Incoming NYT Editor Recalls Considering Paper 'Absolute Truth'; Times Scrubs Quote

June 3rd, 2011 2:49 PM

Some time on Thursday, the New York Times scrubbed a very telling quote from its website. "In my house growing up," said the paper's new executive editor, Jill Abramson, "The Times substituted for religion. If The Times said it, it was the absolute truth."

Well isn't that nice. The paper's new head honcho was indoctrinated in Times-ology from childhood. When someone says they read the paper "religiously," we tend to think of it as a figure of speech. No so for Abramson. The paper was apparently her veritable scripture.

Does she still feel that way? Well, since being tapped for chief editor, Abramson said it was like "ascending to Valhalla."

The Times must have realized how this sounded. National Review's Jay Nordlinger noticed late Thursday night that the "absolute truth" quote no longer appeared in the online version of the story. To date, readers have not been notified of the change.

This sort of divine reverence for a news outlet is all the more ironic, given the criticism leveled at Roger Ailes of late for the apparent devotion he commands among Fox News employees. Rolling Stone even compared Ailes to Chairman Mao in a recent profile hit piece. Meanwhile, the new boss at the Times admitted to drawing the divine word from the paper's pages.

For all the whining about people supposedly accepting Fox's spin at face value, we hear very little about the near-fanatical faith the left places in its flagship newspaper.