The fall last week of Howell Raines, executive editor of the New York Times, and the potential reincarnation of the troubled American lifestyle guru, Martha Stewart, may have little in common.
Both may have had poor judgement, fuelled by arrogance, but beyond that they both have been condemned or boosted by the internet.
The fall of Raines following the paper’s admission that a reporter had fabricated stories, can in part be ascribed to Jim Romenesko (49) a former Milwaukee journalist, who runs a media website ( www.poynter.org/romenesko.)
As the saga at the New York Times unfolded, it became the first read of the day for America’s media elite. The traditionally sphinx-like reporters at the paper flocked to Romenesko to express their displeasure with their boss and, as it filled with screeds of discontent, is judged to have forced his exit from the paper.
‘If this had happened when the internet didn’t exist, Raines would still be running the place. The Times staff would be just as unhappy, but they’d be unable to vent their displeasure,’ wrote Mickey Kaus, an internet columnist for Slate magazine. At the same time, Martha Stewart, who was charged with obstruction of justice and fraud over a stock trade last week, may find her salvation from the same medium.
Almost as soon as prosecutors had bought charges against her, Stewart announced she would be orchestrating her defence in the court of public opinion at www.marthatalks.com.Two days after it was put up, the company reported the site had received 1,5 million hits. – Guardian Unlimited Â