Not The New York Times, but you're getting warm—the answer is the flagging paper's balance sheets. So says Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones, anyway, in segment of the show that tours the Times' newsroom and profiles "aged news," in part via a very uncomfortable sit-down interview with Bill Keller himself. See the segment on Hulu right now.
The paper responded earlier today to the uneasily funny treatment with a blog post, in which Times reporter Dave Itzkoff both interviews Jones and jokes that he just might take the comedian's words out of context—"to show him how it feels." (Itzkoff doesn't, because, "unlike some media outlets, we [the Times] would never do that." Zing!)
Both the segment and the Times' responding Q+A are pretty darn funny—but, given the paper's $74.5 million loss last quarter, laughing makes us feel more than a little guilty. Isn't this like shooting a fish in a barrel?
What do you think?
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
