copyediting
From dozens of articles, a portrait emerges of the 'Times' portrait
At the Times, a particular rhetorical habit creeps in when a story with anonymous sourcing has as its main point an assertion about the character or state of mind of a subject who refuses or is unavailable (dead, incarcerated, or otherwise indisposed) to be interviewed; or worse, when they issue a wan one-line statement refuting the premise of the piece. "Write-arounds," as the industry calls them, often call for the Emerging Portrait treatment. More
