Abe Rosenthal, Former Editor of the NYTimes: He Kept the Paper Straight

Imprimis -- Hillsdale College Publication ^ | 6/22/2017 | Michael Goodwin

[poconopundit]

Received the free bi-monthly Hillsdale College Imprimis and found an excellent story by Michael Goodwin, columnist for the New York Post, entitled: The 2016 Election and the Demise of Journalistic Standards. In the story, Goodwin, former NYT reporter himself, is pretty frank about how low the New York Times sank during the 2016 election: "If I haven't made it clear, let me do so now. The behavior of much of the media, but especially the New York Times was a disgrace. I don't believe it ever will recover the public trust it squandered." However, Goodwin harks back to a very different time when Abe Rosenthal was executive editor of the Times (1977-1988) when the paper actually followed journalistic principles.

Starting on Page 4 of the on-line version of the story is a Goodwin's portrait of Abe Rosenthal. The whole article is worth reading (no click bait), but here's short teaser:

• Here is a true story how Abe Rosenthal resolved a conflict of interest:
  
  
  A young woman was hired by the Times from one of the Philadelphia newspapers. But soon after she arrived in New York, a story broke in Philly that she had had a romantic affair with a political figure she had covered, and that she had accepted a fur coat and other expensive gifts from him. When he saw the story, Abe called the woman into his office and asked her if it were true. When she said yes, he told her to clean out her desk—that she was finished at the Times and would never work there again.
  
  
• As for reporters' opinions, Abe didn't want them in the news pages. And if you put them in, he took them out. They belonged in the opinion pages, where they were separately managed.
  
  
• He saw his job as steering the paper slight to the right. "That way," he said, "the paper will end up in the middle".
  
  
• ... his widow contacted me and said it wasn't a joke -- that, in fact, Abe's tombstone reads, "He kept the paper straight". She sent me a picture to prove it.

[BobL]

I remember the media back in the late 1970s, as Reagan was entering the scene. They were not friendly to Carter at all...not friendly to Reagan either, but that’s expected...but still not so unfriendly to the point of publishing blatant LIES about Reagan.

It was nothing like the way the entire media covered (and still covers) Trump, and how they covered for Hillary, particularly her sleaziness and lack of health.

[Thank You Rush]

I received it also but haven’t finished reading it yet - distractions keep getting in the way of what I WANT to do/read. Excellent so far!

[allendale]

Let’s see if this formula works. You hire a gaggle of left wing lowlifes, call them “journalists” and let them run your newspaper or network. You are shocked, utterly shocked to find that soon your institution is rightly perceived as a font of “fake news”. How surprising.

[poconopundit]

I agree, they have really stepped up their bias.

It’s that arrogance and preachiness of the Fake News press that is so annoying. They believe they are so much smarter and enlightened than we Deplorable people.

[princeofdarkness]

“A young woman was hired by the Times from one of the Philadelphia newspapers. But soon after she arrived in New York, a story broke in Philly that she had had a romantic affair with a political figure she had covered, and that she had accepted a fur coat and other expensive gifts from him. When he saw the story, Abe called the woman into his office and asked her if it were true. When she said yes, he told her to clean out her desk—that she was finished at the Times and would never work there again.”

Ha. If that ever happened at the Times today Rosenthal would have faced a lawsuit, job termination, and run out of town by the femi-nazis on a rail.

[LostPassword]

It’s still straight. Right down the middle between communism and socialism and keeping the fascists on both sides happy.

They claim they are unbiased now. But if the US were to become a communist or socialist state, many NYT “journalists” will claim have have played a major role in the revolution.

[poconopundit]

Even their masthead contains a lie:

[GOPJ]

“I don’t care if you have a romantic affair with an elephant on your personal time, but then you can’t cover the circus for the paper.” ( Abe Rosenthal )

Case closed. The conflict of interest policy was clear, absolute, and unforgettable.

Abe Rosenthal's out-and-out total integrity - hearkening back to a time when citizens respected the press - BECAUSE they were respectable...

[poconopundit]

Sad, but so true...

[Moonman62]

I remember the media back in the late 1970s, as Reagan was entering the scene. They were not friendly to Carter at all...not friendly to Reagan either,

...

One good thing about Carter was that he was a Washington outsider, and many in his party never cared for him. It’s too bad he had so many other poor qualities as a president.

[GOPJ]

“I don’t care if you have a romantic affair with an elephant on your personal time, but then you can’t cover the circus for the paper.” ( Abe Rosenthal )

Case closed. The conflict of interest policy was clear, absolute, and unforgettable.

Abe Rosenthal's out-and-out total integrity - hearkening back to a time when citizens respected the press - BECAUSE the press was respectable...

[KC Burke]

They make it seem like he was part of a long tradition, when, if anything he was a short aberration. In the thirties this fabrication fabricated for Stalin. In the 50s, for Castro. In the 60s for Johnson/McNamara killing machine.

The Rag of Record has been sopping up leftist drool for all of the last 120 years and I only limit it because I am not familiar with their content in the 19th century.

[wardaddy]

I’m 59 and this is the worst it’s ever been

Watergate last year was close

[poconopundit]

Abe Rosenthal's out-and-out total integrity - hearkening back to a time when citizens respected the press - BECAUSE they were respectable...

So true. Waiting for an ex-CNN editor to spill the beans, but I suspect they are more hard-core integrity-less.

[princeofdarkness]

The Times coverage of the Kitty Genovese murder case was not one of Rosenthal’s shining moments.

[jjotto]

They make it seem like he was part of a long tradition, when, if anything he was a short aberration.

Exactly right. Rosenthal's virtue is wildly overstated. It's true the NYT tried a little harder to make itself respectable when it was expected to make handsome profits, but it has always slanted Left. Cold War scrutiny kept them from going open Communist like they are now.

[miss marmelstein]

Never liked Rosenthal. He started the myth (now debunked) about the Kitty Genovese murder and fired a good friend of mine. Plus, he was such a bad writer, his nickname was Abe “I writing as bad as I can!” Rosenthal.

[Lake Living]

Agree whole heartedly!
Might want to check out the book, Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America’s Most Important Newspaper

[Piranha]

It was Rosenthal who ordered an investigation of the Times during the Holocaust, and published articles describing how the paper covered it up.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/6239