Byron York Leaves National Review For Examiner, And Why It Matters

So, with a note and some thank yous, Byron York is out the door at the National Review:

I have some news to share with you, and it is that I have decided to leave National Review. Starting next Monday, I will be the chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner. Making the decision to leave has been extremely difficult for me, because my years at -- I joined in the last days of 2000, just after the Florida Recount -- have been a great pleasure. I've not only had a chance to work with the extraordinary people here, but I've also been given the freedom to cover and write about the topics that most interest me. That's a real blessing.

I think this is a big loss for the National Review. York has long been a major figure among conservative writers, and he takes with him an outstanding, full-spectrum career in political journalism. York's got the chops to show up on Meet The Press, the pages of The Atlantic, in a pundit box on Hardball, on the air at NPR, and, full disclosure, blogging at a place like the Huffington Post. I read the list of folks he's leaving behind - Kathryn Jean Lopez, Ramesh Ponnuru, Jonah Goldberg, Mark Levin, Rich Lowry - and I can't help but think that they'd have to, you know...form Voltron or something, to collectively account for chops they're losing in one person. And, of course, with York, you get someone who's pretty agreeably disagreeable. As one friend put it, York's "one of the only people whose work is generally respected outside the right wing."

And who knows, maybe that's the problem! The National Review's been having a little bit of problem with litmus tests lately, what with the falling out between the magazine and son-of-the-founder Christopher Buckley over Buckley's endorsement of Barack Obama in the 2009 election. Kathleen Parker, who dared suggest that Sarah Palin might possess flaws, is another example of a National Review contributor who paid a price for having independent thoughts. York's shown a similar intellectual devotion - not to Obama's merits or Palin's mistakes specifically, of course, but to being an independent thinker. One of his more facinating pieces was one he wrote for the Atlantic, picking over the mistakes of his former employers at The American Spectator. In that piece, York said the Spectator "became possessed by a self-destructive brand of opposition to Bill Clinton, and in their desire to knock the President out of office they ended up hurting themselves more than him."

One way of looking at York's move from the National Review to the Examiner is to see it as a ramped up career opportunity. He'd be the big fish at a new enterprise, with expanded purviews and opportunities. That's where York puts his focus:

I'm leaving because the Examiner has given me a great opportunity to play a key role in the start of something new. They're ramping up their coverage of politics in this new era, and I hope that in the future, in addition to your regular visits here to NRO, you'll stop by the (soon to be new-and-improved) ExaminerPolitics.com, where my writing and reporting will appear daily.

Still, one can also look at this and wonder if memories of a "self-destructive brand of opposition" wasn't at the back of York's mind, making him the equivalent of a canary fleeing the National Review's coal mine. The clearest sign that this may have been the case is the present state of his new employer's operation. As of right now, the Examiner has not yet ramped up its online operation to meet the level of competition that outfits like Politico offer. Promised enhancements are on the way (York notes said promises in his goodbye), but as of the moment a visit to York's future home takes you to a sleek, but run-of-the-mill news page.

Organizationally, the Examiner is riding out a bit of a rough patch. Last week, the paper announced that it would undergo further contractions and shutter its Baltimore operation in the weeks ahead after failing to find a buyer. The other part of the battle is the fact that, as a brand name, the Examiner is still mostly thought of in Washington, DC as a foil for the Washington Post Express: a free paper hawked by street suppliers at Metro stations.

In short, the Examiner, fairly, has a long way to go before they've feathered the sort of nest in which you'd typically find a Byron York perched. They may get there, yet, but having lived through the ramp up to the launch of Politico, there's nothing Examiner is doing, save hiring York, that reminds me of that publicity blitzkrieg. Meanwhile, I have to wonder: just how bad has life at the National Review become?

Comments

[AmericasWarrior]

Yet another intellectual that shows their common sense by leaving that rag. They really dont value independent thoughts on the right at all do they? Buckly and Parker were attacked viciously on the radio by Ingraham and the likes because they either endorsed Now-President Obama, or had the common sense to criticize the lack of political accumen of Sarah Palin. So that just let me know for good what the right was really about.
"You agree, or you die. You are either with us, or against us." There is no room in their minds for the so-called "mushy middle" in their eyes.

I can respect a guy like York as its hard to find someone on that side to have a decent argument with that actually respects facts and good debate. He's one of the few. I wish him luck at the Examiner.
To TNR, keep railling against intellectualism, you will end up as bird cage filler soon enough

[realpolitic]

I am glad York is going to the National Enquirer. He is a master of disinformation and that is his place. I await his story on two-headed alien monsters. (No, I know its the Examiner.)

I have seen both Ramesh Ponnuru and Jonah Goldberg on television many times and they are both certifiably crazy. Ponnuru really think liberals like to eat their own children. Once even Stephen Colbert completely skewered him in an interview. Listening to Goldberg is like going to the pysch ward and listening to a completely paranoid patient. He equates Hitler with liberalism because Hitler liked organic vegetables or some crazy nonsense, which would only pass as intellectualism on the very far right.

Actually, the National Review is becoming a very good metric on just how bizarre the ideas on the far-right are.

[smythson]

Just because a newspaper is tabloid sized in its design doesn't make it an Enquirer-esque tabloid. Even a critic of the Examiner knows that that's not remotely the type of coverage they do. Provided they've actually, you know, read it, which clearly you've never done.

And wow, Stephen Colbert skewered a conservative once on his show?! No way! Again, you know that Colbert's not really a conservative right?

[realpolitic]

You do not have much taste for irony!

[dolphy]

What's National Review? Oh...that's the piece of paper being used under the bird cage...... and the outhouse.

[Querent]

So Mr. York and the National Review are parting. Well--- they'll always have Iraq.

[Tom Payned]

I have always respected arguing my views with someone with opposing views as long as the argument was based facts, not hyperbole. People like York, who I disagree with on almost every political position, would, when on talk shows, give a reasoned and cogent argument.

It's much better to understand where your opponents are coming from, thus giving you ample time to counter with facts and figures. This concept seems to becoming a lost tactic of many of my fellow lefties.

When Frank Luntz was on Bill Maher's Real Time, the audience and Bill were attacking Luntz rather than listening to what he had to say. Luntz has been a very effective pollster for the R's in the late 90's and mid 2000's. He was speaking not so much from a personal view, but as a chess master explaining why a certain move is effective.

York, although partisan, does deliver a cogent argument, rather than just talking points. His brand of TV debating will be missed, at least by me, as doesn't just yell and try to talk over the other party.

[1liberalconspirator]

I agree a better class of conservative at the very least makes for a better argument and perhaps a better compromise.

[inorbit]

Aw, gee - it couldn't happen to a nicer publication.

[Cambridge9]

Even the magazine can't stand the shock of Buckley backing our current POTUS. That tells us something. Buckley's dad founded the magazine.

[Gainsbourg69]

The moderate wing of the republican party is dead. I don't doubt that Mr. York's departure from the National Review will be seen as a RINO showing his true colors. The republican party has no need for intellectuals. They prefer people like Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh. The WASPs that were the republican party are defecting to the democratic party little by little.

[vgirl1]

The National Review having taken its cues from the conservative, neo-con right is becoming as insignificant as the GOP on the national scene.

[Dace]

Yeah one more death of a hate rag!!! The white hood regional party is going to stay a regional hate group it looks like. At least there is some good news these days.

[BetterDeadthanRedState]

How dare he suggest that "Sarah Palin might possess flaws."? Sarah Palin is the personification of flaws.

[stoptheworldiwant2getoff]

He didn't Kathleen Parker did. Re-read the story.