Not above the law

Time Inc. understands that it isn’t sovereign. The New York Times seems unclear on the concept.

The editor of Time Inc. has apparently decided that even media barons aren’t above the law. The publisher of the New York Times disapproves.

I suppose being a fifth-generation hereditary media baron would tend to make you even more arrogant than even an ordinary media baron. Still, bragging about one’s prior exploits in defying lawful court orders seems, to me, a bit over the top.

Now, the New York Times is, in my estimation, an overwhelmingly positive force, despite its many flaws. More generally, everyone on the reality-based side of the current political wars ought to stand behind legitimate newsgathering organizations in their stuggle against their avowed enemies in the government and the extra-governmental elements of the VRWC and their pseudo-competitors in the tame Murdoch-and-Moon press. (The Kaus/Reynolds axis of bloggic right-wing media criticism tends to ignore the fact that virtually all blogging is parasitic on underlying newsgathering activity.)

But regarding the genuine news media as allies of reality in its war with fantasy doesn’t require ignoring instances of media misconduct and arrogance.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com