Ignoring Troubled Auto Czar's Friendship With NYT Publisher

Tuesday's front-page piece by Michael J de la Merced and Danny Hakim, Obama Choice On Auto Woes Is Leaving Post [1]," dealt with Steven Rattner quitting his post as Obama's chief adviser on the auto industry (his "auto czar") now that his former Wall Street firm's role in a public pension scandal has attracted the attention of prosecutors.

But the story made no mention of Rattner's long friendship with New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., which extends back to when they were both reporters for the Times (the story only mentioned the reporting job). The paper [2] [2]mentioned [2]the relationship in April, before the controversy became public, in a laudatory profile of Rattner written by Louise Story, "Obama's Top Auto Industry [3]Troubleshooter [3]":

Although Mr. Rattner is friendly with many communications media leaders, he has been wary of the publicity his position has brought and at first resisted requests to be interviewed. He has long had a close friendship with the publisher of The New York Times,Arthur Sulzberger Jr.

But a story 11 days later [2]on Rattner and the brewing pension fund controversy left out the Sulzberger friendship, and it hasn't been mentioned in the paper since.