New York Times media columnist David Carr set the record straight with his piece about the firing of executive editor Jill Abramson. Carr reports Abramson’s unceremonious beheading had nothing to do with her complaint over pay inequity and everything to do with her management style.
Carr confirmed that her “masthead colleagues” had lost confidence in her just as publisher Arthur Sulzburger, Jr. wrote in a public statement over the weekend. Still, Carr acknowledged the paper’s handling of the firing was clumsy at best.
So now we know the truth: Jill Abramson could be abrasive, pushy, didn’t consult with colleagues in a collaborative manner, obscured the truth to a boss, and made hiring decisions without input from managing editor Dean Baquet.
Really? That sounds like every newsroom I have ever worked in in my life. In fact, it sounds a little like the way I used to run a newsroom.
A newsroom can be a tough place to work. It’s not for anyone whose feelings are easily hurt when told about your story, “You don’t have it,” "The writing is sloppy,” “We’re killing it,”- or for anyone who believes he’s got a front page story only to find it on C-12.
Mollycoddling produces weak results, for both the reporter and the reader. It’s an easy way out and an easy way to avoid confrontation. My guess is Abramson didn’t do a lot of hand holding. And like academia, newsrooms are rife with politics. It’s a daily ritualistic juggling of power, only in newsrooms the outcome really matters.
And that’s not all. Abramson has an odd speaking style, plus she is small with a fierce look, almost like the character played by Linda Hunt in the “Year of Living Dangerously.” But, unlike Hunt’s dwarf character, Abramson is female. And the truth is, you just can’t get away with all of the above if you are a woman.
Emily Rooney is the host of Greater Boston.
