New York Times Poll Asks Did Judy Miller Or General Betray Us Turn You Off?

Vanity Fair:

Back in the days when I was writing political advertising--in the pre-Internet, pre-War Room era--the single most coveted piece of information we tried to ascertain was the polling research done by our opponents.

Not the answers so much, but the questions. Because we saw the questions were sort of a Rorschach test: They gave us a view into what the opposition was thinking, what they were worried about, and how they might frame their campaigns.

Last week, I clicked on a link from Drudge to a New York Times story about Bill Clinton's current standing in Harlem. That brought up a pop-up window at the Times site, asking if I wanted to take a survey concerning readers' attitudes toward the paper.

More as a lark than anything else, I agreed to take the survey; I assumed that it would probe the effects of the most recent price hike on subscribers to the national edition. (I'm now paying almost $700 a year to get the Times delivered in LA. With everything free on the web, I don't know how they're going to maintain these subscriptions, or sell new ones.)

In any case, as I began to take the survey, the questions became curiouser and curiouser, with specific inquiries about Judith Miller and W.M.D.'s, the MoveOn.Org "General Betray Us" ad, the Times' coverage of Israel, and questions about the impact of Jayson Blair, along with the paper's decision to publish information about the domestic wiretapping program against the wishes of the Bush administration.

Read the whole story: Vanity Fair

Comments

[ramblingjohnny]

Their a few jewel in that poll. "Are you Protestant, Catholic, Jewish or something else?" lollll I swear it the exact wording. lolll

[darthdarcy]

What turned me off big time was the Time Select debacle, cutting so many off from the Editorial section, that must have really hurt online readership..!

[sassafra]

what turns me off? the fact that i can read your entire paper and not read a thing about Kucinich and wexler and impeachment.
that during the primaries i couldn't find a thing about dodd in the times ct. regional edition during the fisa filibuster.
i've since cancelled my subscription.
have fun with "fact mangler" kristol.

[Bobleblah1]

Some interesting comments, but they all end up at the same place.

The New York Times is a corporate propaganda vehicle.
They are relentlessly neo-liberal in their news and relentlessly pro war , As long as the persons we go to war with are Arab.

Basically their full of sh**.

[desertdweller]

Judy, Judy, Judy...

[InofTouch]

I laugh at people for hate the times for trying to get voices for the right...folks, Heat the player not the game

[republicans4obama]

Everyone keeps talking about Political reasons for the drop, when it's a hurting industry in general. The fact is that in the 24 hr news cycle and internet news breaking as it happens, how many people want to shell out hundreds a year for "yesterdays news"? Want a review on a play-Google it. Restaurant-same thing. Amazons list is as important to a writer as The NYT list. You can read the articles for free and if they charge, I'm just as happy reading the LA Times or Washington Post. Most blocked articles end of copied on the net anyway. Sure most people who are conservative (many with money) don't like the paper and won't spend money on it. Add craigslist to the number of things cutting revenue and it's a suckers game to get into at this point. The Times should take a cue from CBS marketwatch and start cutting videos and interviews and create an interactive site. Build the brand as an online network. The way things like the Iphone are spreading, paper will be out in 10 years as it is.
myspace.co­m/republic­ans4obama

[Chrisallalone]

What I found fascinating, and kind of scary, was looking at some of the comments left by readers of the original article at vanityfair.com. I never thought of VF as a particularly right-wing outlet (maybe I'm wrong, or maybe they were beset by trolls), but almost all of their posters seem convinced that the NYT is a screaming liberal rag. This despite their pass to the administration on the runup to war, which I find worse than their giving space to Kristol, who at least is known to be writing opinion.

One commentator, for example, claimed that the whole problem was the the NYT was too "leftest" (lefter, maybe, but leftest?) Another said they needed to hire some editors who would be willing to "study DRUDGE and LIMBAUGH" to learn about good 'Murican journalism. I read well-reasoned comments here like MHSMustang's, and it creates a kind of culture shock when I see what the other side is venting out.

[VOTER]

It is too late for the NYT to be asking these questions.

Feeling the pinch of rejection from readers after various problems, all of their own making, their first "SOLUTION"
was to hire Krystal. Duh! Huh?

If they are still paying a salary or salaries to their employees, Big Shots,
responsible for this debacle, then they may as well just shut down now.

Your "Leaders" have you in a downward spiral.

Former readers don't need to pay for the show. We are wise enough to step back and watch.

REMEMBER WHEN THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WAS -Newspaper home delivery subscriptions being delivered on time and in readable (Not wet) condition to their customers?

TODAY, newspapers have greater problems. NEWS!
Opinions have become part of all reporting. No thanks!
Reporters are now out of work being fired and laid-off at an alarming rate while some newspaper executives are giving lucrative contracts to people like Krystal. STUPID!

Go back to the basics. Keep opinions on the Opinion Pages. Demand reporters deliver news, do research and do not hindered them at their jobs. Print their articles.

Imagine ANY newspaper allowing a War of Choice to begin and flourish and never question it.

Imagine ANY newspaper willing allow the death count of our soldiers being printed on back pages and NOT AT THE TOP HEADING OF THE MAIN PAGE. EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Take heart, Krystal still reads the NYT.

[VOTER]

"Mea Culpa"

Spelling correction - Kristol : - /

[InofTouch]

mea culpa not accpet...we hold everyone to high standerds...to the NYT to commentors in HuffPost :P

[jubo]

Granted Brooks and Kristol are part of a Faustian deal. This was in anticipation of Murdoch's purchasing the WSJ.

[indyny]

It's a Jewish-centric paper, with a focus on supporting and excusing all that is Israel.

Pretty limited readership, don't ya think?

[desertdweller]

You are sadly mistaken..

[toocoldout]

Well that would explain why they have a reputation for being so liberal, and yet at the same time are so neoconservative when it comes to foreign policy (i.e. Judith Miller).

[ibivi]

The wording of the poll assumes that they are great and the poll-taker has to refute their statements. Their integrity is very shaky given the extent of their collusion with the Bush Administration. I would give them a poor rating. They have alot work to do to rehabilitate themselves.

[Coffeechick]

I can't improve on everything MHSMustang said above. The NY Times began getting noticably shabbier back during the Lewinsky nonsense. I cut my newspaper-reading teeth on the NY Times back in the 70s. They were well-reasoned and well-written. They set a standard by which I measured other newspapers I've read over the years. When I lived in Atlanta, I always got the Sunday Times along with the Atlanta Journal-Co­nstitution­, just to get what I thought was the best coverage of the events.

What a long, long way the NY Times has fallen. The Grey Lady has become a demented old hag.

[mamacat]

Not that anyone cares, but I love the NYT.

[swift goat pet for truth]

It is their pass on Bush and McCain.
No criticism of ANYTHING either did.
Ever.

Lies about Iraq, Plame, torture, the economy, Social Security, all delivered with no regard to the truth.

Hey, but I like their food and travel sections.

[gloriar8]

I sure want a piece of this! To be a proftable newspaper, you must be TRUSTED, and you're not. You think kissing up to polticians is how you get access. Well you get access alright, access to whatever agenda they are pushing at the time and then you try to pawn it off on us as if it is truth, i.e. the war. You are just as culpable as the Bush gang for the lies and the young men and women sent to their deaths. The only time you want our opinion is when you're hemorraghing money. A journalist is supposed to use their wiles to snoop out stories,not make golf dates or lunch dates so that they can be handed a story. Woodward and Bernstein broke Watergate, your so called reporters probably broke a fingernail texting to confirm their above mentioned dates.