The LA Times, that is. Here is Doyle McManus today:
If it seems arbitrary — even unfair — to take the measure of a new president after just 100 days in office, you can blame Franklin D. Roosevelt.
No! A thousand times no. It’s the fault of lazy journalists who insist on hauling out this tired trope every few years no matter how inane it is. McManus even admits a few paragraphs later that “for most leaders since FDR, the first three months have been an unreliable guide to the years that followed.” That’s true! So why perpetuate this nonsense?
Elsewhere, the Times brings its readership up to speed on the news that Rep. Jane Harman was overheard in an NSA wiretap agreeing to intervene in the espionage case of two pro-Israel lobbyists. This story has been reported in detail by both Congressional Quarterly and the New York Times. It’s been all over the blogosphere and cable news. Harman’s district is in Los Angeles county. It’s maybe 20 miles from the LAT’s main office. So what do LA readers get? About ten bland column inches buried at the very bottom of A11. With her name misspelled in the headline. Jesus.
On the bright side, the Times won a Pulitzer yesterday for a multipart special on wildfires. Congrats to Julie Cart and Bettina Boxall.
