| Submit your comments on this article | ||
| Home Front: Culture Wars | ||
| New York Times editor blames READERS for dustup over John McCain article | ||
| 2008-02-23 | ||
| WASHINGTON - The embattled executive editor of the New York Times defended its John McCain story Friday with a novel explanation for the flood of critical e-mails the newspaper received: slow-witted readers. The truth dawns. "Personally, I was surprised by the volume of the reaction," Bill Keller wrote in a Times Web site Q&A forum. Readers posted 2,000 comments and sent in 3,700 questions. "I was surprised by how lopsided the opinion was against our decision, with readers who described themselves as independents and Democrats joining Republicans in defending Mr. McCain from what they saw as a cheap shot," Keller added. The problem, Keller went on, is that readers didn't get it. "Frankly, I was a little surprised by how few readers saw what was, to us, the larger point of the story."
Gitlin said the story, which ran on Thursday, fell short of establishing that McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman had an improper relationship, or that she won special favors for clients. He suspected the Times actually pulled its punches on the ethics issues for fear of being accused of liberal bias. Times Managing Editor Jill Abramson defended the part of the article that caused the biggest uproar - the concerns of two unnamed former McCain advisers that the senator was having a romantic relationship with Iseman. "We believed it was vital for the story to accurately reflect the range of concerns shared by our sources," and to not succumb to "possible qualms over 'sexual innuendo,'" Abramson wrote. I agree. If slow-witted metrosexuals didn't try to read the traitorous fishwrap, capitalist robber-barons would quit advertising their worthless products and dubious services in it. It would quickly run out of filthy lucre to pay its depraved staff of fifth columnists and third-rate fiction writers. Lacking any other motivation, these mendacious hophead "journalists" would drift away to work for Mother Jones or High Times, and the NYT would soon be consigned to the dustbin of history. | ||
| Posted by:Atomic Conspiracy |
| #15 Many thanks, Frank Anti-NYT posters: More reasons to hate the Times Mommy, why? Anne Frank's in the Attic NYT Got There First "One if by Land, Two if by Sea..." Meanwhile, somewhere on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border... |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2008-02-23 21:27 |
| #14 gotta bring the a-game to compete with the tu's and such, that was pretty strong stuff, AC. I'll cast a vote :-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-02-23 19:16 |
| #13 Re:#6 Many thanks, 3dc. Considering that this site is the snark capital of the anti-idiotarian universe, that is high praise indeed. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2008-02-23 18:36 |
| #12 The New Yuk Times, Newsweak, Time...During Reagan I got so tired of reading their liberal bovine excrement that I've simply refused to read anything they publish for almost 20 years. The Economist and U.S. News are only slightly better. NRO, the WSJ and occasionally the Daily Telegraph are the only news sources I even halfway trust without fact-checking. |
| Posted by: Jomosing Bluetooth8431 2008-02-23 18:12 |
| #11 If one of my kids had tried that ploy on me I would have sent them to their rooms without dinner. It amazes me how the liberal media constantly assumes the general public is a bunch of dolts and when they get caught in some silliness for discounting the intelligence of the readers, they blame it on....the lack of intelligence. I think this goes to show that the general public has reached the boiling point on leaks, character assassination and liberal sniveling about treatment of terrorists. The times is caught again. Some one should just close the doors and fire everyone and start over again with some staff that didn't graduate from NYU, Columbia or Berserkley. |
| Posted by: Senior Assistant Sock Puppet of Doom 2008-02-23 14:47 |
| #10 careless about the appearance of impropriety Even Times readers prefer stories about real issues and not about appearances. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2008-02-23 14:31 |
| #9 Brilliant business strategy Mr. Keller - trashing one's customers has worked so well for the recording industry. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2008-02-23 12:37 |
| #8 Well, if the NYSlimes is intellectually so far above the readership, perhaps the dear readers ought to switch allegiance to the NY Sun Or Daily News. That would fix everything. Happiness all around. And, Slimes stock could slip ever lower and maybe soon we could look forward to the day when the dungheap dissappears from the public conscience. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 2008-02-23 10:20 |
| #7 Ha! Even my mom was rolling her eyes and snorting with contempt at this pitiful effort to relaunch a decade old political smear. Is this the best you can do? Your sh*t is weak. NYT. Looking forward to reading you in the checkout line at the grocery store. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-02-23 10:04 |
| #6 MY VOTE FOR RANT OF THE MONTH: If slow-witted metrosexuals didn't try to read the traitorous fishwrap, capitalist robber-barons would quit advertising their worthless products and dubious services in it. It would quickly run out of filthy lucre to pay its depraved staff of fifth columnists and third-rate fiction writers. Lacking any other motivation, these mendacious hophead "journalists" would drift away to work for Mother Jones or High Times, and the NYT would soon be consigned to the dustbin of history |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-02-23 09:47 |
| #5 "Personally, I was surprised by the volume of the reaction," When a newly hired member of management arrived to occupy his office he meets his predecessor on the way out. The man simply hands three envelopes, consecutively numbered one, two and three, to the new manager with the advice to open them only when the proverbial s**t hit the fan. The new manager slides the envelopes into his desk and gets on to business. Sure enough a couple months down the line, the fan is spinning. Slightly panicked, the manager recalls the envelopes and opens number one. It reads - Blame everything on me. So the manager heads out to his superiors and tries his chance. It works. It buys time. The manager is able to keep the 'boat afloat' for a while longer. However, several more months pass and, sure enough, the manure is in the air again. He quickly retrieves envelope number two. It reads - Reorganize. Without hesitation the new manager presents a plan to do just that and senior management is sated. Of course that only works for so long. And yes, a couple more months later the crisis point is reached yet again. This time the manager digs envelope number three out and opens its to read - Prepare Three Envelopes. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-02-23 09:17 |
| #4 Readership Stupid Times, Keller Hardest Hit... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-02-23 09:17 |
| #3 Pinch has trashed the brand. This is probably the worst case of brand trashing since ... I don't know, the Edsel? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-02-23 08:08 |
| #2 NYT's tortured defence of this article doesn't clean it up. The fish wrap still stinks. Into the garbage it goes. 'Enuff said. |
| Posted by: Tholush Squank4616 2008-02-23 08:01 |
| #1 That point, he said, was that McCain, "this man who prizes his honor above all things and who appreciates the importance of appearances, also has a history of being sometimes careless about the appearance of impropriety, about his reputation." Fine. Point made. Now Keller - why don't you go after the Obama-Rezko story with as much vigor as this one. Certainly there is much more substance to ongoing connections between Obama and his Syrian-american real estate buddy and his shady foreign friends. Waiting..... |
| Posted by: Harcourt Thravith9735 2008-02-23 07:55 |
