Political journalist Andrew Coyne says he has resigned as editor of editorials and comment for the National Post in a “professional disagreement” with the newspaper.
He said he will stay on as a columnist with the paper.
The disagreement came about because of a piece Coyne had written expressing support for a party other than the one endorsed by the newspaper.
In a series of tweets explaining his decision to resign the editorial editor’s position, Coyne said Postmedia executives felt that “dissenting from the Post’s endorsement of the Conservatives would have confused readers and embarrassed the paper.”
So anyway… I have resigned as editor of Editorials and Comment for the National Post, effective immediately. I will remain a columnist.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
2. Postmedia executives and I had a professional disagreement. Their view was that the publication of a column by the editorial page editor…
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
3. … dissenting from the Post’s endorsement of the Conservatives would have confused readers and embarrassed the paper.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
4. My view was that that was what I was paid to do as a columnist: give my honest opinion on issues of public interest.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
5. I don’t see public disagreement as confusing. I see it as honest. Readers, in my view, are adults & understand that adults can disagree.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
6. The confusion, if any, would have been to have left the impression that the paper’s views were mine, or that my views were the paper’s.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
7. To be clear, the owners and managers of a newspaper have a perfect right to set the paper’s editorial line as they wish.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
8. Likewise they have a perfect right to decide who and what they wish to publish in their pages.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
9. Nobody has a God-given right to be published and the country will get along very well without me telling them how to vote.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
10. My concerns were and are merely a) that there should be no suggestion that I was personally endorsing or voting for the Conservatives.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
11. And b) that I could not do my job as a columnist if I was obliged to stay silent where these conflicted with those of management.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
12. While Postmedia’s intervention was unprecedented in my experience, I could not allow the precedent to stand.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
13. So to protect my reputation and to preserve my editorial freedom as a columnist, I felt it necessary to resign the editorial position.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
14. I think that’s all I need to say on the subject. If anyone’s still interested, I will be voting for the NDP candidate in my riding.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
15. The short-form reasoning: the Conservatives don’t deserve to be re-elected, and the Liberals don’t deserve a majority.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015
Coyne says he sees his role as a columnist to express his honest opinion on matters of public interest, regardless of whether the paper he’s writing for shares those views.
Coyne also tweeted that owners and managers of a newspaper “have a perfect right to set the paper’s editorial line as they wish.”
Neither Coyne nor the National Post could be immediately reached for comment.
