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Times Watch for
March 15, 2004
The
Times Tackles Blair's Book
The Times deals with Jayson Blair's memoir, "Burning Down My Masters' House--My Life at the New York Times," by outsourcing the review to Jack Shafer, the editor-at-large for Slate with a reputation for tough-but-fair media criticism. It turns out to be a smart move by the Times. While Shafer's Sunday book review briefly offers some pro forma criticism of the Times (though mostly couched in ironic devil's advocacy), Shafer's principal focus is on the individual sins of Jayson Blair.
His review begins: "Should you believe anything written by a serial liar? This question will occur to many readers of Jayson Blair's memoir, 'Burning Down My Masters' House,' which chronicles his four-year run as a reporter at The New York Times."
He hits Blair for not owning up to his own blame: "But contrition is a dish served not at all in this memoir. From the heights of confession, Blair rappels down Mount Excuse, blaming everybody but himself for his offenses."
Shafer notes Blair's problems with accuracy didn't start at the Times: "Now, Times editors may have tortured the young Blair. The pressures of New York City life may have driven him mad. And The Times may be the shadiest publication this side of Weekly World News. But whatever demons--or neurotransmitters--caused Blair to lie, filch and scheme, he didn't acquire them at The Times. It appears that Blair has always been a thief, something 'Burning Down My Masters' House' neglects to mention. After The Times uncovered Blair's deceptions, The Boston Globe reviewed his work there and found numerous examples of journalistic perfidy."
Shafer then raises some criticisms made of the Times regarding the Blair imbroglio, but only to say they're irrelevant. His review concludes: "Whether Blair got away with it because he was a clever cheat, or because The Times patronizes African-American employees, or because Gerald Boyd and Howell Raines were guilty black and white liberals, or because the newspaper became too invested in Blair's recovery from drugs and alcohol, is beyond the scope of this review. The Times is a flawed, human institution that deserves every brick tossed at it except this one. Jayson Blair is a confessed con man, and 'Burning Down My Masters' House' is just another installment in his ongoing con."
For Shafer's review of Blair's book in full, click here.
Jayson Blair | Books | Howell Raines | Jack Shafer
In the wake of the surprising defeat of Spain's conservative, Bush-allied party in Sunday's elections, Monday's front-page "news analysis" from David Sanger carries this blunt headline: "Blow to Bush: Ally Rejected--Voters Clearly Reiterate Opposition to Iraq War." The turnaround in the election is widely thought to be the result of last week's terror attacks in Madrid and the resulting anger at Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria
Aznar.
Sanger, who rarely misses a chance to portray Bush's unpopularity abroad, writes up the Spanish election results as a clear rebuke to Bush: "The ouster of the center-right party in Spain, only days after a terrorist bombing that may be linked to Al Qaeda, is the first electoral rebuke of one of President Bush's most steadfast allies in the Iraq war .The Bush administration must now fight the perception, accurate or not, that acts of terror against America's allies can sway nations into rethinking the wisdom of standing too closely with Mr. Bush."
For the rest of Sanger on the Spanish election, click here.
Iraq War | David Sanger | Spain | Terrorism
Reign Fall in Spain Means Stormy Weather for Bush
Elaine Sciolino (who filed a
hostile profile of Spain's pro-Bush prime minister just before the terror attack) also fingers Bush for blame for the Spanish ruling party's loss in Sunday's election. Sciolino sees the results as a problem for Allied forces in Iraq: "The Socialist victory in Spain was seen as a repudiation of Mr. Aznar, whose party has been in office for eight years, and his close bonds with President Bush. It also posed a new problem for the American-led occupation force in Iraq, where Spain has 1,300 troops, because the Socialists have said they will withdraw them in the absence of a clear United Nations mandate."
(Sanger, by contrast, sees the Spanish force as mostly symbolic, writing: "In any case, Spain's contribution in Iraq is symbolic, less than 1 percent of the forces on the ground.")
Sciolino continues: "Rage at the government overshadowed Election Day. Protesters shouted 'Liar!' and 'Get our troops out of Iraq!' at the Popular Party candidate Mariano Rajoy, the 48-year-old lawyer who had been expected to be Mr. Aznar's successor, as he voted at a Madrid polling station."
She concludes: "Voters had the choice of 28 party lists, including mainstream parties like the Popular and Socialist parties and tiny ones like the leftist Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain and the rightist Falange, which opposes immigration and supports the memory of the late dictator Franco."
An aside: While hooking the right to support of Franco, Sciolino could have noted in the interest of ideological balance the pro-Soviet Union extremism of the Communist party she references: Its home page proudly flies the old Soviet hammer-and-sickle flag and features a portrait-logo of the trio of Marx, Engels and the tyrant Lenin.
For the rest of Sciolino's piece from Madrid, click here.
Elaine Sciolino | Spain | Terrorism
E-mail TimesWatch Director, Clay Waters, with TimesWatch feedback at cwaters@mediaresearch.org