RIP Arthur Sulzberger

[YankeeFan]

Dead at 86:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/nyregion/arthur-o-sulzberger-publisher-who-transformed-times-dies-at-86.html?pagewanted=all

 

[Azrael]

This country owes him a great debt for growing and defending one of the best newspapers in the world.

 

[Steak Snabler]

A giant of the industry no doubt, but does he really merit a 7,500-word obit? I daresay presidents don't get obits that long in the Times.

 

[YankeeFan]

A giant of the industry no doubt, but does he really merit a 7,500-word obit? I daresay presidents don't get obits that long in the Times.

That obit was something, wasn't it?

Can't really begrudge it though. The guy was a giant in the industry, and it's his paper.

 

[Liut]

RIP. And thanks for the link, Yankee.

The Pentagon Papers are prominently mentioned, appropriately so, but The New York Times v. Sullivan got the briefest of briefs. The obit does mention, though, the majority of litigation was apparently on his brother-in-law's watch.

Pentagon may be The Times' finest accomplishment for defending the First Amendment, but I would assert Times v. Sullivan is a very close second.

 

[Beaker]

Legally, the impact of Times v. Sullivan can't be underestimated. I would guess you could also say the same journalistically.

 

[dixiehack]

RIP. And thanks for the link, Yankee.

The Pentagon Papers are prominently mentioned, appropriately so, but The New York Times v. Sullivan got the briefest of briefs. The obit does mention, though, the majority of litigation was apparently on his brother-in-law's watch.

Pentagon may be The Times' finest accomplishment for defending the First Amendment, but I would assert Times v. Sullivan is a very close second.

In the later case though, the Times was dragged in as an unwitting defendant after running an ad. They fought like lions to be sure, but they were forced into it. The Pentagon papers were more a case of going on offense first.

 

[Liut]

RIP. And thanks for the link, Yankee.

The Pentagon Papers are prominently mentioned, appropriately so, but The New York Times v. Sullivan got the briefest of briefs. The obit does mention, though, the majority of litigation was apparently on his brother-in-law's watch.

Pentagon may be The Times' finest accomplishment for defending the First Amendment, but I would assert Times v. Sullivan is a very close second.

In the later case though, the Times was dragged in as an unwitting defendant after running an ad. They fought like lions to be sure, but they were forced into it. The Pentagon papers were more a case of going on offense first.

Good point. I suppose winning the Sullivan case helped The Times follow the courage of its convictions insofar as Pentagon.

 

[YankeeFan]

An obit 14 years in the making:

As publisher of The New York Times, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger had a privilege afforded rarely even to those who share his gilded background: He was interviewed repeatedly by his obituarist.

Clyde Haberman began working on his 7,741-word obituary for his former boss in 1998 and interviewed Sulzberger several times for it, the New York Times reporter told Poynter in an email. Sulzberger died Saturday. He was 86 and had Parkinson’s disease.

The piece, Haberman said, “was occasionally revised, though not significantly, as his health declined in recent years and a greater sense of urgency developed.”

On Saturday morning, he said, “there were some minor tweaks that needed to be made – again, nothing major.”

Haberman’s reporting leads readers to a remarkable view of the former publisher and New York Times Company chairman, whose professional life, Haberman writes in the piece, lasted from “the era of hot lead and Linotype machines to the birth of the digital world.”

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/190042/clyde-haberman-on-his-sulzberger-obit-it-is-never-simple-to-write-about-the-boss/

Wasn't there a recent obit where the obituarist had already passed away?

 

[Steak Snabler]

An obit 14 years in the making:

As publisher of The New York Times, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger had a privilege afforded rarely even to those who share his gilded background: He was interviewed repeatedly by his obituarist.

Clyde Haberman began working on his 7,741-word obituary for his former boss in 1998 and interviewed Sulzberger several times for it, the New York Times reporter told Poynter in an email. Sulzberger died Saturday. He was 86 and had Parkinson’s disease.

The piece, Haberman said, “was occasionally revised, though not significantly, as his health declined in recent years and a greater sense of urgency developed.”

On Saturday morning, he said, “there were some minor tweaks that needed to be made – again, nothing major.”

Haberman’s reporting leads readers to a remarkable view of the former publisher and New York Times Company chairman, whose professional life, Haberman writes in the piece, lasted from “the era of hot lead and Linotype machines to the birth of the digital world.”

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/190042/clyde-haberman-on-his-sulzberger-obit-it-is-never-simple-to-write-about-the-boss/

Wasn't there a recent obit where the obituarist had already passed away?

Bob Hope's guy was already dead, I remember that.

 

[YankeeFan]

Bob Hope's guy was already dead, I remember that.

That might be the one I was thinking of. It as someone on his level of fame.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Bob Hope's guy was already dead, I remember that.

That might be the one I was thinking of. It as someone on his level of fame.

Also Elizabeth Taylor's ...

http://blogs.wSportsJournalists.com/speakeasy/2011/03/23/new-york-times-obit-writer-for-elizabeth-taylor-died-6-years-ago/

 

[Pencil Dick]

Bob Hope's guy was already dead, I remember that.

That might be the one I was thinking of. It as someone on his level of fame.

Also Elizabeth Taylor's ...

http://blogs.wSportsJournalists.com/speakeasy/2011/03/23/new-york-times-obit-writer-for-elizabeth-taylor-died-6-years-ago/

I had the privilege of a behind-the-scenes tour of The NYT building in April 2001. We were shown Ronald Reagan's 4-page obituary 3 years before he died.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Bob Hope's guy was already dead, I remember that.

That might be the one I was thinking of. It as someone on his level of fame.

Also Elizabeth Taylor's ...

http://blogs.wSportsJournalists.com/speakeasy/2011/03/23/new-york-times-obit-writer-for-elizabeth-taylor-died-6-years-ago/

I had the privilege of a behind-the-scenes tour of The NYT building in April 2001. We were shown Ronald Reagan's 4-page obituary 3 years before he died.

I was working desk on the day Reagan died. Cox News Service moved his obit on the wire a good two hours before he was officially dead.