It’s a New York Times take down as Public Editor Margaret Sullivan slams Michael Kinsley’s review of Glenn Greenwald’s No Place to Hide in the Book Review. Many journalists, including Mr. Greenwald, have criticized the review, which was published online last week and will appear in the paper on June 8, for arguing that the media should let the government decide what information should and should not be public. Ms. Sullivan goes further, attacking the review’s “sneering tone” and saying it “didn’t meet the bar” of the Times. Book review editor Pamela Paul defended the review, and criticism. This morning, Times film critic A.O. Scott added his thoughts to the mix, tweeting that he respects Ms. Paul’s defense of criticism, even though he doesn’t agree with Mr. Kinsley’s stance on journalism. (New York Times)
BuzzFeed (BZFD) continues to drive traffic, but we will no longer know just how much since the site has decided keep its stats to itself. This tight-lipped policy comes before the upcoming launch of BuzzFeed Video, the venture’s current focus. (Quartz)
This week was low on Jill Abramson news, but The New Yorker’s Ken Auletta fixed that. He added a summary of the events leading up to, surrounding and following the former Times editor in chief’s dismissal. Mr. Auletta’s latest dispatch is like a cheat sheet to Abramson-gate. (The New Yorker)
Philadelphia Inquirer co-owners Lewis Katz and H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest won control of the paper and its parent company at yesterday’s auction with a bid of $88 million. They beat out the Inquirer’s other owners George E. Norcross III, Joseph Buckelew and William Hankowsky. The victory is being seen as one for in-depth, high quality journalism and a loss for the conglomerate model that has been growing in popularity in the digital market. Scoreboard — Print: 1 Internet: A lot more than 1. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Today, The Washington Post launched PostEverything, a new digital opinions platform. In an interview with Poynter, the new venture’s editor Adam Kushner says he wants the site to “look a lot like a digital daily magazine” with external contributions on topics including politics, culture and sports. Asked to cite an example of a story, Mr. Kushner said: “OK, we’ve just discovered a new apocryphal Gospel in which Jesus had a wife … Let’s go call Reza Aslan and ask him to make an argument … That’s fun. That’s a lot of fun.” Sure, that sounds fun. (Poynter)
Businessweek, which has already started to shed its grey suit, is about to get even more colorful. The magazine named Rob Vargas, former art director, its new creative director, replacing Richard Turley who left for MTV. (Capital New York)
