A controversial aspect of A. G. Sulzberger’s vision for the NYT was reported on in a podcast deep dive into anti-trans bias at the paper by TransLash Media in 2024. TransLash reported A. G. sought to shift the paper’s reputation for being politically aligned with liberals in order to add more conservatives to the subscriber base. The link between the desire at the top to court conservative audiences and anti-trans bias in the coverage remains unproven, and the New York Times has declined to comment on the reporting about A. G.’s audience strategy, to TransLash then, or to Assigned now.

It’s not a huge mystery. Sulzberger is an old, white, Jewish man. He has read the room and realized that the progressive movement that formed and became prominent over the Obama years is a threat to billionaires, media moguls and the racist ideology of Zionism. The three things he best represents. That’s why he filled the op-ed page with midwits like Bret Stephens.