When the kitchen's too hot, get out: Times executive editor Howell Raines and managing editor Gerald Boyd resign. Former executive editor Joseph Lelyveld returns as interim executive editor.
Updated: The Times' Jacques Steinberg (who had been barred from the internal Times town halls as he was the Times reporter covering the Blair story) reports:
In front of dozens of reporters, editors, photographers and other newsroom staff members, many of whom sobbed audibly, Mr. Raines, 60, told them: "Remember, when a great story breaks out, go like hell.''
The remark, which could have been spoken by one of the role models Mr. Raines often cited to his staff, the legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant, underscored the magnitude of the many news stories that he and Mr. Boyd had led the staff through in just 21 months: the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia, and, ultimately and most recently, the exposition and investigation into how Mr. Blair had committed the equivalent of journalistic fraud on at least 36 occasions since October.
But after the deceptions of Mr. Blair were brought to light, in a four-page article that was published on Mother's Day, it became clear that Mr. Raines's hard-charging leadership style had not only played a role in creating the atmosphere that allowed Mr. Blair to do what he did largely undetected but had also alienated him from his staff.
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This 27 year old loser, creep, scumbag single-handedly took down the careers of these two guys who have been playing in the big leagues for decades. Damn! If Blair didn't have a price on his head before, karma is definitely coming for his ass now.
Hmmm, this would also seem to make Blair's chances at a big book deal bleaker given that now the real juicy book story is most certainly Raines to tell. I hope Blair crawls back under whatever rock they had the bad luck to find him under.
In most articles, it's noted that Raines has long been a divisive figure in the newsroom. The Ken Auletta piece in the New Yorker last year made many Times staffers upset.
Most successful/high profile media people have their fair share of enemies (see Martha Stewart, Anna Wintour, Kurt Andersen, etc, etc.). Unless someone has hard evidence of Raines kicking a puppy, then we can't say he's any more of a prick than any other media shark. I just think it sucks that this guy [Blair] single-handedly caused so much damage.