The hiring of Ross Douthat to the Times editorial page inspired us to contemplate how the Gray Lady might further invigorate its stable of opinion writers. The current lineup (Blow, Brooks, Cohen, Collins, Dowd, Friedman, Herbert, Kristof, Krugman, Rich) has had a nice run, but many think that it’s time for a change.
So, who would you like to see on the page, and why? Consider this to be CJR’s Ultimate Fantasy Op-Ed Page Draft. You can recommend individuals who would make a strong addition, mix and match current writers and new choices, or scrap the whole roster and propose your own dream team.
Can't resist anything with a name like "Fantasy Draft" in the title....
Off the top of my head I would go with Ian Welsh over at Firedoglake. Since 2006 he has been ridiculously right about a lot of stuff economy-wise.
See: http://firedoglake.com/2009/01/04/economic-predictions-scorecard/ for more.
(I don't know the guy or anything, so I don't mean to toot his horn like this, but he is the first guy I would think of...)
#1 Posted by CharlesHarris, CJR on Tue 17 Mar 2009 at 03:55 PM
Where to start? I think the entirety of the CJR-on-MoDo ouvre suggests strongly that the Gray Lady's resident Irish Lass With the Sass may have overstayed her welcome.
To replace her, I recommend the talented and clever Sarah Hepola, presently of Salon. She first caught my eye with an essay at Nerve.com which she confessed to a crush on Ira Glass, seduced by his voice intimately purring into her ear. But, since then, she's stepped up to writing on politics and women's issues at Salon, and still contributing satire and personal essays at The Morning News. She is nimble and nuanced, and can be funny without the signature Dowd snark.
#2 Posted by Katia Bachko, CJR on Tue 17 Mar 2009 at 04:43 PM
What the Times op-ed page needs is a rock star! One who could credibly plow some of the same ground as Kristof but also, with his name (mononym) alone, bring in an entirely new audience.
(Where's Bono been, anyway? Haven't seen his byline since January 9...)
#3 Posted by Liz Cox Barrett, CJR on Tue 17 Mar 2009 at 04:51 PM
Greenwald, keep Krugman (because you need at least a token person who is actually correct), and because they'll never part with Friedman, sign Taibbi who writes hilariously about Friedman. Since they insist on a right-winger, Dalyrimple (sp?), who at least writes well.
#4 Posted by John, CJR on Wed 18 Mar 2009 at 01:08 AM
Steve Coll. He's unbelievably smart, unbelievably thoughtful, and unbelievably well-sourced. His Talk of the Town pieces are excellent and sometimes columnesque. But I wouldn't want to see him stop reporting longer pieces. So I guess I'll be happy enough with his Think Tank blog.
#5 Posted by Clint Hendler, CJR on Wed 18 Mar 2009 at 09:45 AM
So, so many: Greenwald. Sullivan. Kinsley. Hamill. Didion. Hertzberg. Coates. Jarvis. Rebecca Traister. Ezra Klein. Christopher Buckley. Amartya Sen. Paul Tough, who writes compellingly and knowledgeably about education. Zadie Smith, who's been marrying literary sensibility and political analysis to brilliant effect in the New York Review of Books. (Douthat would have been on the list, too, before the Times snapped him up; I'm excited to follow his work.) Many, many more.
But if this is a true fantasy...then I'd love, actually, to see some "wild card" slots mixed in with (or even: replacing?) the Times's regular op-ed columns. A system in which the outlet issues a standing challenge--to policy wonks, writers, readers, comedians, concerned citizens, the whole collective of The Public--to write 800 words on a subject of current interest and enter them for submission. The best column gets published.
Or, even better: the best 10 columns get published (on the Web).
It's a questionable approach, sure--who does the judging? based on what criteria? etc.--but, then, fantasies have never been about practicality. And there's always room for more meritocracy....particularly at the Times. And even more particularly on its op-ed pages.
#6 Posted by Megan Garber, CJR on Wed 18 Mar 2009 at 10:58 AM
Megan, I totally agree that the rigid format and schedule need some shaking up. To the rotating roster, I'd also nominate Brian Urquhart, who writes so intelligently about the United Nations and diplomacy at the New York Review of Books.
#7 Posted by Katia Bachko, CJR on Wed 18 Mar 2009 at 11:41 AM
I think the two columns a week thing is too much. It would be better to cut them back to once a week, maybe give them more than 700-800 words, and let them really hone a column, like Frank Rich does.
Fill the extra space with the best writers/thinkers on the Web or wherever. Get somebody who writes from outside the Manhattan/Beltway bubble (they already have a good candidate in Tim Egan—and I don't mean Chicago or LA (full disclosure: This is the Oklahoma in me talking).
Give Kristof an earnestness editor. Cut Friedman. Kill the editorials. Blank space there would be more interesting to look at.
And: Hire a Gen Xer (not Sarah Vowell), fer cryin' out loud!
#8 Posted by Ryan Chittum, CJR on Wed 18 Mar 2009 at 03:21 PM
I read the NYT every week and subscribe. They should ask the daily readers this question! How about Mick Dumke who writes for the Chicago Reader, Amy Goodman, Elizabeth Royte, to go along with the high profile bloggers and otehrs listed above...
#9 Posted by Jane S, CJR on Thu 19 Mar 2009 at 05:26 PM
Ralph Nader
#10 Posted by Steve Klein, CJR on Sat 21 Mar 2009 at 06:31 AM
Disclosures.
(or links thereto)
Sunlight is the best of disinfectants...
#11 Posted by Anna Haynes, CJR on Sun 22 Mar 2009 at 05:40 PM
Get rid of the fluff, the chick lit, and the mommy bloggers. Instead of having Left-balanced-by-Right, stick with centrist writers. These days the NYT is schizo: good pieces (im)balanced by fluff. NYT, stop competing with the tabloids! Spin off your fluff to i-Village or whatever.
#12 Posted by Melanie, CJR on Wed 25 Mar 2009 at 09:56 AM
The dream team would have to start with people who are intelligent choosing the dream team. Kristol was a horrible choice and the NYT lost cred in my book for that one - a lot of cred. My list is short: Frank Rich. And yes, I agree, Dowd has to go. She's gotten so weird. I used to enjoy her columns but now I skip them. Overall, I skim the NYT Op-Ed but don't bother read it much any more.
#13 Posted by Louise Bruderle, CJR on Wed 25 Mar 2009 at 10:43 AM
i can do entirely without cohen, friedman is a complete horse's ass, krugman is the brightest of the lot, brooks is interestingly unpredictable at times, kristol was obviously a huge mistake, if that's the best that conservatism had to offer why not the ghost of goebbels that had to be floating about somewhere, maureen tries too hard at times, blow doesn't have much "blow:" of any kind if you know what I mean, herbert and kristoff are both o.k. in my book, collins seems still to be having fun.
if i had my druthers i'd put in a radical progressive like tom englehardt who does tom dispatch for "the nation" and has plenty of staying power over the years,
or perhaps david bromwich if you want to have a truly literate fellow... he pops up occasionally at huffington... from a biz point of view, ariana is an obvious choice, though i doubt that she would do it for very long, only to enhance her own gig... lanatol lieven...
there are no conservatives that aren't whores and shills of one kind or another.
#14 Posted by michael roloff, CJR on Wed 25 Mar 2009 at 11:02 AM
Sandra Tsing Loh, who's been writing incisive, funny cultural journalism about L.A. for years now, and is a contributor at the Atlantic.
Also, if smart, relevant professors like Stephen Greenblatt or Marjorie Garber had a once-in-a-while op-ed column, I'd gobble them up. And if I can echo some folks: Coll, Hertzberg, Coates.
#15 Posted by Jane Kim, CJR on Wed 25 Mar 2009 at 11:42 AM
I think that page's influence--with the exception of say Krugman and Herbert--has long declined. They need to open it more.
#16 Posted by Sean Jacobs, CJR on Wed 25 Mar 2009 at 12:57 PM
Okay, my second comment.
Just an observation: It's funny that the best "Times columnist" going is writing for The Wall Street Journal edit page. That would be Thomas Frank, who may just be too uncomfortably radical for The New York Times (believe it or not, conservatives!). I've got to give Murdoch credit for hiring him onto a page that hadn't had even a centrist voice since longtimer Al Hunt decamped for Bloomberg.
Sandra Tsing-Loh is a great suggestion, Jane.
#17 Posted by Ryan Chittum, CJR on Wed 25 Mar 2009 at 01:27 PM
David Cay Johnston
#18 Posted by Bill Du Bois, CJR on Wed 25 Mar 2009 at 02:33 PM
William Pfaff, Christopher Caldwell, Katha Pollitt to be added----but why worry so much about the Times when the Washington Post is in far from sublime shape? And where and how will most American readers learn what interesting Asians, Africans, Europeans think???
#19 Posted by norman birnbaum, CJR on Wed 25 Mar 2009 at 02:36 PM
someone mentioned dalrymple as a conservative who can write. d'accord.
my feeling is that the op-ed board that selects the not times employed for their occasional stint needs a few kicks. every month they trot out michael o'hanlan and a few other soft-core warmongers from the Brookings. it's all very auntiesh, incurably so i guess. that letter from the a.i.g. employee today was refreshing, so was that op-ed from mexico yesterday. so they are batting 500 whereas they ought to be batting at least 750!
#20 Posted by michael roloff, CJR on Wed 25 Mar 2009 at 04:15 PM
Rich is consistently excellent. Brooks brings good balance. Agree it may be time for Dowd to take a breather. Would love to see Katha Pollitt her replacement to keep a lively feminist perspective on the page. We definitely need Krugman in there right now. That's my 2 cents.
#21 Posted by Sally Ballin, CJR on Thu 26 Mar 2009 at 03:52 PM
Yeah Katha Pollitt, and add Wendy Kaminer. Amartya Sen. Irshad Manji. Richard Posner.
#22 Posted by Ophelia Benson, CJR on Fri 27 Mar 2009 at 06:56 PM
Thom Hartmann, recently "disappeared" Air America midday host, Al Franken's even more substantive successor, which is saying something, since Franken used his show not for comedy but as a seminar to educate himself, as well as his audience, about the national issues of the day. The author of several books, Hartmann is one of the most intelligent progressive commentators going. The Times could use someone like him, who can penetrate the nonsense put forward by the right-wing - and their fellow-traveling "mainstream" - commentators and journalists.
#23 Posted by Philip R. Olenick, CJR on Sat 28 Mar 2009 at 01:26 AM
I'd like to read Fareed Zakaria's article on the Times editorial page. Definitely!
#24 Posted by Paolo Massa, CJR on Sat 28 Mar 2009 at 06:21 PM
Robert Parry of Consortiumnews would be an honest voice with a powerful message on political hijinks. I would like to read more Dick Cavitt. Joshua Micah Marshall of tpm.com as well as stories and comments from American Progress.
#25 Posted by patty748, CJR on Sat 4 Apr 2009 at 01:21 PM