Today the Public Editor of the Times does what he does best, cover for the Times, if only half heartedly. This time for it’s choice of Bill Kristol as a columnist. Subtitle on the RSS Feed: Is hiring William Kristol the worst idea ever? I can think of many worse.
So could I. The overriding point is that there are probably an infinite number of people who could do a better job.
But I write again not to protest this stupid move, but to protest the following:
Of the nearly 700 messages I have received since Kristol’s selection was announced — more than half of them before he ever wrote a word for The Times — exactly one praised the choice.
Rosenthal’s mail has been particularly rough. “That rotten, traiterous [sic] piece of filth should be hung by the ankles from a lamp post and beaten by the mob rather than gaining a pulpit at ANY self-respecting news organization,” said one message. “You should be ashamed. Apparently you are only out for money and therefore an equally traiterous [sic] whore deserving the same treatment.”
This has become standard operating procedure on the part of the media when it is attacked. Hoyt says he received 700 messages; Rosenthal obviously received other messages, so let us assume there were at least 1,000. Exactly one is reproduced, from someone so illiterate he or she could not spell “traitorous”, or even run it through a spell-checker. Hoyt implies, but does not state, that this message was representative, but that seems unlikely. Again, we have the tendency to cherry pick the worst in order to tarnish everyone. For if the message is not representative, why reproduce it?
To add to his sins, Hoyt fails to truly engage with the criticism I have heard the most. No, it’s not that Kristol suggested prosecuting the New York Times, though that is mentioned. It’s not even that he was wrong about the Iraq war. It’s that he is wrong about everything. Full time, all the time. Perhaps Tom Tomorrow can help:
Post a Comment