It is called out-to-lunch. The age-old theme is the human reluctance to self-criticize, but the minor theme is "why are there schools of journalism anyway?" Name me someone in the press who writes better and is more devoted to truth than John Hinderaker of Powerline, and he didn't go, and neither did the sublime wordsmith Bird Dog...well, you can't teach writing....some folks can just turn a phrase around a concept like a boa around a rat - I love that, but cannot do it. Anyway, a review of Lehmann's piece in the New Yorker begins thus:
Nicholas Lemann was named dean of the Columbia School of Journalism in 2003. It's too soon to tell whether he is making Columbia a stronger school. It's not too soon to say that Lemann, the author of two good books and many compelling articles, has made himself a weaker writer. Evidence of this decline comes in the current New Yorker, where Lemann devotes 5,000 words to asking, "Why is everyone mad at the mainstream media?" without saying anything clear or consequential in response.Nicholas Lemann was named dean of the Columbia School of Journalism in 2003. It's too soon to tell whether he is making Columbia a stronger school. It's not too soon to say that Lemann, the author of two good books and many compelling articles, has made himself a weaker writer. Evidence of this decline comes in the current New Yorker, where Lemann devotes 5,000 words to asking, "Why is everyone mad at the mainstream media?" without saying anything clear or consequential in response.
