A Sign of the Times

Piles on the Times

You know that a news organization is in trouble when that paragon of the trite, conventional-wisdom-purveyor Jon Friedman of MarketWatch, piles on. Well, pile on he did, in a column today.

I usually call Friedman the World's Worst Media Columnist, and it is rare that one of his columns run contrary to that title. However, today was one of those days.

. . . as the media vent, it becomes clear that the real story is the media mob's need to give the Times its comeuppance.
Many media representatives argue that the Times is arrogant because it continually declines to accept responsibility for its mistakes. They're right.

. . .The media have turned on the Times because the paper reeks of an institutional arrogance.

He goes on to comment on the Times's arrogant handling of the Geraldo Rivera "nudgegate" nonsense. True, he's late -- he is the Worst, after all -- but at least he is not just blathering platitudes as usual.

Friedman still sucks but hey, Jack Shafer is coming in a close second in the "worst media columnist" department. Who knows? If he tries hard, the title may be his.