{"id":72466,"date":"2022-03-23T03:00:03","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T07:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=72466"},"modified":"2022-03-22T11:18:24","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T15:18:24","slug":"the-new-york-times-and-the-worlds-dullest-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2022\/03\/23\/the-new-york-times-and-the-worlds-dullest-editorial\/","title":{"rendered":"The New York Times<\/em> and the “world’s dullest editorial”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt Taibbi<\/a> explains why a milquetoast New York Times<\/em> editorial got such immense blowback from other legacy media outlets:<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/em> ran a tepid house editorial in favor of free speech last week. A sober reaction: <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One might think running botched WMD reports that got us into the Iraq war or getting a Pulitzer for lauding Stalin’s liquidation of five million kulaks<\/em> might have constituted worse days \u2014 who knew? Pundits, academics, and politicians across the cultural mainstream seemed to agree with Watson, plunging into a days-long freakout over a meh editorial that shows little sign of abating.<\/p>\n

“Appalling,” barked J-school professor Jeff Jarvis. “By the time the Times finally realizes what side it’s on, it may be too late,” screeched Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em> columnist Will Bunch. “The board should retract and resign,” said journalist and former Planet Money<\/em> of NPR fame founder Adam Davidson. “Toxic, brain-deadening bothsidesism,” railed Dan Froomkin of Press Watch<\/em>, who went on to demand a retraction and a “mass resignation”. The aforementioned Watson agreed, saying “the NYT<\/em> should retract this insanity, and replace the entire editorial board.” Not terribly relevant, but amusing still, was the reaction of actor George Takei, who said, “It’s like Bill Maher is now on the New York Times<\/em> Editorial board.”<\/p>\n

The main objection of most of the pilers-on involved the lede of the Times<\/em> piece, which really was a maladroit piece of writing:<\/p>\n