Sunday, December 12, 2004
Still not paying the Times tax
I'm not paying the Times tax because I'm not buying the newspaper, and I'm reading the online edition as little as possible (Krugman, of course, excepted). I just don't have time to play Kremlinologist with these guys anymore, or to wait for them to hit bottom and realize they aren't really a newspaper anymore, or to listen to Okrent explaining yet again why his readers are wrong, or why reporters should never be held accountable.
Poor old Times. The VWRC worked them, they bent over, and called that "balance." Now, too late, they're discovering that the VWRC has its own media outlets, and doesn't need them. And the people who ought still to be Times readers, who cared about it, who wanted it to succeed, who believe in a free press, won't be reading the Times either.
Of course, the Times doesn't want to be a newsgathering organization any more—to the minimal extent they still are. They want to be a lifestyle publication. That's why the new magazine they broke this year was on fashion. Of course, their editorial instincts are bad whatever they try their hand at; I mean, the book review has been a font of massive suckitude for decades, and it still sucks.
It's going to take me awhile for all the toxins to leave my body, but if I stay clean one day at a time....
Good luck to them.... And when is the Guardian going to start up that US edition, anyhow?
Poor old Times. The VWRC worked them, they bent over, and called that "balance." Now, too late, they're discovering that the VWRC has its own media outlets, and doesn't need them. And the people who ought still to be Times readers, who cared about it, who wanted it to succeed, who believe in a free press, won't be reading the Times either.
Of course, the Times doesn't want to be a newsgathering organization any more—to the minimal extent they still are. They want to be a lifestyle publication. That's why the new magazine they broke this year was on fashion. Of course, their editorial instincts are bad whatever they try their hand at; I mean, the book review has been a font of massive suckitude for decades, and it still sucks.
It's going to take me awhile for all the toxins to leave my body, but if I stay clean one day at a time....
Good luck to them.... And when is the Guardian going to start up that US edition, anyhow?
