Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana recently penned an opinion column critical of transgender athletes. However, USA Today-owned newspapers removed the article without notifying Kennedy.
This incident echoes a similar situation from 2020 when Republican Senator Tom Cotton’s op-ed in the New York Times was censored. The piece, which proposed using the military to control the riots during the “summer of love,” sparked outrage among the paper’s staff.
Isn’t it fascinating that this kind of censorship always seems to happen in just one direction?
As reported by FOX News:
USA Today newspapers quietly delete GOP senator’s op-ed on trans athletes without telling him
Several Louisiana newspapers that are part of Gannett-owned USA Today’s network quietly deleted a published op-ed on transgender athletes from Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., without notifying him.
Communications reviewed by Fox News Digital showed the Republican was told his op-ed criticizing biological men playing women’s sports contained “inflammatory” speech that didn’t meet company standards.
Gannett Opinion Editor and Vice President of Standards and Ethics Michael McCarter stood by the decision to remove Kennedy’s piece.
“The opinion teams across the USA TODAY Network are focused on delivering local, timely, relevant, and diverse opinion pieces. We recognize the importance of sharing varying perspectives and the vital role we play convening conversations. Sen. John Kennedy’s submitted opinion column did not meet our ethical guidelines, which state we will treat people with respect. After further review, our editorial team removed the column from our website. Sen. Kennedy has been given the opportunity to revise his language – not his viewpoint – to adhere with our standards,” McCarter told Fox News Digital.
This is how Sen. Kennedy responded:
“They think they are the speech police. Drunk on certainty and virtue, they think they are our moral teacher. This attitude is why so many Americans have lost confidence in the media. The media is not going to win that trust back until they return to neutrality instead of advocacy.”
Can you imagine any newspaper in the country daring to delete a column by a senator like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Chuck Schumer, no matter what it said?
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