Complaining About The New York Times
Postcard From Peru: Why the Morality Plays Inside The Times Won’t Stop
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/14/business/media/new-york-times-donald-mcneil.html
Complaining about the Times is a grand tradition inside and outside the Grey Lady (pardon the ancient genderism). Been doing it since college when it lambasted students for giving university authorities grief, like Ms. Shepherd and others on the Peru trip.
Then it was about the Vietnam War which the "authoritarian" paper was taken to be, by some of us, overly much supportive of the conflict, but by others, too little supportive, so the campus raged and solaced. The current top dog is a kindly pooch compared to the bull mastiff then. Names omitted.
Top journalists were fired, called politely resignations, went way to write books or just settled in to being has-beens, phones no longer ringing, invites reduced to alumni bores.
Had the pleasure and discomfort of a flattering mention by the paper and a headline accusing helping the terrorists. All publicity is good publicity, and a Times cite, up or down, is not to be sniffed at, as Mr. Smith knows by now how hard it is to stay out of the harangue.
What can be said of the Times building housing these dogs and cats, what with monkeys climbing the facade, homeless sleeping on the door step, panhandlers begging on the bollards, Snowden's unreleased NSA secrets stashed in a vault (maybe some of Daniel Ellsberg's too).
Still missing, Mr. Smith, are frank and honest accounts of what led to the ousting of Bill Keller, Jill Abramson, Ada Louise Huxtable, oh my, too many to recall.