The New York Times
The credible third-party presidential candidacy is now almost a real thing, in theory
The Times reports that a bipartisan group is days away from getting on the ballot in all 50 states, overcoming an important hurdle for a would-be third party presidential candidate in 2012. The chief operating officer of Americans Elect, Elliot Ackerman, says, “We’re removing the barrier to entry, which is 50-state ballot access." More
Photo dramatizes conflict between photojournalists and the NYPD
A tipster forwarded us this Associated Press photo that paints a pretty vivid picture of what happened in the worst altercations between police and photojournalists on Nov. 17, after the clearing of Zuccotti Park resulted in several days of protests throughout lower Manhattan and elsewhere (see comments for a sort-of update): More
Janet Robinson, C.E.O. of The New York Times Company, to retire
Janet Robinson, chief executive of The New York Times Company since 2004, will retire on Dec. 31, the company announced to the surprise of media observers late Thursday afternoon.
Times Company chairman and Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. will step into the chief executive role on an interim basis while the search for a replacement is underway. More
The post-war report: The story of Iraq after the Americans leave gets started in a Baghdad junkyard
Back in October, when President Obama announced that the remaining 39,000 U.S. soldiers still in Iraq would be pulled out by year's end, we reported that a number of major American media outlets that have been covering the conflict did not plan on pulling out themselves.
"When you take America out of the equation, what kind of country does it become?" New York Times foreign editor Joe Kahn told us at the time. "We're not going to stop covering the country because the American military has pulled out. We'll continue to watch the story."
Indeed, the Times appears to be offering the most comprehensive coverage of this very first step in the next phase of Iraq reportage. More
Video of 'Times' photographer's confrontation with police touches off another exchange between NYPD and local media
"We are disappointed that the result and first step of our recent meeting with Com. Kelly, the directive he issued reiterating that the police are not supposed to be interfering with the media’s doing their jobs and covering newsworthy events, has apparently not been followed or implemented on the ground," an attorney for the Times told us today in emailed comments that he said reflected the gist of the letter. "The World Financial Center video indisputably shows an officer bobbing and weaving for no other purpose than to block a Times freelancer’s ability to photograph police actions." More
(4)Banks and Major League Baseball prop up the Wilpon group, but for how long?
Has the New York Mets ownership group become too big too fail?
That is the question at the moment, since the New York Times reported Monday evening that Bank of America provided Wilpon and his partners with a $40 million bridge loan, even though between debt against the team, against their television network, and against Citi Field, the ownership group has around $1.5 billion in debt at the moment. That doesn't include a penny of what they might need to pay in the lawsuit brought against them by a trustee for the victims of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, in which the Wilpon group was adjudged to have been a net "winner." More
(2)In video, confrontation between a 'Times' photographer and the NYPD at Occupy Wall Street protest downtown
It still seems like not all New York Police Department officers got that memo from their boss a few weeks ago warning them not to interfere with members of the media during police actions such as those that have been ongoing as a result of the Occupy Wall Street protests.
In this video, police are shown getting physical with and intentionally blocking the shots of a credentialed photojournalist covering today's demonstration at the World Financial Center. More
(1)Relations between local press and the NYPD had deteriorated before 'Occupy Wall Street' protest, lawyers say
The Occupy Wall Street incidents, which were addressed in a Nov. 21 letter to NYPD brass co-signed by 13 news organizations, were actually only a recent development in a longer pattern of police-press showdowns stretching back to the summer, when police raided the Brooklyn home of Aron Levy, the suspect in the murder of eight-year-old Leiby Kletzky. More
(2)'Times' to toast outgoing digital chief Martin Nisenholtz
Before a large cross-section of the Times' more than 300 digital employees, Nisenholtz gave a teary-eyed farewell address, during which he choked up several times and joked that he was "the John Boehner" of the paper. He received a standing ovation. More
'Times' stops scoffing at Cyber Monday, its own third-biggest sales day since launching its digital subscription model
"Cyber Monday may have started as a made-up occasion to give underdog e-commerce sites jealous of Black Friday a day of their own," The New York Times' Claire Cain Miller wrote on Monday, Nov. 28, "but it has become an undeniably real thing—surprising even the people who invented it."
And possibly Miller's employers: The Times' recent Cyber Monday promotion, which offered 50 percent off 26 weeks of Times digital subscription packages and 50 percent off 12- and 26-week gift subscriptions, was its third largest sales day since the launch of the paid online model about eight months ago, executives said today. More
Andrew Cuomo begins the public search for a graceful way out of a tax pledge
"Read Andrew's Lips" has been a constant feature of the New York Post editorial page for weeks now, a reminder (and implicit warning) to the governor, and everyone else, that he has committed to kill a high-earner tax.
Cuomo's acknowledgment today that he's considering an overhaul of the tax code which could include tax increases on the rich will not go unnoticed by the Post or anyone else, is the point. More
Girding for 2012, 'Times' names new editor for surveys, election analysis
Kate Phillips is a 16-year veteran of the paper who was most recently an editor supervising health care coverage for the Business Day section. She will stay in the role through the 2012 campaign. More
As Zuccotti Park breaks up, media coverage of Occupy Wall Street fragments (but doesn't shrink)
Banished from their Zuccotti Park encampment on Nov. 15 but allowed to return on the condition that no one sleeps there (or even so much as lays down for a cat nap), the original Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are now sorting through the logistics of what to do and where to go next.
The problem as far as the news cycle is concerned is that it's a tedious process, and one that doesn't necessarily make for compelling headlines. More
(4)'Times' attorney, others meet with NYPD commissioners to discuss press 'abuses' during protests
On Monday, New York Times Company vice president and assistant general counsel George Freeman wrote a letter to Deputy Police Comissioner Paul Browne on behalf of 13 news organizations requesting an "immediate meeting" to discuss the NYPD's treatment of journalists during last week's Occupy Wall Street protests.
That meeting took place today, a Times spokeswoman confirmed. It was attended by Browne, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Freeman and four of the other co-signers of the letter, the spokeswoman said. More
Media, civil liberties groups look at 'legislative' options to address NYPD action during protests
"We certainly will continue to press the issue," said New York Times Co. vice president and assistant general counsel George Freeman, who authored the letter to Browne on behalf of the Times, the New York Post, the Daily News, the Associated Press, Reuters, Dow Jones and several local TV affiliates and press groups. He added: "I fully expect they will agree to such a meeting." More
