Carolyn Ryan is an American writer. Ryan was the highest-ranking LGBTQ employee in the New York Times newsroom during their anti-trans coverage crisis of the 2020s.
No transgender journalist has appeared on the New York Times masthead since its founding in 1851. In 2023 the San Francisco Chronicle cited a Times employee who said the organization has no trans reporters.
Background
Carolyn J. Ryan was born on November 23, 1964 in Massachusetts and earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Bates College in 1986. Ryan worked at The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Massachusetts before joining The Boston Globe in 2003. Ryan joined the New York Times in 2007.
Ryan joined the masthead of the Times as an assistant managing editor in 2017 and was promoted to deputy managing editor in 2020. In 2018, Ryan won a leadership award from NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists.
Soon after, the paper ramped up its biased coverage of transgender people.
Anti-transgender bias
In 2023, after hundreds of Times contributors protested editorial decisions around trans issues, Ryan spoke to the newsroom. Via Vanity Fair:
“I want to talk to you briefly about journalistic independence,â Carolyn Ryan said during an all-hands meeting for the New York Times newsroom earlier this month. The Times managing editor, sporting a pinstripe pantsuit, spoke from a stage where she was seated between fellow managing editor Marc Lacey and executive editor Joe Kahn. âWe donât do our work in an effort to please organizations, governments, presidents, activist groups, ideological groups,â she said in a recording of the meeting obtained by Vanity Fair, noting this has been âa bedrock principle of ours for generationsâ that âmany of us feel in our bonesâ but âcan really get obscured in the modern media landscape, which these days has populated with so many more partisan players.â
Ryan praised the paperâs coverage of the Supreme Courtâs Dobbs decision; Astead Herndonâs podcast The Run-Up; Michael Powellâs report on whether the ACLU was losing its way; and Megan Twoheyâs âthoughtful, careful, well-reported story looking at medical treatment for teens who are transitioning and the lack of scientific research around some of the puberty blockers.â She assured the newsroom that theyâll be hearing more about journalistic independence throughout the year. âAnd sometimes that will be an annoying note on deadlines saying, you know, we canât use that language because it reallyâŠreflects an activist-group way of looking at an issue and we donât want to do that,â she said, noting being as âpanoramic as possibleâ is not only âgood journalismâ but âkey to how we think about attracting new, more readers and satisfying a need thatâs really out there.â
âGreat,â said Kahn. âMarc?â
âVery nicely put, Carolyn,â said Lacey.
References
Klein, Charlotte (February 27, 2023). Inside the New York Times blowup over transgender coverage. Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/new-york-times-trans-coverage-debate
Bolies, Corbin (March 7, 2023). The New York Timesâ Trans Coverage Debacle Was Years in the Making. The Daily Beast https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-new-york-times-trans-coverage-debacle-was-years-in-the-making
Jones, Imara (July 17, 2023). S02E05: Capturing The New York Times. The Anti-Trans Hate Machine: A Plot Against Equality https://translash.org/transcript-capturing-the-new-york-times/
Rothmann, Sarah; Burns, Jay (March 20, 2019). Ryan, â86, Gives Scoop on Life After Bates. The Bates Student https://thebatesstudent.com/16905/news/ryan-86-gives-scoop-on-life-after-bates/
Grynbaum, Michael M. (April 20, 2022). New York Times Names Marc Lacey and Carolyn Ryan as Managing Editors. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/business/media/new-york-times-managing-editors.html
Dowd, William J. (June 26, 2015). Marblehead couples, elected officials react to Supreme Courtâs equality decision. https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/marblehead-reporter/2015/06/26/marblehead-couples-elected-officials-react/34063649007/
Reilly, Patrick (February 15, 2023). New York Times accused of âeditorial biasâ in coverage of transgender issues. New York Post https://nypost.com/2023/02/15/new-york-times-blasted-for-editorial-bias-in-transgender-coverage/
Bolies, Corbin; Cartwright, Lachlan (February 16, 2023). New York Times blasts staffers who condemned paperâs trans coverage. The Daily Beast https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-york-times-blast-staffers-who-condemned-papers-trans-coverage
Eckert, AJ. What the New York Times gets wrong about puberty blockers for transgender youth. Science-Based Medicine https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/what-the-new-york-times-gets-wrong-about-puberty-blockers-for-transgender-youth/
USPATH and WPATH respond to NY Times article “They Paused Puberty, But Is There a Cost? published on November 14, 2022 (PDF). https://www.wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/Public%20Policies/2022/USPATHWPATH%20Statement%20re%20Nov%2014%202022%20NYT%20Article%20Nov%2022%202022.pdf
Urquhart, Evan (November 17, 2022). The NYT’s big piece on puberty blockers mucked up the most important point about them. Slate https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/puberty-blockers-side-effects-controversy.html
Oladipo, Gloria (February 18, 2023). Nearly 1,000 contributors protest New York Times’ coverage of trans people. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/17/new-york-times-contributors-open-letter-protest-anti-trans-coverage
Migdon, Brooke (February 15, 2023). NYT contributors blast paper’s coverage of transgender people. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3859501-nyt-contributors-blast-papers-coverage-of-transgender-people/
Yurcaba, Jo (February 16, 2023). N.Y. Times contributors and LGBTQ advocates send open letters criticizing paper’s trans coverage. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/ny-contributors-lgbtq-advocates-send-open-letters-criticizing-papers-t-rcna70800
Paul, Larisha (February 15, 2023). Gabrielle Union, Tommy Dorfman, more accuse NYT of ‘Harmful’ coverage of trans people. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/new-york-times-coverage-of-trans-people-open-letter-1234680299/
Kalish, Lil. These New York Times contributors say the paper’s coverage of gender issues is hurting trans people. BuzzFeed News. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lilkalish/trans-writers-open-letter-nyt-biased-coverage
Hays, Gabriel (February 15, 2023). Celebs rip into New York Times for ‘irresponsible’ transgender coverage: Demand end to ‘both sides’ focus. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/media/celebs-rip-new-york-times-irresponsible-transgender-coverage-demand-end-both-sides-focus
Dunlap, David W. (June 19, 2017). How The Times gave ‘gay’ its own voice (again). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
Klein, Charlotte (February 15, 2023). Nearly 200 New York Times contributors are denouncing the paper’s anti-trans coverage. Vanity Fair. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/new-york-times-trans-coverage
Davies, Rachel (February 16, 2023). The NYT knew what it was doing with its ‘Defense of J.K. Rowling’. The Mary Sue. https://www.themarysue.com/the-nyt-knew-what-it-was-doing-with-its-defense-of-j-k-rowling/
Warrington, James (February 16, 2023). How the New York Times was engulfed by a trans culture war. The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/02/15/new-york-times-accused-writers-anti-trans-bigotry/
Mastrangelo, Dominick (February 16, 2023). NYT editors: Paper ‘will not tolerate’ its journalists protesting coverage of transgender people. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/3862101-nyt-editors-paper-will-not-tolerate-its-journalists-protesting-coverage-of-transgender-people/amp/
Smith, Ben (October 18, 2022). Inside the identity crisis at The New York Times. Semafor https://www.semafor.com/article/10/18/2022/inside-the-identity-crisis-at-the-new-york-times
Remnick, David (December 22, 2017). A conversation with A.G. Sulzberger, the new leader of the New York Times. New York https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-conversation-with-a-g-sulzberger-the-new-leader-of-the-new-york-times
Ember, Sydney (December 14, 2017). A.G. Sulzberger, 37, to Take Over as New York Times Publisher. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/business/media/a-g-sulzberger-new-york-times-publisher.html
Barron, James (October 20, 2016). A.G. Sulzberger: leading change at The New York Times as journalism evolves. The New York Times. http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2018/02/ag_sulzberger_new_york_times_p.html
Rogoway, Mike (February 9, 2018). A.G. Sulzberger, New York Times’ publisher and former Oregonian reporter, talks journalism in the digital age. The Oregonian.
Wemple, Erik (December 14, 2017). A.G. Sulzberger to assume publisher role at New York Times on Jan. 1. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/12/14/a-g-sulzberger-to-assume-publisher-role-at-new-york-times-on-jan-1/
Benton, Joshua (May 15, 2014). The leaked New York Times innovation report is one of the key documents of this media age. NiemanLab. https://www.niemanlab.org/2014/05/the-leaked-new-york-times-innovation-report-is-one-of-the-key-documents-of-this-media-age/
Snyder, Gabriel (February 12, 2017). The New York Times claws its way into the future. Wired. https://www.wired.com/2017/02/new-york-times-digital-journalism/
Levitz, Eric (October 19, 2016). A.G. Sulzberger Vanquishes His Cousins, Becomes Deputy Publisher of the New York Times. New York. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/10/a-g-sulzberger-becomes-deputy-publisher-of-new-york-times.html
Salkin, Allen; Martin, Brittany (February 16, 2021). Who’ll Be the Next Editor of the L.A. Times? Let’s Break Down the Odds. Los Angeles https://lamag.com/featured/la-times-editor-search
Lippman, Daniel (November 23, 2017). Birthday of the day: Carolyn Ryan, NYT assistant editor. Politico https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/23/playbook-birthday-carolyn-ryan-259598
Benton, Joshua. This is The New York Times’ digital path forward. NiemanLab. https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/01/this-is-the-new-york-times-digital-path-forward/
Sulzberger, A. G. (October 7, 2015). Our Path Forward (PDF). The New York Times Company. https://nytco-assets.nytimes.com/m/Our-Path-Forward.pdf
Sulzberger, A. G. (January 1, 2018). A Note from Our New Publisher. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/01/opinion/Arthur-Gregg-Sulzberger-The-New-York-Times.html
Resources
New York Times Company (nytco.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
NLGJA (nlgja.org)
Muck Rack (muckrack.com)