The following is an excerpt from Andrew Ferguson | To be featured on January 30, 2012 | Weeklystandard.com |
Who knows what the first marriage is really like?
We have good news for all you skeptics who’ve been wondering whether you should trust the gossipy stories in the new book The Obamas: You can stop worrying. The author of the book, which was published to much hoo-ha this month, is a journalist named Jodi Kantor, and here’s what I read about her just the other day: “Ms. Kantor, who covered the Obamas for the New York Times during the 2008 presidential campaign, and is currently a Washington correspondent for the paper, has earned the voice of authority.”
I read this in the New York Times. The reviewer didn’t go on to explain what exactly Jodi Kantor did to earn her authority, other than to work for the New York Times.
I can hear the skeptics already—should we really trust the word of the New York Times about the trustworthiness of the New York Times? Perhaps the skeptics get hung up on the circular reasoning, not realizing that it is this circularity that perpetuates the grand reputation of the Times and its many writers and reporters: Why can you trust the New York Times? Because it employs authoritative reporters like Jodi Kantor. How do we know Jodi Kantor is authoritative? Because otherwise she wouldn’t work for the New York Times.
Now, even I will admit that the circularity gets stretched to the breaking point sometimes. You hand a skeptic a column by Maureen Dowd. He says: Why in the name of all that’s holy do I have to read Maureen Dowd? Answer: Because she’s a columnist for the New York Times. But why do I have to read a columnist for the New York Times? Because the Times is a great paper. But how is it a great paper? It employs columnists like Maureen Dowd.
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