About book Gray Lady Down: What The Decline And Fall Of The New York Times Means For America (2010)
There is a reasonable case to be made that the New York Times has been doing sloppy journalism, probably because its current publisher is a man of mediocre talents who would never have gotten the job if his last name wasn't Sulzberger. And I don't think anyone would argue that the paper leans left.That said, William McGowan is anything but reasonable. He comes off as a strident and vicious critic obsessed with beating back the imminent threats of Islamism, Communism, and 60's counterculture. (I mean, really. The SIXTIES?) In McGowan's world, the NYT's corruption is self-evident; it doesn't cover the stories he thinks it should cover, and it quotes people who -- horrors! -- have different viewpoints than he does.Unlike James O'Shea, who told the story of the Tribune through extensive interviews and his own eyewitness account of events, McGowan tries to make his case by quoting the paper a lot. He seems to have had little contact with anyone working at the paper, and no inside information on its processes and policies. He also has no interest in discussing how changes in the newspaper market have affected the Times and the stories it publishes -- after all, if the paper is publishing fluffy stories in a desperate bid for circulation, that kind of takes away from the whole Evil Left Wing Agenda thing.Again, there's a argument to be made here. With proper research and good sources, the Jayson Blair story alone should be enough to get a reader to ask, "What the hell is going on at the New York Times?" But McGowan's journalism doesn't seem to be any more rigorous than that of the journalists he inveighs against.
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