New York Times media reporter ‘Ed’ inundated with calls about op-ed

Trump supporters have been
calling the New York Times en masse.

Andrew
Burton/Getty

• New York Times reporter Edmund Lee has received more than a
  dozen phone calls from people trying to call about the op-ed an
  anonymous Trump administration official published in the paper on
  Wednesday.
• Lee’s co-worker says he’s been receiving the calls because
  the newspaper’s automated switchboard gets the word “op-ed”
  confused with “Ed.”
• One of the callers allegedly told Lee that whoever wrote the
  piece should “be hung.”

Angry defenders of President Donald Trump have been calling The
New York Times to complain about the recent op-ed written by a
rogue anonymous Trump official, but thanks to an automated
switchboard, they keep getting sent to the wrong desk.

The unnamed senior official wrote in the piece that he or she is
one of “many” in the administration who are “working diligently
from within to frustrate parts of [Trump’s] agenda and his worst
inclinations.”

The op-ed was met with a stern statement from White House press
secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who tweeted out the newspaper’s
phone number on Thursday and urged those who want “to know who
this gutless loser is” to call the Times and ask for themselves.

It appears that many Trump fans have heeded the call, but are
having a hard time reaching the op-ed desk.

On Thursday, Times tech reporter Kevin Roose asked his followers
on Twitter to “pray” for his colleague, media reporter Edmund
Lee, “who is getting flooded with calls from angry Trump
supporters because the automated switchboard thinks ‘Op-Ed’
sounds like ‘Ed.'”

Lee responded to the tweet around 2:30 p.m., saying that in the
last hour he had already received 15 calls — 12 negative and
three positive.

“[One] suggested the op-ed writer needs to ‘be hung.’ Here all
day folks,” Lee wrote.

According to his biography on the newspaper’s website, Lee “has
reported on major changes at news and entertainment companies,
including 21st Century Fox, Comcast and The Walt Disney Company.”

In other words, he probably knows no more about the op-ed
writer’s identity than those calling him.

Op-ed page editor Jim Dao told The Times’ “Daily” podcast that
the author went through an intermediary several days ago to
publish the piece. Dao wouldn’t go into much more detail, but
said that only a “very small number of people within the Times”
know the writer’s identity.

Dao said he couldn’t imagine any circumstances in which The
Times’ opinion section would identify the author.