A New York Times reporter got into an “epic blow-up” with his editor over a recent story about Harvard that resulted in the reporter filing a human resources complaint because he felt the editor threatened to “kill” him if his initial draft was too long.
Before the Times published a triple-bylined report last month about some of Harvard’s most prominent donors wanting to ”strike a deal” rather than fight the Trump administration, the high-stakes nature of the story resulted in tensions that boiled over as the deadline approached.
The incident was first reported by the Breaker newsletter. The Independent, meanwhile, was able to corroborate Breaker’s report with three additional sources.
“According to two people familiar with the matter, [reporter Rob] Copeland and the New York Times business editor Ellen Pollock had an epic blow-up before the Harvard story ran,” Breaker noted. “It resulted in a HR complaint about a ‘death threat’ and…Copeland taking time out from the paper.”
Copeland, the author of a bestselling book on famed Wall Street hedge-fund manager Ray Dalio, had drawn the ire of Pollock over delays in the story, prompting her to call him and his editor, Michael Corkery, into her office to hash it out. The story was seen as especially sensitive within the Times as many of the paper’s reporters and alumni attended the prestigious Ivy League school.
According to sources familiar with the situation, Pollock yelled at Copeland for not staying on task and following her directions, eventually resulting in her telling the reporter that she would “kill” him, Corkery, and herself if his draft came in over 2,000 words.
The tense argument and aftermath soon became the talk of the Grey Lady’s newsroom, with one version spreading throughout the halls that threats of shooting were made during the heated dispute, though our sources note that this was not accurate.
For the most part, Times sources that spoke to The Independent indicated that Pollock was almost certainly joking when she issued her supposed “death threat” to Copeland, something that isn’t out of character for the highly respected journalist. At the same time, many reporters at the paper were “baffled” that Copeland escalated the matter to HR.
“Ellen is a great journalist with a very direct approach, and most people who work for her understand that it’s in the service of getting the best story,” one staffer said.
“Yes, obviously there was no way that Ellen was going to pull off a murder-suicide at The Times without clearing it with the masthead first,” the same staffer snarked when asked about the nature of Pollock’s “threat” to Copeland.
In the end, it was apparent that Copeland didn’t see the humor in Pollock’s and told her that she had committed an “HR violation” and promptly filed a complaint. In the end, the veteran editor apologized.
“The Times is committed to fostering a productive and supportive workplace, and takes seriously all matters related to how our staff works together,” a New York Times spokesperson said in a statement.
As for the final product, the story – which Copeland co-wrote with Maureen Farrell and Michael Schmidt – came in at 2,282 words. “Copeland, Corkery and Pollock remained alive at the time of our publication,” Breaker cheekily noted in their report.
