The New York Times is still reeling over its oddly sympathetic profile of disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. During a business desk all-hands call on Tuesday, according to Vanity Fair, business editor Ellen Pollock told staffers she didn’t “give a fuck” about criticism over the piece, which devoted thousands of words (and an aside about whether its writer, ex-Times staffer Amy Chozick, was “rolled” for finding Holmes authentic and gentle) to a soft-focus profile of a prison-bound convicted fraudster, generating widespread mockery and outrage online. According to Vanity Fair, the paper even delayed announcing its hiring of John Carreyrou, the Wall Street Journal reporter who chronicled Theranos’ rise and fall, so as to not scare Holmes out of participating in the profile. Pollock told staffersthat Carreyrou—along with Times reporter Erin Griffith, who covered Holmes’ trial—read the profile prior to publish and did not like it. “My mother, may she rest in peace, would be appalled to hear that I cursed in public,” Pollock told Vanity Fair, later adding: “John Carreyrou and Erin Griffith are wonderful! Amy Chozick too!”
