Ken Berwitz
Maybe I\’m old fashioned. But I always thought that the news section was supposed to be for neutral news stories, and the editorial and op-ed pages was supposed to be where opinions were expressed.
Well, evidently I was mistaken. Either that or the New York Times is no longer a newspaper.
Here is the headline, and first paragraph, of Jennifer Steinhauer\’s first page lead story in this morning\’s edition.
BOEHNER TO QUIT,UNDONE BY STRIFEWITH RIGHT WINGWASHINGTON – SpeakerJohn A. Boehner, an Ohio bar-keeper\’s son who rode a conserv-ative wave to one of the highestpositions in government, said Fri-day he would relinquish his gaveland resign from Congress, un-done by the very Republicanswho swept him into power.
Does that seem like a neutral headline and first paragraph to you?
Well, it would be if John Boehner actually said he was undone by strife with the right wing.
But he didn\’t. He said no such thing.
This means the New York Times – which, over the past several months, has been on an unseemly, sometimes pathological, crusade to attack all things Republican (this editorial, written about the last debate, is a case in point)- made a decision to substitute its reliably anti-Republican, leftward opinion for neutral news coverage.
Do I begrudge The Times its opinion about Boehner and why he is leaving? Of course not.
But I do begrudge The Times its blatant use of opinion to color what is supposed to be a straight news story. It does not get more unprofessional, more unjournalistic, than that.
Anyone recall when the New York Times behaved like a real newspaper?
The memory grows dimmer and dimmer.
