NYT is Getting Good Again

To: Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times
From: A news junkie/former newspaper reporter
Re: Improvements

I have been pretty critical of The New York Times since I started writing this media analysis column.

In "Adapt or Be Left Behind", I criticized your newspaper for its inept handling of the Internet age, and cited The Washington Post as an example of a model you should follow.

And, as with many others, I was - and still am - disturbed by how badly your newspaper handled its Judith Miller coverage. When a newspaper repeatedly gets scooped on stories involving its own reporter, there is something very wrong.

For that, and other reasons, I regretfully agreed with PressThink author Jay Rosen that the Washington Post has replaced the New York Times as the nation's best newspaper.

But I want to give praise where credit is due and the Times has been doing a bang-up job lately, especially since I last wrote you, on Oct. 22, after you wrote your memo to staff about Miller.

For the last few days, the Times has had better overall coverage of world and national news, especially on the Valerie Plame case, than the Washington Post and other media.

Sure, it’s made some recent mistakes, including how it selectively quoted a soldier’s diary, as conservative blogger Michelle Malkin has noted. The New York Post even blasted the Times in an editorial on the issue.

And yes, I’d love for you to fire Miller since it is increasingly clear she was more of a propagandist than a reporter and, as your own memo makes clear, not being honest with her own bosses.

But now your newspaper is at the front of the pack at breaking new stories about Lewis Libby's indictment problems, how Karl Rove's days appear to be numbered, and related issues.

Article Author: Scott Butki

Scott Butki was a newspaper reporter for more than 10 years before making a career change into education... then into special education.

He reads at least 50 books a year and has about the same number of author interviews each year and, …

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