<P> A 2015 study found that The New York Times fed into an overarching tendency towards national bias . During the Iranian nuclear crisis the newspaper minimized the "negative processes" of the United States while overemphasizing similar processes of Iran . This tendency was shared by other papers such as The Guardian, Tehran Times, and the Fars News Agency, while Xinhua News Agency was found to be more neutral while at the same time mimicking the foreign policy of the People's Republic of China . </P> <P> In April 2016, two black female employees in their sixties filed a federal class action lawsuit against The New York Times Company CEO Mark Thompson and chief revenue officer Meredith Levien, claiming age, gender, and racial discrimination . The plaintiffs claim that the Times advertising department favored younger white employees over older black employees in making firing and promotion decisions . The Times said that the suit was "entirely without merit" and was "a series of recycled, scurrilous and unjustified attacks ." </P> <P> The New York Times public editor (ombudsman) Elizabeth Spayd wrote in 2016 that "Conservatives and even many moderates, see in The Times a blue - state worldview" and accuse it of harboring a liberal bias . Spayd did not analyze the substance of the claim, but did opine that the Times is "part of a fracturing media environment that reflects a fractured country . That in turn leads liberals and conservatives toward separate news sources ." Times executive editor Dean Baquet stated that he does not believe coverage has a liberal bias, but that: "We have to be really careful that people feel like they can see themselves in The New York Times . I want us to be perceived as fair and honest to the world, not just a segment of it . It's a really difficult goal . Do we pull it off all the time? No ." </P> <P> Times public editor Arthur Brisbane wrote in 2012: "When The Times covers a national presidential campaign, I have found that the lead editors and reporters are disciplined about enforcing fairness and balance, and usually succeed in doing so . Across the paper's many departments, though, so many share a kind of political and cultural progressivism--for lack of a better term--that this worldview virtually bleeds through the fabric of The Times ." </P>

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