There are few stories that quite capture the immense privilege some command in the media as Andy Mills’ unceremonious resignation from the New York Times. It’s illustrative of how the most powerful currency in media isn’t journalistic rigor or even an aspiration to change the world for the better, but rather a primal reliance on much clout amassed to silence critique, or worse yet get away with abuse.
Having cut his teeth at the New York radio scene for years before becoming a producer for the NYT in 2016, Mills’ defining moment was the production of the podcast Caliphate for the paper of record, which after the shocking discovery that its main character had fabricated the events, returned a Peabody Award it had won for the hit series back in 2018. The latter unfolded over Christmas with the NYT thinking the worst was behind them, but as scrutiny mounted over Mills’ past abusive behavior, the producer seemingly deemed his best way out to ditch his job at the paper.
What’s most egregious about Mills’ case isn’t the amount of harm done — it isn’t inconceivable for him to overcome past faults and aspire to do better — but for many of who have been on the other side of his unkempt hubris, there has been the…
