Matthew Courchaine

Prof. K. Moore
JOR 110H / 0001
21 September 2014
Page One: Inside the New York Times - Notes

Give an example of how the New York Times handles balance and bias in its reporting.
o Created a Media desk in 2008 to report on the media industry itself
o Immediate termination of reporters in violation seems to be NYTs go-to response
o Consider Wikileaks edited version of the Iraq video vs. the raw footage, which shows a different
story man with RPG
o Is Wikileaks a source or a publisher to the NYT
o Consider the in-bed PR stunt, as it was described by Brian Stelter, which the Times did not sign
up for, when the war ended with the trucks crossing into Kuwait
- Television is making it an important moment, NOT the government or military
What will the LA Times do with it?
- Brian Williams says NBCs reporting constitutes official announcement

Give an example of how the New York Times has suffered as a result of new technology or media
consolidation.
o Significant decrease in advertisement revenue (30% decrease in 2009)
o Wikileaks was able to circumvent traditional news outlets to publish the video from Iraq due to
the available technology
- Compare this to Daniel Ellsbergs having to bring the Pentagon Papers to the NYTimes,
following which there was a 22-month period until it was published
- The bottom line is: Wikileaks doesnt need us; Daniel Ellsberg did. Bill Keller
o Many layoffs were necessary
- All employees sent packets inviting voluntary departure from the Times

What does Brian Stelter do? Why does David Carr find him / it annoying?
o Brian Stelter, a reporter at the media desk, adheres to the school of thought that the demise of
paper news (i.e. NYTimes) would not necessarily a bad thing because of blogs and the like.
- I dont know why anybody whos a reporter isnt on Twitter Stelter
o David Carr jokingly says that he cannot get over the feeling that Brian Stelter is a robot
assembled in the basement of the NYT headquarters built to destroy [Carr]
- On Twitter: What could anybody possibly find useful in this cacophony of short,
brusque communication? David Carr
- Comes to understand that the value of the service is listening to a layered, collective
voice.

Why are papers like the NYTimes important to our democracy?

o Consider WaPos reporting on Watergate, and making sure it could not be further covered up
o Newspapers that deploy resources to gather information are essential to a functioning
democracy Bill Keller

Notable people:
o David Carr
o Jill Abramson managing editor at time of filming
o Bill Keller executive editor at time of filming
o Brian Stelter Media reporter
o Bruce Headlam Media Desk editor at time of filming
o Richard Perez-Pena
o Andrew Ross Sorkin
o Tim Arango then corporate media reporter; now chief of Baghdad bureau
o David Remnick editor-in-chief of The New Yorker
o Larry Ingrasia Business editor
o Alex S. Jones author of The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind the New York
Times
o Gay Talese former NYT reporter; author of The Kingdom and the Power

General notes:
o NYT effect if on day one the Times reported on something, the next day the other outlets
would report on it
o NYT sets the agenda Michael Hirschorn, Atlantic