New guard, New York Times.New Guard, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times WE DO NOT disguise that beyond the reach of memory, we at NATIONAL REVIEW have used the New York Times as our very favorite pincushion. Much of this, the paper has earned, particularly in its editorial pages, where, especially under the leadership of an editor providentially prov·i·den·tial adj. 1. Of or resulting from divine providence. 2. Happening as if through divine intervention; opportune. See Synonyms at happy. retired several years ago, the Times was militantly, not to say disreputably dis·rep·u·ta·ble adj. Lacking respectability, as in character, behavior, or appearance. dis·rep , tone-deaf, showing an enthusiasm for such disparate calamities as Fidel Castro and John Lindsay. But the New York Times even then was a very great newspaper, with a profound sense of its responsibility to cover the news, even if the temptation, often, was to do so tendentiously ten·den·tious also ten·den·cious adj. Marked by a strong implicit point of view; partisan: a tendentious account of the recent elections. , as when Barry Goldwater ran for President. But the news last week-end of a shifting of the guard brings to mind how heavily indebted all readers of the New York Times, and all readers of readers of the New York Times, are to A. M. Rosenthal Abraham Michael "A.M." Rosenthal (May 2, 1922 – May 10, 2006), born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, was a New York Times executive editor (1977-88) and columnist (1987-1999) and New York Daily News columnist (1999-2004). for the extraordinary vision he brought to the paper, which he dominated (save only the editorial pages) for almost twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. . The brightness of the Grey Lady, its appetite for the news, for features, for supplements, the sheer universality of its coverage make it the outstanding newspaper in the world. It is sad that Mr. Rosenthal is retiring, but reassuring to know that the traditions he accepted and reinforced will be maintained by his successors. Mr. Rosenthal once noted that it is not easy for the editor of the New York Times to move through the city with any sense of security, as the Times is blamed for everything that goes wrong (it should be blamed for only about half of what goes wrong). He cited to the editor of this journal an example. One evening, after a very long day at work, he eased into his bed and pulled out the freshest issue of NATIONAL REVIEW, opened it, and read in the lead editorial, "Abe? Abe Rosenthal! Are you listening, goddammit? That story you published last week about . . ." Requiescat req·ui·es·cat n. A prayer for the repose of the souls of the dead. [Latin, third person sing. present subjunctive of requi in pace. Abe Rosenthal will write two columns per week for the Op-Ed page; Arthur Gelb, his gifted associate, will serve as managing editor; and Max Frankel, from the editorial page he substantially rescued, will be the new boss. Best wishes to them all. Goddammit. |
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