Times Watch Quotes of Note: Panel Host Challenges Executive Editor Keller on Front-Page Liberal Bias

Marvin Kalb: "On the Times you have news and then you've got opinion. Now there should be a wall between the two. Your ombudsman Arthur Brisbane says, and I quote, 'the news pages are laced with analytical and opinion pieces that work against the premise that the news is just the news,' unquote. Many conservatives as you well know, criticize the Times as being a liberal, left-wing newspaper, and that those views get into the news part of your newspaper. Why do you allow this to happen?"

Bill Keller: "We don't allow it to happen. I mean-"

Marvin Kalb: "But it happens almost every day." - Exchange between Executive Editor Bill Keller and host Marvin Kalb on a panel at George Washington University, January 31.




"There is Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey: blustery and bellicose, hectoring the unions, enthralling fellow Republicans with his tax caps and spending cuts, already generating presidential murmurings after barely a year in office. And then, up the road in Connecticut, there is a new governor trying to be everything Mr. Christie is not....Mr. Malloy grew up with dyslexia and physical disabilities. He still cannot write or type. And as he closes a 20 percent budget deficit, he spends much of his energy finding ways to spare the most vulnerable." - David Halbfinger's February 16 profile of new Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, bashing fellow Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.




"The selection of North Carolina also underscored the hope of Mr. Obama and his advisers that they have a better chance of organizing supporters - and finding new voters - in a conservative-leaning but demographically evolving Southern state than in a traditional battleground like Missouri." - Jeff Zeleny in a February 2 story on the Democrats picking Charotte, North Carolina for their 2012 presidential convention.


"Tampa as a Republican comfort zone also brings risk: if the party plays too much to its base, will it look out of touch? This, after all, is a city settled largely by Cuban immigrants in the 1880s, who came here to roll cigars. Now it is more diverse than the party it is hosting. As of the 2000 census, Tampa was at least 19 percent Hispanic and 26 percent black. And economically, the gap between rich and poor is particularly pronounced....The wrong mix of poverty juxtaposed with Republicans partying - perhaps against a backdrop of oil-stained beaches - could give Democrats just what they need to portray their opponents as woefully disconnected from the middle class." - Damien Cave's May 13, 2010 story on the Republicans choosing Tampa, Fla. as the site for their 2012 presidential convention.




"Although it is our aim to be impartial in our presentation of the news, our attitude toward these issues is far from indifferent...." - From Executive Editor Bill Keller's cover story on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, for the January 30 edition of the New York Times Magazine.


For more of the most biased quotes from Times reporters, read the latest edition of Times Watch Quotes of Note.