New York Times

Richard Benfield, a member of the New York Times editorial board and the editor of the New Jersey section, is retiring after a long career in journalism.  Hs spent nineteen years as editorial page editor for The Record, and headed The Record’s Trenton and Washington bureaus.  His op-ed on suburban political bosses – specifically Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero, ran on the New York Times’ national opinion page on January 1 and is a must-read for New Jerseyans.

"New Jersey voters deserved a better race this year than the nearly invisible contest between Senator Frank Lautenberg and Richard Zimmer, his Republican challenger," begins the New York Times' endorsement of U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Although accurate, a generous interpretation of this seemingly hypocritical charge is that it is in fact a veiled criticism of their own paper's decision to ignore the U.S. Senate race in New Jersey. Not once has the Times written a story about the general election contest between Frank Lautenberg and Dick Zimmer. (By comparison, Cynthia Burton at the Philadelphia Inquirer has written 11 pieces on the race.)

To add insult to injury, Zimmer told PolitickerNJ: "One of the editors of the New York Times who interviewed me for their editorial thought I was still a member of Congress."

To view more cartoons by Politicker.com editorial cartoonist Rob Tornoe, click here.

Gov. Jon Corzine met with New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. “to register a sense of serious disappointment that we weren't seeing the kind of coverage that I think would be good for The New York Times' distribution as well as, certainly, the public,” according to a report in the New York Observer. Corzine says he complained about the “infrequency of coverage” and how the NYT has essentially closed their news operations in Newark and Trenton. CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEW YORK OBSERVER STORY.

An observation on how the New York Times’ coverage of New Jersey has changed over the years: when Bergen County Republican Chairman Anthony Statile resigned in 1973, the New York Times wrote five separate stories on the special election to replace him – but did not cover the passage of the state budget in 2008. The promotion of David Chen from Trenton to New York City Hall ends a chain of highly influential New Jersey-based New York Times reporters (like Joseph Sullivan, Ronald Sullivan, David Halbfinger and David Kocieniewski) that influenced New Jersey politics as much as any in-state newspaper. As recently as 2001 and 2002, the NYT played a key role in ending the political careers of Gov. Donald DiFrancesco and U.S. Sen. Bob Torricelli.

John Edwards admission that he lied and dismissed reports of an affair with Rielle Hunter, a filmmaker hired to cover his presidential campaign, may have ended his public life, but did it also signify an end to the era in which the mainstream media controlled the agenda for national political journalism?

With now less than 100 days to go until the presidential election, the veepstakes race is reportedly narrowing. The problem with the news reports is a gender bias that seems to keep cracking its head open on the glass ceiling.

To its credit, The New York Times public editor recently took a hard look at its own coverage -- "Pantsuits and the Presidency." In the column, Clark Hoyt quoted two experts that noted The Times did a better job than others in the media on the newsroom sexism measuring stick. 

Did anyone notice that The New York Times completely overlooked the $32.9 billion budget adopted by the state legislature on Monday?

Despite its run-up to the grand event, nary a mention could be found on its inside pages or in the Metro section.

Here’s what New York Times reporter Ronald Sullivan wrote on the search to find a candidate to challenge U.S. Senator Clifford Case in 1966 after several other prospective Democratic candidates dropped out of the race: “(The U.S. Senate candidate) will bear the onus of running as the party’s obvious second choice and a candidate who is given little chance of winning.” (New York Times, 06/15/66)

The New York Times endorsed Frank Lautenberg for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.  Sensing their work in New Jersey was over, the declined to cover the debate between Lautenberg and Rob Andrews on NJN Friday night.  The newspaper is backing Dick Zimmer for the GOP Senate nod.  Their decision not to cover the lone TV debate in the Lautenberg-Andrews primary comes a week after they moved their talented Bureau Chief, David Chen, from Trenton to New York City Hall.  The New York Times, perhaps reading Jon Corzine’s memo on filling vacancies slowly, has not yet announced who – if anyone – will represent the New York Times in New Jersey.