New York Times says senator’s op-ed didn’t meet standards

NEW YORK (AP) — In an embarrassing about-face, The New York Times said Thursday that an opinion piece it ran by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton advocating the use of federal troops to quell nationwide protests about police mistreatment of black Americans did not meet its standards.

Cotton's op-ed, titled “Send in the Troops” and first posted online late Wednesday, caused a revolt among Times journalists, with some saying it endangered black employees. Some staff members called in sick Thursday in protest.

The Times said in a statement that a “rushed editorial process” led to publication of a piece that did not meet its standards.

Cotton taunted the paper on Twitter Thursday night, accusing it of “surrendering to the mindless woke mob.”

The Arkansas Republican’s piece remained on the Times’ website Thursday evening. The Times said it was still determining whether the column will be corrected or what to say in an editor's note attached to it.

Earlier Thursday, Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger and editorial page editor James Bennet defended its publication, saying they believed it was important to discuss controversial ideas in a public forum rather than keep them quiet.

But, the Times reported that later, Bennet revealed that he had not read Cotton's piece prior to its publication.

“As a result, we’re planning to examine both short term and long term changes” to its opinion pages including expanding its fact-checking operation and reducing the number of op-eds, which are opinion pieces written by outside contributors that it publishes, the Times said its statement.

Cotton's column supported President Donald Trump's call to bring in federal troops to stop violence associated with protests against police treatment of minorities. He denounced “nihilist...