Commentary
Real Media Riffs - Monday, Jun 9, 2003
- by John Gaffney , June 9, 2003
- There's a story on page one about possible changes at the Supreme Court if a justice retires. Is that just proactive, enterprising reporting, or are they trying to set some kind of liberal agenda?
- Outside of that, it is the most innocuous page one I've seen in quite a while. No lazy senator stories. No presidential candidate profiles. Nothing critical of an apparently oversensitive president. Nothing about the Middle East. Nothing about New York City. Is the new regime suddenly gun shy?
- In the review of Robert Dallek's "An Unfinished Life" the copy starts by mentioning the fact that the content of the book rated a front page story in The New York Times before it was published. Is that the kind of arrogance that landed the paper in hot water?
- When the eminent critic Jon Pareles gives a front-and-center review in Arts and Leisure to Radiohead, is this an example of the drive
to culturally update the paper? Or is it pandering to a younger audience?
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- Bottom line, I think I could deconstruct almost any publication on the planet if I wanted to. Some deconstruct more easily than others. When you manage a publication you make your decisions, you take some risks and you hope that your work serves an audience. You will always have critics. You will always have second guessers. And if you're true enough to your mission, and get a little lucky, you get to the place where The New York Times occupies. Tainted, a bit, but still The Times.
