“He never called or emailed me saying I was changing his meaning or censoring his views, and he never lodged an objection to me that I overrode,” Healy told CJR.
Kingsbury told CJR that Times columnists have been more heavily edited since she succeeded James Bennet as opinion editor in 2020.
Bennet resigned as Times opinion editor in June 2020 following backlash over the publication of a controversial op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), which advocated for the use of military force against protesters in the wake of George Floyd’s killing.
The op-ed sparked internal and external criticism, with many Times staffers arguing that it endangered black journalists, ultimately leading to Bennet’s departure.
After leaving the Times, Bennet criticized the paper for what he saw as a retreat from journalistic independence and open debate, arguing that it had become overly responsive to criticism.
He claimed that his forced resignation reflected a broader shift at the Times toward ideological conformity and a reluctance to publish controversial viewpoints.
Krugman contended that he was being singled out and that his former colleagues on the Times opinion page — including Thomas Friedman, Maureen Dowd and Gail Collins — were not subjected to the same editorial scrutiny.
Friedman backed up Healy, telling CJR: “I have a terrific editor in Patrick Healy and have not experienced any change in the editing of my column since we started working together in 2020.”
When asked to comment about Friedman, Dowd and Collins, Krugman told CJR: “I don’t have a feud here. All I know is that I was in fact being treated very differently from the past.”
A Times spokesperson told The Post: “There are few places in journalism where the voice of a writer shines through more than in Opinion columns.”
“Paul’s own voice remained recognizable, free to experiment, and above all encouraged by his editors up until the last word he published in our report,” the Times spokesperson said.
“We would outright dispute any insinuation he was held back or censored from producing creative original journalism.”
The newspaper rep said that Krugman “is a Times legend” and that the publication “respected his decision to leave and wish him well in his current endeavors.”