Troubled Times

Editor's note: Bob Kohn's "Journalistic Fraud," the latest release from WND Books, gets to the root of the real scandal at the New York Times and explains why the "paper of record" can no longer be trusted. Order your copy now in WorldNetDaily's online store, ShopNetDaily!

This week's appointment of Bill Keller as the new executive editor of the New York Times should have been no surprise to media watchers inside or outside of the Times. For those inside, it represented a much needed change in style from the arrogant autocracy of disgraced former editor Howell Raines, to an editor who expects his reporters, as Bill Keller told them yesterday, to "enrich" their work by taking the time to "savor" life.

For those outside the Times, it meant that the institutional cancer that has ravaged the Times for years – its blatant partiality to liberal causes in its news pages – is not likely to be cured any time soon. Arthur Sulzberger Jr. has already made it clear that he does not expect any fundamental changes in how his news organization will approach its front-page reporting. "That's strategy," he said recently. "Things that are strategic don't change with people."

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Make no mistake. Howell Raines was not fired because he was too liberal. He was fired because the publisher found it no longer convenient to keep him.

Before an organization can cure its ills, it must first recognize that there is a problem. Yet, we do not see anyone at the Times willing to own up to its broader credibility problems.

Howell Raines told a gathering of journalists earlier this year that the New York Times – I'm not making this up – is the most "ideology free" newspaper in the world. When accepting his appointment earlier this week, Bill Keller told his staff that accusations of partisanship at the Times were unfounded.

Perhaps, with its new executive editor, we'll see a kinder, gentler form of bias at the Times. Meanwhile, the Times' reputation as a credible source of news will continue its tailspin and the promise of an impartial New York Times must wait for another day.