Ex-NYT journo Don McNeil says paper reached out to Pulitzer jury ‘fearing’ N-word saga would ‘cost them’ prize
Media top headlines June 11Jeffrey Toobin returning to CNN with an awkward interview, Vice President Harris snapping at anchor when she was pressed on visiting the border, and Glenn Greenwald tearing into Jim Acosta over Trump photo-op round out today’s top media headlinesDonald McNeil Jr., the veteran New York Times journalist who was forced out by paper earlier this year, revealed that his former employer did damage control with the Pulitzer Prize organization in order to salvage its chances of earning an award over its coronavirus coverage. On Friday, the Times received the coveted journalism prize in the “public service” category for its reporting throughout the pandemic, which was largely spearheaded by McNeil before his dramatic exit from the paper in February after it was reported that he had used the N-word in context of a conversation during a 2019 educational trip to Peru. In a statement to Fox News, McNeil said he was “very happy for my former colleagues,” but called the win “bittersweet.”CRITICS SLAM PULITZER PRIZE AFTER NY TIMES HONORED FOR CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: ‘AWARD HAS LOST ALL MEANING’”In January, I was told that my articles and appearances on The Daily would be a prominent part of this submission. In February, in a
