New York Times Scandal Not Likely to Affect Readers

"Remember that most of the criticism was coming from within the industry," stresses Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys. "Did the guy on a Metro-North train reading the Times in the morning think any less of the paper? What happened was a black eye and it was embarrassing, but I can't remember the last time anyone died of a black eye or embarrassment."

That's the general feeling in the industry. What happened at the Times was very bad but like most "events" in America, we seem to have a very short term memory for these things.

"Most of the paper's readers aren't especially interested in the internal workings of the Times," says Charles Fountain, an associate professor at Northeastern University. "Sure, [the newspaper] is a little bit damaged right now, but it's mostly damaged within the industry, which tends to be a little bit insular and not really reflective of people who read the newspaper."

The long term affects of this for readers and advertisers is likely to be nil. [via Mediapost]
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