Harry Potter and the Arrogant Editors

When I saw the Times' review of the final Harry Potter book, innocently linked high up on the home page yesterday, I was dumbfounded. I clicked, and with great trepidation I began to read, peeking slightly ahead for any characters' names that might have spoilers. I saw none, but after two paragraphs, I stopped. That is not how I should have to read the New York Times.

How dense do you have to be not to be able to figure out why this was not cool? Some people, apparently including some Times editors, claim to see nothing wrong with running the review. Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt doesn't get it, though he also admits he is not a Potter reader and might be missing whatever it is that has "countless" readers up in arms. Daniel Radosh, whose attempted defense of the Times appeared on HuffPo yesterday, is a fan, and thus has no excuse — but still manages to get all the issues he raises wrong.

First is the ethics issue: ethics, as in what is the right thing to do, as opposed to law, which is concerned with the outer boundary of things that should not be left unpunished, which hinge on questions like which parties have formal contracts with which other parties. Sure, legally the Times may not be liable in tort for knowingly and deliberately interfering with the publisher's contract with that store, but ethically, participating in such a scheme is not cool. Why bend the rules to get this scoop? Is national security at stake? No, just a content producer's right to exercise control over the distribution of its content, which the Times seemed to be supportive of the last time I re-upped for Times Select.

Which brings us to issue number two, which is not just, as Radosh supposes, that "readers don't want to know anything about the book in advance." In case you've missed it, this is not just any other book release, or any other book. There are parties around the world to celebrate this release (and I don't mean the Manhattan-style, fête-the-author event.) Why are there big parties to celebrate such a solitary experience as reading a book? Because there is a community that has come to love these books, and this release is an intensely exciting experience shared among that community of readers, as well as between Rowling and the lot of us. Rowling created this world that lives in our imaginations, and this is her final gift to her people. So no, it is not just about readers not wanting to know anything about the book in advance, it is about readers not wanting anybody else to know anything about the book in advance, so its arrival can be experienced by everyone all at once. It's like a Schroedinger's cat thing -- the story has not actually ended one way or the other until the official release, and then suddenly the ending is at hand, there for all to share in together.

But no, the Times has instead chosen to thumb its nose at all of the many of its readers it shares with Ms. Rowling: 'Look at ME, I'm so COOL, I'm the New York TIMES, your rules don't apply to ME!' Well, screw you too. And come to think of it, cancel my Times Select.