corrente

Honestly, was there ever a more self-satisfied, complacent news organization newspaper paper than the New York Times? And was there ever anyone more self-satisfied and complacent about being self-satisfied and complacent than Danny "Boy" Okrent, the [cough] Public Editor?

Here's Okrent's very first post from his new redoubt on the Op-Ed page:

Not every good story requires more than 500 interviews, conducted over 15 months, like reporter Walt Bogdanich's unimpeachable series on safety at railroad crossings that won a Pulitzer last week. But a component of all good reporting is an unrelenting thoroughness even under time constraints, and an element of all good management is a willingness to wait another day when time can't be stretched.
(via Times)

Two words: "Judy Miller."

Three, actually: "Judy 'Kneepads' Miller."

Nt to take anything away from Bogdanich, but:

"500 interviews" over "15 months," an "unimpeachable" series... Wouldn't it have been better—both for the country, and for the increasingly moribund Times itself—if some fraction of the newsgathering resources, "thoroughness," and "good management" had been devoted to weapons of mass destruction instead of (God help me) railroad crossings?

Stop it! You're making my head explode!