you've come a long way, baby
Back in more civilized times, the New York
Times never once mentioned the name Jennifer Fitzgerald. That name,
Times vet R.W. Apple famously explained in
Spy, was "known everywhere, and it is not used." Fitzgerald was the woman who supposedly had a lengthy affair with former President George H. W. Bush. The
Times never even
looked into the story. "All you've got is sordid gossipy bits," explained another reporter. The first reports of Bill Clinton's alleged extramartial affair didn't name the
"Arkansas employee" who
made the allegations herself. (Not until the tabloid
The Star used her name was it safe to
also do so.) Before the
Post broke the story of Judith Nathan, the
Times coverage of the end of then-mayor Rudy Giulaini's marriage to Donna Hanover was
obnoxiously winking. Elisabeth Bumiller only named the mayor's
good friend after Rudy and the
Post beat them to it. Basically, how insane is it that the
Times broke the story of
Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the hooker who took down Eliot Spitzer? And how insane
was the story that broke it, what with its
links to her MySpace profile and bizarre criticism of her "rhythm and blues" music? Arthur Suzlberger truly is
"the prophet of the high church of journalism."
Gawker
