And keeping with the theme of New York blog-vixens: Karol of Alarming News alerts us to Daniel Okrent's last ombudsman column for the New York Times. Okrent takes the opportunity to get a lot off his chest, including a slam at Paul Krugman (quoted at Karol's) and this gem:

"5. Reader Steven L. Carter of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., asks, If "Tucker Carlson is identified as a conservative" in The Times, then why is "Bill Moyers just, well, plain old Bill Moyers"? Good question."

You tell 'em, Steve. "Bala Cynwyd" is proud of you.

Okrent's job goes to a guy named Barney who just retired from the Wall Street Journal's news desk recently. That shouldn't necessarily get anyone's hopes up that he's somehow ideologically conservative; after all, the WSJ editorial page's liberal columnist Al Hunt was recruited from the news side of their operation. Anyway, ideology shouldn't really matter for this job, although I hope he will be receptive to conservative criticism of the Times' relentless cheerleading for libertinism, socialism, and cosmopolitan internationalism.

Don't know what to say about Okrent's legacy. I don't see where he forced any major reform at the paper, but there's not too much any single person could have done. One of the things he regrets, according to his final column, is admitting that "of course" the Times is a liberal paper. Well, I thought that was a welcome burst of candor, though Okrent rues handing ideological critics of the Times that particular club.

But you're supposed to tell the truth, and let the chips fall where they may. If people criticize the paper, at least it will be for being honest and liberal instead of being liberal and lying about it.

Posted by: seedubya at 04:08 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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