The Times They Are A' Changin'

For the worse, because liberal entities never get any better...

June 28, 2006 -- "IS there anything to be done about The New York Times' latest debacle?
Certainly the possibility of prosecution exists. Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to begin a criminal investigation. Yet despite the Times' irresponsibility, I suspect most Americans would be uncomfortable with government prosecution of the press. The reality is the Times can't publish classified information without getting it from accomplices inside the government.

Prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. As for the Times, there is a far more effective solution than prosecution for a newspaper unwilling to distinguish between the "public's right to know" and aiding terrorists: a boycott by the American public."

I've said it before and it's worth repeating; the Times will probably get a small upsurge in readership because of the publicity, and it was a good publicity stunt. But readership doesn't mean a hill of beans unless the advertisers, the BIG advertisers hang around, and since most of them are big businesses they most likely could be influenced by an effective boycott of the paper that prints all the news that fits. Throw enough shit on the wall, see what sticks, then toss some more of the same. It isn't rocket science here, but the Times is counting on the general publics vaunted short-term memory, and for this particular tempest taking a back seat to the next. It takes time to build enough momentum for a boycott to be effective, and the vast majority of the American public isn't paying nearly enough attention to influence the big advertsing accounts.

Not yet, anyway. If the Times continues on the same road, which would be incredibly stupid of them, then they help dig the grave a lot of us would pay cash money to see. Intelligence and "smarts" are two different things, so we'll soon see which of the two the bosses at the Times are blessed with. Was this a quick stab at retrieving a lost liberal readership, or the last gasp of a drowning old sow.