Sunday, May 08, 2005

Good Stuff in the Times!

I've been so mean to the Times lately that I thought I should go out of my way to be nice today. I have here two reasonably good things that appeared in the Times today:

1. A balanced, fair story on the boycott of two Israeli universities by the British university teachers association. True, the Times is over a week late in determining that this is Fit to Print. Still, better late than never!

2. Dan Okrent recognized that there might, maybe, possibly be a problem with the way his paper uses anonymous sources. Good point! Personally I was not aware there may be such a problem. But the Times has convened a committee that has studied the topic very diligently, and will soon issue a report.

There you have it--two good stories. A third, if you count the lead piece on security shortcomings. True, it didn't really break any new ground and it raised more questions than it answered but what the hey, it was worth running.

All in all, a day in which the Times may have actually done more good than harm. Keep it up, guys.