For Journalism, a Sobering Day

Newsrooms being the often-cynical places they are, there's been
a good deal of quiet smirking through the past few weeks as journalists have
watched the growing turmoil at The New York Times. The Times' perceived arrogance
had created a substantial pack of journalistic wolves, ready to pounce if the
great paper ever stumbled.

Now, the mighty have fallen. Howell Raines and Gerald M. Boyd, distinguished
journalists both, have lost their jobs that sit at the very top of the journalistic
world.

But any journalist out there who is smirking at this moment over the tragedy
of The Times ought to be ashamed. The truth is that what has happened at The
Times is a tragedy not only for an amazing journalistic institution, but for
the Times writers and editors who have been stained by the ongoing revelations
in their newsroom, and for the profession as a whole, now certainly viewed even
more skeptically by a public that seems happy at any moment to witness the fall
of the powerful.

There will be those who say that Howell Raines got what he deserved, that autocratic
leadership has no role in today's newsroom, that arrogance has its own special
rewards, one of them being rejection by those who believe that reflective, inclusive,
collegial leadership is a key to organizational success.

The problem with that, of course, is that none of us is perfect: One of us
is arrogant, the next aloof, the next weak in decision-making, the next perhaps
too-little skilled in the basics of the craft. Raines has been crucified for
his shortcomings; most of us, no matter how flawed, are spared this kind of
public rebuke.

Then there is Gerald Boyd, who worked his way up through the Times newsroom


to become one of the most prominent and powerful editors in the world. The seeming
management failures in the Times newsroom aside, one must feel compassion for
this good man who labored long and well and now must be heartbroken at his sudden
downfall.

So, it is not a day for smirking. It is, rather, a day for reflecting on the
special nature of journalism in a democracy, of wondering how and when the best
of our newspapers will fully regain its credibility, of considering how all
that has happened at The New York Times in the past few weeks may affect the
way journalists are viewed by our citizenry.

It is a sober day, indeed, for our journalism.