Keller, ''NYT' Editor, Recalls His Columns Backing War

Keller, ''NYT' Editor, Recalls His Columns Backing War -- And Tackles Industry Problems
By E&P Staff
Published: December 01, 2007

In a speech in London on Thursday, Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, tackled a number of big subjects -- from the Bush press crackdown to the future of the newspaper industry -- while also admitting that his columns boosting the invasion of Iraq turned out to be misguided.

Keller spoke at an event honoring Hugo Young, columnist for The Guardian newspaper in London, who passed away in 2003.

He opened by recalling that he had spent a brief time at his paper as a columnist. "It was not so much a career move as a consolation prize," he said. "What happened was, in 2001 I was the dark horse in a race for the top job at The New York Times. I lost to a candidate with more experience and charisma, and column -- writing became my blissful exile for 20 months -' until the other guy's charisma ran out."

This, of course, was Howell Raines.

Keller then admitted that Hugo Young was "wiser than I on some things, including the biggest issue of the day. He foresaw the catastrophe that the war in Iraq would become, whereas I -- out of a combination of contrarianism and wishful thinking -- thought the United States was capable of eliminating a murderous tyrant without making a lethal hash of it. Someday I may pass back into the land of opinion-writing, and if so I will revisit the columns I wrote in those days. I expect Hugo's ghost will be there to help me on with my hair shirt."

Then Keller revealed that his "assignment tonight is to talk about the state of newspapers in America. No doubt you have read that newspapers, at least in my country, are beleaguered. That is undeniable. Let me count the ways."

He then spoke at length about attacks on his paper by the White House, business reversals, the challenge from the Web (and the Times' embrace of it), the limits of blogging, and much more.

The entire 8,000-word text is at The Guardian's site:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/29/pressandpublishing.digitalmedia1?gusrc=rss&feed=media