New York Times Pens Letter to Editor -- Calls Controversial 'Atlantic' Article 'Uninformed'

Editor&Publisher: Switcheroo: 'NYT' Pens Letter to Editor -- Calls Controversial 'Atlantic' Article 'Uninformed'
By Joe Strupp
Published: January 12, 2009

NEW YORK The Atlantic's recent article that speculated about the demise of The New York Times drew a harsh rebuttal from Times senior vice president of corporate communications, Catherine Mathis.

In a letter to the Atlantic, first posted on the Romenesko site, Mathis declared that the piece "leaves a lot to be desired from the standpoint of . . . well, journalism."

"It's not unusual that a journalist calls the subject of a piece before actually publishing the article or column. In fact, in some areas of journalism that's standard practice. We wish that had happened with this story. We could have helped. Here are some of the things we would have told you." Mathis went on to counter the magazine article's reporting on the paper's credit situation and a prediction that its print edition could be gone by May.

" … it may make for a good a story but it is poor analysis. We have 830,000 loyal readers who have subscribed to The New York Times for more than two years, a number that has increased by about a third over the past decade."

The entire letter follows....

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003929478