NY Times Op-Ed Dept. Passed on Publishing Dylan Farrow's Letter

The New York Times editorial department passed on publishing Dylan Farrow’s letter accusing Woody Allen, her adoptive father, of sexually molesting her as a child before it was published on Nicholas Kristof’s blog in the same paper, according to Politico. 

Not only did the New York Times decline to publish the letter, but the Los Angeles Times also declined to honor the January request of Ronan Farrow, Dylan’s brother, to connect them with Dylan. Nancy Sullivan, the paper’s top spokesperson, told Politico, “The Los Angeles Times Opinion editors were approached about running an op-ed written by Dylan Farrow and, while it was considered, we ultimately decided not to publish it.”

Kristof is a close buddy of Mia Farrow, Dylan’s mother, and ran Dylan’s letter on his blog last Saturday. Eileen Murphy, the New York Times‘s top spokesperson, told Politico, “the piece ran where we felt it was most appropriate.” She would not say why the op-ed department turned it down.

Andrew Rosenthal, the Times editorial page editor, has accepted Woody Allen’s request to look at a response Allen has written to Dylan’s letter and possibly publish it. Rosenthal told Margaret Sullivan, the Times‘s public editor, that he was content with Kristof publishing Dylan’s letter, commenting that Kristof “writes about issues like this every day.” Though it is widely known that Kristof and Mia Farrow are close friends, Rosenthal rejected the idea that the publishing of Dylan’s letter was a favor Kristof did for Mia Farrow, saying to Sullivan, “It’s not like he went out of his zone to promote a friend.”

Kristof has written that he published the letter “[p]artly because the Golden Globe lifetime achievement award to Allen ignited a debate about the propriety of the award. Partly because the root issue here isn’t celebrity but sex abuse. And partly because countless people on all sides have written passionately about these events, but we haven’t fully heard from the young woman who was at the heart of them. I’ve written a column about this, but it’s time for the world to hear Dylan’s story in her own words.”