Jeffrey Goldberg, the Editor-in-Chief of American magazine 'The Atlantic', sparked a controversy on social media after he suggested that only "white male" journalists write in-depth articles.
"It's really, really hard to write a 10,000-word cover story," Goldberg said in an interview with Nieman Lab, a nonprofit journalism organisation and website, on Thursday, which noted that 11 of The Atlantic's 15 most recent cover stories were written by men.
"There are not a lot of journalists in America who can do it. The journalists in America who do it are almost exclusively white males," he added.
Critics have accused Goldberg of underestimating the abilities of those who fall outside the pool of white male writers.
Margaret Sullivan of The Washington Post joked on Twitter and wrote, "I aspire to be one of those women who can write 1,200 words. I top out at about 850."
Andi Zeisler, a co-founder of the nonprofit feminist organisation Bitch Media, wrote, "So has anyone told Jeffrey Goldberg about women who write books yet."
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The feminist author Jessica Valenti also argued that Goldberg's remarks suggested a failure of imagination and stagnant reading habits.
However, after the outcry over his sexist remarks Goldberg, at first, suggested that he had been misquoted. He then said that he had failed to speak clearly, adding, "I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear in this interview, and I'm sorry that I hurt anyone."
The interview on Thursday was conducted by the Nieman Lab deputy editor Laura Hazard Owen and included Adrienne LaFrance, the first woman to serve as The Atlantic's executive editor.
Goldberg, a longtime Atlantic staff member, was promoted to the position of editor in chief in 2016.