Wednesday, May 14, 2014

The New Yorker: Why Jill Abramson Was Fired

Baquet will be the first African-American to lead the Times.

Fellow-journalists and others scrambled to find out what had happened. Sulzberger had fired Abramson, and he did not try to hide that. In a speech to the newsroom on Wednesday afternoon, he said, “I chose to appoint a new leader of our newsroom (managing editor of the New York Times) because I believe that new leadership will improve some aspects …” Abramson chose not to attend the announcement, and not to pretend that she had volunteered to step down.

As with any such upheaval, there’s a history behind it. (read more)

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46 comments:

Chip Ahoy said...

Her religion.


Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who's there

Buh dare dare duh dare dare
Buh dare dare duh dare dare

Feeling unknown
And you're all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I'll make you a believer

Oddly, that song is not about religion. It is about a friend viewing another friend as confident, their own personal Jesus. I had a goil-friend like that once. Drove me nuts. And that accounts in great part for my disordered state to this day.

chickelit said...

I thought these things were always decided in conclave?

Her tenure did coincide with the longest uninterrupted lapse in White House scrutiny ever so there's that factor to watch for going forward.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I thought these things were always decided in conclave?

lol.

Amartel said...

Ah! A pay equality issue.
Dummy didn't realize that progressives don't practice what they preach and the Rules do not apply to them. Equality is for the little people who must all be equally little. Wonder what they'll pay the new guy?

edutcher said...

.$77, huh?

All these Lefties vote dry and drink wet.

Synova said...

"...politely had a lawyer make inquiries..."

Er...

chickelit said...

@Lem: Abramson famously wrote (and then deleted): In my house growing up, The Times substituted for religion. If The Times said it, it was the absolute truth.

Hence my papal comparison.

chickelit said...

I mean do we really need that level of lightweight religion in politics?

chickelit said...

In my house growing up, my dad brought home two newspapers: The "D" one and the "R" one. I once asked him why and he said it was because he wanted both sides of every story.

chickelit said...

re Drudge's "PREDICTION: Maureen Dowd jumps to Vanity Fair or Vogue..."

Why not to Newsweek with Tina Brown? Dowd started out at Time and did a great job there.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

TOP lightweight religion ;)

chickelit said...

@Lem: Did you see how's she's tearing into "Michael K" -- a septagenarian surgeon -- telling him that he's in denial about the human nervous system.

Chizputz.

chickelit said...

Since we can't have conversations there, we need to have them here.

chickelit said...

"Jill Abramson was forced out as ed of ny times because she had the guts to call out the WH for its lack of transparency . A crime at NYT"

Where's the support for that assertion?

Link please.

Rabel said...

"Where's the support for that assertion?"

Come on, Chick. Both things happened and that correlation/causation thing is just so 20th century.

But, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some truth to it.

chickelit said...

@Rabel: I found a supporting link myself. Thanks :)

Chip Ahoy said...

Journalists have nothing else to talk about today. Her picture is everywhere all at once. And in a surprise development Dr Seuss Foundation is suing for copyright infringement.

Chip Ahoy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Aridog said...

From the linked article...

...the management’s narrative that she was “pushy,” a characterization that, for many, has an inescapably gendered aspect.

Translation: Uppity Bitch!

... a spokeswoman for the Times, said that Jill Abramson’s total compensation as executive editor “was directly comparable to Bill Keller’s”—though it was not actually the same.


False, but accurate. The new media meme.

Chip Ahoy said...

Great link, chicken. That is interesting.

This mid-sentence switch in train of thought is what make interpreting for English speakers so frustrating:

This is the most secretive White House that I have ever been involved in covering, and that includes — I spent 22 years of my career in Washington and covered presidents from President Reagan on up through now, and I was Washington bureau chief of the Times during George W. Bush’s first term.

You can interpret that perfectly and still look like you missed, got lost, or just flat f'd up. It's embarrassing. I guess you can make a goofy face and say the word "switch" and point to the speaker to lay the goofy track-switcheroo onto the speaker.

Aridog said...

Oh, and for the record, like I care who is uber editor of the NYT bird cage liner.

You just can make funny stuff like this up! :-))

William said...

In the fullness of time, there will be more words written about this than the sinking of the Maine or the outing of Valerie Plame. Either that, or a strange, eerie silence will fall upon the most voluble people in America. I know the journalists covering the story are going to be hypocritical and wrong, but I'm not sure in exactly what way. This will be like the feminists writing (or not writing) about the Lewinsky scandal.

Aridog said...

er..."can't" ppbbbbffftt!

Rabel said...

Another plus is that a Harvard grad is being replaced by a non-degreed college drop-out.

Paddy O said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Since we can't have conversations there, we need to have them here.

I agree.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Where's the support for that assertion?

Link - Jill Abramson: 'This is the most secretive White House I have ever dealt with'

I remember thinking it was odd for a NYT managing editor so say something like that. She was going off the reservation.

Mitch H. said...

I think I heard somewhere yesterday evening that there might have been some sort of conflict over Abramson having sent a reporter to investigate the BBC's involvement in the Savile pedo-rape scandal, when the new CEO had previously been a long-time BBC bureaucrat-manager type.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

Wow, Michael K really struck a nerve on the Abramson thread at TOP.

Ann chowed down on a big bowl of Quaker Instant Bitch, and went all stompy foot.

I'd love to hear Michael's response, but who knows what lawn bitch lets through over there in the Althouse censorship fun zone.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

Muzzle Menopause.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

It took me a while to find y'all after Ann's anal aneurysm, so could somebody explain the etymology of TOP?

Thanks!

The Dude said...

The Other Place.

Aridog said...

We use "TOP" because Ann's pet Grass Toad said he'd step in any time we even "alluded" to TOP or him. He's tough guy, ya'know who is used to "danger" ... Hooah! Of course, he lied, as usual, because he stops by here to shit on threads regularly, "alluded to" or not.

We try to discourage him, but he's like a kid with severe ADHD.


Chip Ahoy said...

Abramson was so well chuffed she had the Times gothic "T" tattooed on her back.

Now that's just silly.

I eagerly await the episode of Bad Ink were Abramson enters and says, "Do something with this gothic T please. It is a continuous reminder of a painful episode in my life and a seriously bad judgement call."

Usually a business pays employees to advertise with a company tattoo, not the employee pay to have one. That right there shows she doesn't understand the value of her own skin.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

And in a surprise development Dr Seuss Foundation is suing for copyright infringement.

LOL.....That's what it IS. I couldn't quite put my finger the resemblance.

The Dude said...

It's that upper lip - either her surgeon performed an overly enthusiastic rhinoplasty or she needs to get that schnooz lengthened.

She's a mean one, that's for sure.

Chip S. said...

Dean Baquet's gonna do a great job managing the news, based on his track record:

At the Los Angeles Times, Baquet edited the story published a few days before the 2003 California recall election that initiated the Gropegate controversy, raising concerns about gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger's sexual misconduct. In 2006, ABC News reported that Baquet killed a story about NSA wiretaps of Americans.

Chip S. said...

@Sixty: Totally doable.

Icepick said...

In 2006, ABC News reported that Baquet killed a story about NSA wiretaps of Americans.

All the news that's fit to print ... is in the 'kill' file.

Leland said...

It is comments like Chip's Suess that brought me here and keep me here. Why put up with the abuse without the humor?

Lydia said...

Mitch H. said... I think I heard somewhere yesterday evening that there might have been some sort of conflict over Abramson having sent a reporter to investigate the BBC's involvement in the Savile pedo-rape scandal, when the new CEO had previously been a long-time BBC bureaucrat-manager type.

The story about that is here. But that incident is just one of several things discussed in the piece. It all sounds like a very rocky relationship between Abramson and just about everyone else at the Times from the get-go.

Sydney said...

Maureen Dowd belongs at Vanity Fair.

Titus said...

Maureen Dowd looks so fab in that pic.

I abs love her, not Frank Rich love, but still love her.

Frank Rich is writing for Veep now-total diva

Titus said...

gays love maureen

Titus said...

the other fish in that pic is ugly.

Chip S. said...

Maureen Dowd looks so fab in that pic.

Only b/c she's standing next to Jill Abramson.

MoDo should follow her wherever she goes.