how to get into the NY Times (or not)
Boris Johnson was asked to write an Op-Ed for the New York Times. He was thrilled. Then he got a call from one of their editors. “Everybody loves it. But we have, uh, a few issues of political correctness that I have to go through with you (…)
Some of the changes were unobjectionable. For American readers, Tony Blair leads the Labor party. The NY Times is too grand to call Rumsfeld “Rummie”, and nothing happened last autumn; it happened last “fall”. Fair enough. But I started to get a floaty, out-of-body sensation when he said that he had made a change to a sentence about donations of US overseas aid to key members of the UN Security Council. I had said something to the effect that you don’t make international law by giving new squash courts to the President of Guinea. This now read “the President of Chile”. Come again? I said. Que?
“Uh, Boris,” said Tobin, “it’s just easier in principle if we don’t say anything deprecatory about a black African country, and since Guinea and Chile are both members of the UN Security Council, and since it doesn’t affect your point, we would like to say Chile.” In the end, I gave way on this, since it was getting cold and I was worried about the battery of my mobile. But my views of the NY Times were starting to evolve. ”
This was only the beginning. Worthwhile read.
Link from Mobylives.