Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

The willow is too close to the house.

Let there be snark.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

You are here: Home / Politics / Media / FTFNYTimes Open Thread: New Editor Unveiled — Much ‘Inside’, Very ‘Man’

FTFNYTimes Open Thread: New Editor Unveiled — Much ‘Inside’, Very ‘Man’

by | 68 Comments

This post is in: ,

Shawn McCreesh does his best to make this very long beat-sweetener exciting, but it had me nodding off at every third paragraph:

Abe Rosenthal, the totemic New York Times editor who published the Pentagon Papers, used to say that there was one path to the executive editor’s office — over the dead, burned, and maimed bodies of the ten other people who wanted the job. So I turned to Joseph Kahn, the new top dog at the Times, and asked whom he incinerated to get here.

“I didn’t kill anybody,” he said, suppressing a sly smile. It was late last Friday afternoon — just days before it would be announced that he had ascended to journalism’s Iron Throne — and we were sitting in a conference room high above the empty newsroom. “The truth is that we’re in a bit of a different era, and some of the transitions in the past admittedly have been rocky, and there have been more abrupt changes in leadership. I think we’re going to have a really smooth change in leadership.”…

After Abramson, Dean Baquet took over in 2014 and became one of the most popular executive editors in the paper’s modern history. Kahn is no prom king, but nobody is much surprised that the paper’s proprietors picked him. He is the ultimate inside man, so sturdy, disciplined, and reverential to the mission of the Times that the very notion of him self-destructing seems improbable.

Kahn had led me into the elevator and down the hallway lined with photographs of the paper’s Pulitzer Prize winners and into this room adorned with black-and-white pictures of the old printing press. The place was desolate, but the Times has never been bigger. It can hardly even be called a newspaper anymore. The company has some 5,000 full-time employees, and it produces documentaries and podcasts, newsletters and cooking apps. It bought the podcasting company Serial, the sports site The Athletic, and a daily chunk of your procrastination time since it got ahold of Wordle.

“It’s just a big responsibility,” said Kahn, 57, looking trim in a blue polo shirt, gray cardigan, and jeans. “I’ve been Dean’s partner for five years now, and I’ve seen the way that he navigates the challenge of editing the Times when we’re under as much, or more, scrutiny than we ever have been in history.”…

My inner peasant is tempted to speculate on the horrors due to emerge from Kahn’s closets: Hentai-anime-level sexual perversion? Murder victims rotting in the crawl space of his ‘expensively modernist’ second home upstate? Most unforgivable, peculation from the Rosenthal piggy bank?…

Reader Interactions

68Comments

  2. 2.

    Mike in NC

    Thanks to Vladimir Putin, James Comey, and the New York Times we got four years of Donald Trump in the White House.

  3. 3.

    Another Scott

    In other news, …

    Home Secretary Priti Patel will decide whether to approve UK court order to extradite WikiLeaks founder.

    AlJazeera

    Uncle Sam can be quite persistent…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  6. 6.

    MomSense

    I shared this link at the end of the now dead thread below. Please indulge me spamming this content. I think it’s really important. This is an interview with the messaging/electoral guru Rachel Bitecofer. She shared some really tough news about the November elections for Democrats UNLESS we act now.
    For everyone who loves to complain about Democratic messaging, this is for you. A realistic critique AND what to do about it.
    https://www.bobcesca.com/the-bob-cesca-interview-rachel-bitecofer-on-the-midterms-4-20-22/

  7. 7.

    Ruckus ??

    @Mike in NC:

    And the resultant lowering of standards of so many things. Humanity. Reality. Democracy. Judiciary. Humanity. (Yes I put that in there twice, sue me.) I’m sure I’ve left things out.

  9. 9.

    Another Scott

    became one of the most popular executive editors in the paper’s modern history

    Isn’t that some sort of category error?

    Popular with the Sulzbergers, that’s what matters??

    Sheesh.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  10. 10.

    Ruckus ??

    @Another Scott:

    Your link stated that he’s looking towards 175 yrs if he gets the full sentence. Also stated that the US stated he will likely get far less. I’m thinking that 75 yrs is far less and his 50 and 75 makes that reasonably substantial.

  11. 11.

    Ruckus ??

    @Another Scott:

    Popular with the Sulzbergers, that’s what matters??

    They sign the paychecks of the people who sign the paychecks of course that’s who matters……..

  12. 12.

    Martin

    If the NYT had any genuine interest in reform, they’d have made an offer to DougJ who has their number to a frightening degree.

  14. 14.

    Another Scott

    @Ruckus ??: IANAL, but my recollection is that many/most of the famous recent-ish espionage cases effectively had 30 year sentences.  E.g. Pollard’s life sentence.

    But I see that is because federal parole existed when he was convicted, and parole was usually granted after 30 years were served.  Federal parole was abolished in 1987, so Assange might be in the federal pokey quite a while (assuming he’s convicted)…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  15. 15.

    ian

    @Martin:

    I think my favorite tweets of his are when he doesn’t have to type anything, just retweets a NYT story verbatim.  I miss him here though

  16. 16.

    Old Man Shadow

    “Hmm… I could write the objective truth, but that would require more hours, developing credible sources, fact checking what I’m told, and generally pissing people off… or I could say Objectivity is the midpoint between whatever Republicans and Democrats say, knock off early for drinks, and call it a day. Both options pay the same…”

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    I didn’t read enough of the nymag piece to see this photo.

    At The Paper Of Record, Executive Editor Vows Not To Use A Chair Until Every American Child Has Three (3) Chairs pic.twitter.com/l2KzHM9iu0

    — LeavePlutoAloneHat (@Popehat) April 20, 2022

    Flabbergasting.

    I mean, really??

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  18. 18.

    Kay

    Steven Hotze, the conservative activist who funded a private investigation into voter fraud that ended with the investigator pointing a gun at an innocent air conditioning repairman, has been indicted for his role in the episode.
    A Harris County grand jury indicted Hotze on charges of unlawful restraint and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to his attorney, Gary Polland.

    Hotze is a Fox News cable tv doctor who has to be at least 70 years old. This is what they did:

    Before 6 a.m. on Oct. 19, 2020, Aguirre allegedly slammed his black SUV into the back of the repairman’s truck and drew a pistol. He ordered the repairman to the ground and put a knee on his back, prosecutors have said.
    Aguirre thought the repairman had hundreds of thousands of ballots in his truck. Instead, there were only air conditioning parts and tools, prosecutors said. Aguirre later told police he had followed the repairman for four days.

    What’s funny about conservatives is HOW OLD the criminals are. I don’t know if people know this but criminals are generally young, so much so that judges mention it if there’s an older criminal who comes thru a county court. The criminals on the Right are elderly and they still don’t know any better.

  20. 20.

    Calouste

    @Kay:

    The criminals on the Right are elderly and they still don’t know any better have been getting away with it their whole lives.

    I think that might be a more accurate description.

  21. 21.

    Geminid

    @MomSense: Rachel Bitecofer isn’t all gloom. When someone else posted about billboards in Wisconsin and Florida that told drivers about Rick Scott’s stupid 11-point plan and stated in large bold letters “REPUBLICANS WANT TO RAISE YOUR TAXES,” Bitecofer reposted it with the comment, “Sweet baby Jesus!”

  25. 25.

    Cephalus Max

    Wait, what? The NYTimes appointed a new executive editor (overdue) and THIS is the guy they chose?

    Wow, these guys are nuts. And by guys, I mean guys.

    I’m all for Margaret Sullivan. (And if not her, maybe Froomkin.)

    I suspect DougJ is still enjoying his day job too much to consider this. ;)

  26. 26.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Colbert was incredulous at the ruling. From the Guardian, this bothered him the most:

    In a 59-page ruling, Mizelle argued that the CDC exceeded their mandate in requiring masks on planes and public transit, and that their power was limited to cleaning property, not requiring people to take proper hygienic steps. “Yes you cannot force people to follow basic hygiene,” Colbert deadpanned. “You can only make them clean property, explains the new bathroom sign: ‘Before returning to work, employees must wash this sign.’”

    Mizelle also argued that masks were a futile public health measure because “wearing a mask cleans nothing. At most, it traps virus droplets.”

    “That’s the mask’s job, you dummy!” Colbert exclaimed. “So my droplets don’t get on you! That’s like saying, ‘This diaper is useless, every time I put one on my baby it fills up with poop.”

  28. 28.

    Peale

    @Kay: This is a lawyer thing, but shouldn’t this kind of petty crime not take 18 moths to charge someone with? Like the political motivation here seems particularly irrelevant since there was property damage and a weapon.  I’m pretty sure if I rammed a car on purpose and pointed a gun at someone, I would plea bargaining for my life right now.

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    When the story is over before you see the first tweet…. anyone know what happened? From “probable threat” to “no bigs” in 15 minutes? better to err on the side of caution I suppose (posting the new one first to minimize impact)

    Samantha-Jo Roth @SamanthaJoRoth 5m

     Latest from USCP: “The aircraft no longer poses a threat to the Capitol Complex and the USCP is now preparing buildings for reentry. Staff and visitors should remain at their Rally Point/Assembly Area.”

    Samantha-Jo Roth @SamanthaJoRoth 22m

    JUST IN US Capitol Police is tracking an aircraft that poses a probable threat to the Capitol Complex. Everyone has been told to evacuate.

    I’m not seeing much beyond tweets, but I wonder if “aircraft” means “drone”? nobody seems to be saying ” plane”

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Fercrissake

    Garrett Haake @GarrettHaake 12m

    DC Police now telling @NBCNews these were the @ArmyGK parachute team jumping into @Nationals park. Seems they might not have told Capitol Police they’d be in the airspace. One officer here told me she saw the small plane appearing to circle before the parachuters jumped

  31. 31.

    Ishiyama

    @Peale: The problem is that Hotze paid the guy who did the actual assault and he will claim that he never authorized the use of violence.

  33. 33.

    Ruckus ??

    @Kay:

    It’s hard to know better when you only listen to the cult you belong to…. especially if you’ve only been listening to them for decades.

  34. 34.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Baquet has been dogshit as the Vichy Times executive editor, and I don’t expect Kahn here to be any better. The Sulzbergers, of course, need to be all frog marched on to a rocket ship to Triton and disposed of that way.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    Aguirre, who is the “disgraced” (guffaw) police officer they hired to go attack random repair people, has already been indicted as the main perp. The rich old man paid Aguirre. They paid Aguirre 221,000 dollars and now look at the mess they’re in.

  39. 39.

    kindness

    Yea, uh, lost me at ‘Dean Baquet took over in 2014 and became one of the most popular executive editors in the paper’s modern history’.

  40. 40.

    Harrym

    You would have thought they’d include something from a trans woman, to at least give an appearance of diversity!

  41. 41.

    schrodingers_cat

    In sheer vileness no American journalist can match the Godi media courtier press. { Godi == embrace, lap)

    Godi rhymes with Modi, the d is soft

    Case in point, Navika Kumar cackling in glee after the local govt in Delhi bulldozed some shops (mostly Muslims were affected, but some Hindu shops were affected as well) defying a court order.

  48. 48.

    Roger Moore

    @Peale: ​
     
    This isn’t about the guy who rammed the truck and held the driver at gunpoint being charged. They’re now charging the guy who funded and directed the operation. Charging him with a violet felony that he wasn’t even present for requires a bit more leg work than charging the gunman.

  50. 50.

    KrackenJack

    @Baud: Even if it is going to expire in a few weeks, not challenging it makes it the law of the land when the next wave or pandemic or public health emergency arises.

  54. 54.

    Another Scott

    Interesting (and long) review of Breyer’s book by Leah Litman at the Michigan Law Review:

    A taste:

    So I find myself begging, pleading with people who have any platform to consider what view they project about the state of our constitutional democracy. It’s not about you, or your career, or what you feel comfortable or natural doing, or what will ingratiate you to the powers that be. It is about the fate of our country.

    I expect, and have accepted, that some people just don’t care. That there are more than enough academics, practitioners, or public figures whose career goals or personal amusement or cultivated persona or self-identity matter more to them than the future of our multiracial democracy. (I like debating procedure as much as anyone, but come on.) I don’t foresee everyone going to the mat for our democracy. But I guess I hold out hope that they would at least try to do our democracy no harm.

    I was disappointed when it seemed as though Justice Breyer, of all people, would fail to clear that low bar. I clerked on the Supreme Court for Justice Kennedy, whose chambers were next door to Justice Breyer’s. For that and other reasons, I ended up seeing a lot of Justice Breyer during my clerkship. And I came to admire Justice Breyer as someone who cared about other people, and who thought pragmatically about how to fulfill the Constitution’s promise that our government could be a constitutional democracy that works, and works for everyone.

    While norms of Supreme Court confidentiality make it difficult to share much of what led me to hold Justice Breyer in high regard after that year, I will try to convey what I can.[157] [My focus here on personal anecdotes does not imply that they are more important than substantive decisions. But it’s easier to share the former without breaching confidentiality.] I started my clerkship at the Court having finished a court of appeals clerkship that had piqued my interest in becoming a government lawyer who focused on appellate law, or maybe an academic who researched and wrote about the law. I ended my clerkship at the Court questioning whether I should take the bar exam and feeling like I did not want to exist within 200 miles of the appellate world. At the time, I wasn’t sure that academia was for me; I wasn’t sure there was room for me in the legal profession. That should give you some sense of the 2011–2012 year at One First Street.

    Imagine being a clerk to a SCOTUS justice and in then end questioning whether one wanted to actually be a lawyer!

    It’s a good read.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  55. 55.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Geminid: I stand corrected she is talking about 2022.

    Almost every month she makes the prediction that Ds will lose both chambers unless we do as she says which mostly means hiring her and using Republican like tactics.

    The tactics that works on Republican voters are not going to work for Democratic voters.

  56. 56.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    It is good. The lawyers who really believed it are the saddest. I mean that sincerely- I think it’s very difficult for them to watch what they see as really ignorant, stubborn refusal to see the threat.

    So I find myself begging

  60. 60.

    different-church-lady

    I’m kinda thinking a James Bond villain might have been the wrong choice, but I’m gonna keep an open mind…

  61. 61.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom 14m
    Honestly, sometimes you’d think the guy is a GOP mole

    CNN Politics @CNNPolitics · 2h
    Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign manager tells supporters he has “not ruled out” a presidential run in 2024

  62. 62.

    Another Scott

    @Honus: She’s been right about some things, and wrong about some things.

    DailyPress (from 2000):

    As recently as last week, Bitecofer appeared on a Salon podcast arguing that former vice president and current presidential candidate Joe Biden is a liability for Democrats.

    Politics is chaotic. Pundits learn to be circumspect if they want to last in the business.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  63. 63.

    Geminid

    @schrodingers_cat: Semrau clearly was on the right side of that particular argument. But I don’t see Bitecofer as any better in this area of political analysis than your average Balloon Juice commenter. Her strengths are election analysis, and she may turn out to be a good campaign communications creator. Bitecofer will get her chances this cycle and people will be able to judge by results.

  66. 66.

    Anne Laurie

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign manager tells supporters he has “not ruled out” a presidential run in 2024

    Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign manager had a lot more fun during the 2020 primaries than they do as just another Senatorial staff assistant, is how I read that breathless promo.

    The CNN article also includes the caveat ‘if Biden doesn’t run again‘, and The Hill just had a BREAKING!!!! tweet that (omg!) Biden assured Obama that he absolutely intends to run in 2024, so:  asked and answered, Sanders campaign manager!

  67. 67.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Mike in NC: ​

    Thanks to Vladimir Putin, James Comey, and the New York Times we got four years of Donald Trump in the White House.

    Indeed. When Baquet says “…to navigate how, exactly, the paper of record should cover the erosion of American democracy while not unintentionally furthering it…” all I can think of is that disastrous NYT front page several days before the 2016 election, where the entire front page above the fold was about the latest twist in the Butter Emails saga.

    We need a modern-day equivalent of St. Helena where we could exile some of these people.

  68. 68.

    lowtechcyclist

    @schrodingers_cat: I think it’s more that Bitecofer’s gotten high on her own supply to the extent that it’s turned into a savior complex, where she’s the only person who sees what must be done to (in this case) win the midterms.

    Kinda like an update of the old “I’m the only sane one, it’s everyone else that’s crazy” trope.

    There were a number of things she saw clearly before the rest of the crowd got there, so I was a big fan of hers four or five years back. But I stopped reading her well over a year ago because the savior complex was getting a bit too much.

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