Today, September 21, marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of the Times op-ed page, that vessel of wisdom that has brought us such timeless journalism as Maureen Dowd's notorious May 2003 "Dowdification" [1] of what President Bush said about the threat of the Talbian, and Enron consultant Paul Krugman's brilliant January 2002 prediction [2] that "in the years ahead Enron, not Sept. 11, will come to be seen as the greater turning point in U.S. society."
True to form, the Times marked the occasion with a video [3] of serial misleader Joe Wilson's July 2003 Times op-ed, "What I Didn't Find in Africa," which unfairly damaged the Bush administration's credibility, at least until Wilson's own credibility and competence were shattered [4]. (But apparently not at the New York Times.)
Loyal readers who wish to celebrate the Times' anniversary may want to preserve today's dead-tree edition for posterity, because if Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger is to be believed, the paper won't be around, in print at least [5], for the 50th anniversary (or perhaps even the 45th).
You can follow Times Watch on Twitter [6].
