The New York Times reports on their massive group therapy session over Jayson Blair:
“Our paper has a commitment to diversity and by all accounts he appeared to be a promising young minority reporter,” Mr. Raines said. “I believe in aggressively providing hiring and career opportunities for minorities.”
“Does that mean I personally favored Jayson?” he added, a moment later. “Not consciously. But you have a right to ask if I, as a white man from Alabama, with those convictions, gave him one chance too many by not stopping his appointment to the sniper team. When I look into my heart for the truth of that, the answer is yes.”
I think the point is that Mr. Raines is paid to be an executive editor of a major daily paper, not to be a “white man from Alabama,” and as such he’s a dismal failure. His paper is losing credibility and circulation, his quixotic campaigns, like one on behalf of rich, white, female golfers in Georgia and another one against the liberation of the Iraqis, are an embarassment to the entire staff, and the policy of removing the firewall between the Op-Ed pages and the news pages has hurt the paper and the people it serves enormously.
He should resign.