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The New York Times Opinion section is negotiating the exit of columnist #Pamela #Paul, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

Her impending departure is one of a series of job cuts being made at the section.

Last month, #Paul #Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who had been a part of Opinion since 2000, announced to much fanfare that he was leaving.

The Opinion section has been the site of the paper’s fiercest culture war battles in recent years,
most famously leading to the firing of editor #James #Bennet in 2020 over an op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton calling for the deployment of troops during the George Floyd protests.

Since then, under Opinion editor #Kathleen #Kingsbury, management at the Times has labored mightily to show that it is open to a "diversity of thought",
-- an effort that appeared to be spearheaded by Paul, who has taken conservative stances on contentious topics such as gender-affirming youth care.

Paul is notable for her willingness to buck liberal-left conventional wisdom:
She has written a defense of J.K. Rowling and scrutinized the MeToo movement for overreach,
while a recent column criticized the American Historical Society’s vote to condemn the ongoing “scholasticide” in Gaza.

Some colleagues have said she does little more than produce rage bait,
with what one Times staffer referred to as “intellectually lazy” positions.

“It is a rarity inside the Times for someone to manage to make enemies on every desk they touch;
-- Pamela is indeed a rarity,” one newsroom employee said.

“She should have spent time making allies if she was going to be as divisive a figure as she was internally.
But she didn’t put the time in there, or at least did not have the interest.”

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/pamela-paul-is-out-at-the-times-opinion-section.html