“Mr. Blair’s Times supervisors and Maryland professors emphasize that he earned an internship at The Times because of glowing recommendations and a remarkable work history, not because he is black. The Times offered him a slot in an internship program that was then being used in large part to help the paper diversify its newsroom.” – from today’s New York Times. So what was it? Diversity or ability? And if his professors were so impressed, why didn’t Blair manage to graduate? Either the Times editors are completely incompetent at judging journalistic skills; or they judge reporters on the basis of their race. Neither conclusion is particularly edifying, is it? Coming Monday: “flood-the-zone” coverage of the Raines-induced meltdown at the New York Times.
EMAIL OF THE DAY: “As a denizen of much-denigrated Fleet Street – and the tabloid end, too – I have only three initial things to say about this sorry episode: Ha! Ha! Ha! There’s got to be a great movie script in here. But it would never be made because Hollywood suffers from the same urge to mouth racial platitudes as the NYT does in its pages and hiring policies. It could never happen here in London. Why? Because other, scooped reporters who had been beaten on stories by what we call a “make-up merchant” would have grassed him up to organs like Private Eye. The whole thing has enabled us all to laugh heartily at the haughty Olympians of the NYT. And for that we should be very, very grateful.” – from a gloating British hack.
SUDDENLY: Being barred from writing for the New York Times by Howell Raines feels like a huge compliment.
The Dish 