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New York Times opinion editor caught in the middle of America’s polarizing protests quits

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The Editorial Page Editor of New York Times, James Bennet, resigned from his job on Sunday, a few days after the newspaper’s opinion section, which he supervised, published a much-criticized Op-Ed by a United States senator calling for a military response to civic unrest in American cities.

The Op-Ed written by a Republican Senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton, was captioned: “Send in the troops.”

He wrote: “One thing above all else will restore order to our streets: an overwhelming show of force to disperse, detain and ultimately deter lawbreakers.”

The piece which was published on Wednesday drew criticism from readers across America including from dozens of the newspaper’s staff.

Bennet, 54, had earlier apologized for the error at an all-staff virtual meeting held on Friday, saying the Op-Ed should not have been published and that it had not been edited carefully enough.

The New York Times Publisher, A.G. Sulzberger, announced the editor’s departure from the organization in a note to the staff.

He said: “Last week we saw a significant breakdown in our editing processes, not the first we’ve experienced in recent years.”

“Both of us concluded that James would not be able to lead the team through the next leg of the change that is required.”

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