BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Monday, June 09, 2003
The Anywhere Times.
As New York Times scandals go, this is pretty minor. But
surely some readers -- especially NYC expats -- are going to think
it's scandalous that the paper has decided occasionally to
publish
different editorials in its
national and metro editions.
In "A Note to Our Readers," the
Times says:
Today, for instance,
readers in the New York metropolitan area will see an editorial
about the need for reform of the lobbying laws in Albany in the
place where national readers have an editorial on policies toward
the homeless. Both pieces can be read on the Times Web site, and
both will be included in the paper's permanent databank under
today's date.
In Boston, we get neither the
national nor the metro edition but, rather, the New England edition,
which is beefier than the national but thinner than the metro. The
note doesn't address which editorials we New Englanders would get,
but I checked and, sure enough, there's one on homelessness and none
on the shenanigans in Albany.
Although some ex-New Yorkers will
never get over no longer being able to get the full hometown paper
here, the saving grace had always been that all editions had the same
front pages and -- until now -- the same editorial pages.
I understand the impulse not to
bore a national audience with matters of strictly local concern. But
one of the charms of the Times is that it's a New York
paper. Take out the NY, and it's less interesting. One of the things
that David Remnick has done to improve the New Yorker, for
instance, is give it more of a New York feel. Even a staunch
Bostonian such as Media Log appreciates a sense of place.
Besides, the Times has taken
one large step toward rezoning hell, where you never know what good
stuff you might be missing. Yes, I know I can go to the Web, but in
that case, why do we get the Times delivered at
home?
Editorial-page editor Gail Collins
needs to rethink this one.
posted at 1:38 PM |
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
