News of the resignations of Howell Raines, the Executive Editor of The New York Times, and Gerald Boyd, the paper’s Managing Editor, has been greeted with widespread jubilation. I can’t say that I am surprised--or sorry. I am pretty jubilant about it myself. The reign of Raines has pushed the paper even further into the never-never land of political correctness and left-wing demagoguery. In this, Raines was assiduously aided by Gerald Boyd, the black apparatchik who policed the paper’s stories to be sure they toed the PC-line on race. It all contributed both to the dumbing down and to the ideological hardening of the Times--an unpleasant spectacle, especially when accompanied by the paper’s notorious arrogance.
It was only to be expected, then, that a large dollop of Schadenfreude was intermixed with anger when the story of Jayson Blair, the young black reporter who fabricated the news when he wasn’t busy plagiarizing the work of others, hit daylight. The Times tried mightily to contain the flood of criticism that l’affaire Blair let loose. But ever more craven and public apologies did nothing to stem the tide. The day the story broke, the Times attempted to preempt criticism by publishing an extraordinary 14,000-word confession. In the course of that curious document, the Times’s publisher, young Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger, Jr., is quoted saying: "Let’s not begin to demonize our executives, either the desk editors or the executive editor or, dare I say, the publisher." Heaven forfend!
Well, that was then. As the onslaught of criticism against the Times refused to abate, however, Pinch clearly decided to alter his playbook. Maybe, in order to steer clear of the publisher, it would be necessary to demonize--or at least sack--a desk editor, even the Executive Editor, after all. In a memo to the troops, Pinch commiserated that it was a "painful time for all of us." For some, though, more than others. When the waters got choppy, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., has shown himself willing to throw over his two most trusted lieutenants, the two people who did more than anyone to stamp the Times with the adolescent leftism that Sulzberger glories in. When the Times reports on corporate scandals, it goes for the jugular and it goes to the top. When scandal breaks out at home, however, it’s "a painful time for all of us" and goodbye to you dear friends.
Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. may have bought himself a brief reprieve by jettisoning some of the men who carried out his policies. But the Times cannot hope to regain credibility while Sulzberger remains in charge of the paper upon which he brought such shame.
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