The NYT's news section under current editor Bill Keller, who has been in charge for 53 months, has only won six Pulitzers. In just 21 months under former editor Howell Raines, the news section won seven Pulitzers. The Times has been shut out of Pulitzers for its Iraq war coverage under Keller thus far. All of this adds up to one simple conclusion: Bill Keller is a more attractive man than Howell Raines. [NYO]
I never read a story in the paper until it wins the Pulitzer Prize. My basement is filled with unread copies of the New York Times waiting to be resurrected when the prizewinners are announced. I guess I'll have to go down and start digging out the appropriate issues.
Maybe it's something in the cafeteria food. Reporters can only eat so much quiche before they start getting sloppy.
Weak sauce. Prize haul shouldn't bury Keller or vindicate Howell Raines. Pulitzers don't measure overall quality.
Cue Jack Shafer rant....
Maybe there was something about the Jayson Blair energy field that made real reporters better.
