I don't think it's about being murdered. There are very real, non-lethal consequences to writing certain uncomfortable opinions. Just having one's name attached to controversial articles, tweets and posts would be enough for some employers to think "nope, not worth the effort / PR hit" and not hire that person.

E.g. I have written a bunch of outlandish stuff in my comment history, and some of it would cause people a lot of offense. Enough for them to want to call my employer out of some motivation and escalate to some sort of public/twitter witch hunt. But I promise you, I am not a bad person, and would not hurt a fly. That is the part that's missing here. Reasonable, innocent people are potentially being treated as if they're inciting violence.

I mean he has had people put out bounties to find him on reddit. No doubt it was for violent purposes, but losing your job or clients because of it can be just a slower death. I hope he finds a way to convince the NYT to not wreck his life.

This is the correct take. It's not so much about a worry of violence but the far more prolonged concern of never being able to have a normal job and provide for your family again.