Week of March 27 - April 2, 2002 Press Clips
by Cynthia Cotts
Race to the Bottom True or false: The New York Times Book Review is not the best place to review books that criticize the Times. True, according to Times book review editor Charles McGrath, who recently told the San Francisco Chronicle that an anti-Times angle was one reason he decided not to assign a review of Coloring the News: How Crusading for Diversity Has Corrupted American Journalism. False, says Coloring the News author William McGowan, whose book argues that the crusade by the Times and other papers to promote cultural diversity, both in news reporting and newsroom hires, has produced its own form of repressive orthodoxy. "The Times' blackout of my book is the journalistic equivalent of the blue wall of silence," says the author. "It shows how hypocritical they are in their calls for accountability in other places and how consistently they refuse to respond to criticism." McGowan, a former Newsweek reporter and current Manhattan Institute fellow, points to reviews that have appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Columbia Journalism Review, and so on. These tend to see his book as biased and flawed in its own right, but commendable for raising important questions. Journalist Jim Sleeper is also disturbed by the Times' decision not to review McGowan's book. Sleeper believes that his own review, which appeared in the L.A. Times, shows that "there is a way to do it fairly. Criticize McGowan all you want, but acknowledge the force of his argument." One has to ask, What did McGowan expect? His book depicts Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. as the bogeyman who set the national agenda for promoting diversity, and throughout the book he takes whacks at the Times piρata. Any student of the Times knows the paper will not dignify that kind of harsh criticism with a response. Besides, a Times review that trashed McGowan's arguments would sound self-serving, while one that praised them could be construed as an admission of guilt. "We receive thousands of books each year and we cannot review all of them," said Times spokesperson Toby Usnik. "We make our choices as best we can, with an eye toward what we think will appeal to a general audience." | 
