Andy Mills Exits New York Times After 'Caliphate' Controversy

Mills (Photo: Celeste Sloman / New York Times)

THE NEW YORK TIMES slipped a major personnel move into the late FRIDAY (2/5) news cycle with the resignation of ANDY MILLS, the audio journalist who played a prominent role in the "CALIPHATE" podcast debacle, and the departure of science correspondent DONALD G. MCNEIL JR., whose use of a racial slur in front of students while on a TIMES-sponsored trip to PERU in 2019 generated student and parent complaints.

MILLS, who was a key producer and co-host of "CALIPHATE," which was centered around the assertions of a person who claimed to have been in ISIS but was later determined not to be telling the truth, said in a farewell piece posted at his website that he remains "proud of our team and what we were able to accomplish with CALIPHATE, getting any aspect of any story wrong, by any degree, is a journalist’s worst nightmare," and that the problem lay with a breakdown of the TIMES' fact-checking system.

As for the subsequent controversy over the TIMES' apparent lack of discipline towards him and his hiring in 2016 after stories of his behavior towards women at his previous employer (WNYC STUDIOS' "RADIOLAB") became known, he admitted to earning "a reputation as a flirt" and to administering a back rub to a colleague at a team meeting and pouring a drink on a co-worker's head at a party; he said he was warned by WNYC's HR department and was denied a promotion. (WNYC has since issued an apology for how it handled MILLS while he worked there.)  MILLS complained that "the allegations on TWITTER quickly escalated to the point where my actual shortcomings and past mistakes were replaced with gross exaggerations and baseless claims." He added that "the entire experience has been extraordinarily painful. I know I’m not supposed to say that because people will claim that I’m trying to make myself the victim." The TIMES gave back the PEABODY AWARD the show won and reassigned reporter RUKMINI CALLIMACHI after the reporting faults in "CALIPHATE" became known.

MCNEIL's departure came after an internal investigation and an initial response from Exec. Editor DEAN BAQUET that he would give MCNEIL "another chance," prompting a group of staffers to complain to Publisher A.G. SULZBERGER that the punishment was insufficient.

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