City Desk: Sick and Tired

books, arts & manners the ranks of the ownership society in the United States. Rather than 52 percent of Americans owning stocks and bonds, the Bush plan would rocket that share up to 80 or perhaps even 90 percent.” In the next four years, contends Moore, President Bush could set in motion socioeconomic changes more important than any since the New Deal.

It’s no secret that the implosion of the New York Times under the vainglorious leadership of Howell Raines brought joy to many conservatives; for too long, the paper had gotten away with rampant left-wing agenda-mongering by hiding behind the gray respectability of past accomplishments, and it was long past time for its public image to be brought in line with reality. In Hard News: The Scandals at The New York Times and Their Meaning for American Media (Random House, 330 pp., $25.95), former Newsweek media writer Seth Mnookin provides a gripping behind-the-scenes account of how the high-handed Raines—who is compared by a key Times insider to the title character in Dr. Strangelove—and his team were done in by the “too good to check” antics of rogue reporter Jayson Blair.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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books, arts & manners the ranks of the ownership society in the United States. Rather than 52 percent of Americans owning stocks and bonds, the Bush plan would rocket that share up to 80 or perhaps even 90 percent.” In the next four years, contends Moore, President Bush could set in motion socioeconomic changes more important than any since the New Deal.

It’s no secret that the implosion of the New York Times under the vainglorious leadership of Howell Raines brought joy to many conservatives; for too long, the paper had gotten away with rampant left-wing agenda-mongering by hiding behind the gray respectability of past accomplishments, and it was long past time for its public image to be brought in line with reality. In Hard News: The Scandals at The New York Times and Their Meaning for American Media (Random House, 330 pp., $25.95), former Newsweek media writer Seth Mnookin provides a gripping behind-the-scenes account of how the high-handed Raines—who is compared by a key Times insider to the title character in Dr. Strangelove—and his team were done in by the “too good to check” antics of rogue reporter Jayson Blair.