PressEthic

I finally found good news.

I was beginning to feel really cynical since I started these blogs. Well, maybe just more cynical than usual - but definitely angrier. One thing that especially set me off was the new TimesSelect subscriptions at the New York Times.

Even though I can't read my favorite columnists for free anymore, at least one of them seems to be feeling my pain.

Maureen Dowd could just be not offering the carrots at the end of the TimesSelect stick because of laziness, or she could just not care to interact with her readers. But I'd like to believe Editor & Publisher's suspicions are correct.

If they were, it would only add to my respect for Dowd. I already love her caustic tongue (and pen), and of course her shots at ol' Dubya are always entertaining. She's an opinionated woman, getting well-compensated for her thoughts, in a society where strong-minded women are often seen as, er, witches. It's something encouraging in a profession that constantly gives me reason to be discouraged.

I know I'd be a little bitter if I were a New York Times columnist. The "What I'm Reading" lists and Q&As these subscribers are paying for are appealing, but not at the cost of losing readership. As several publications have noted, the TimesSelect columnists have all but disappeared from the "most e-mailed" lists on the paper's Web site. And with the assertive voice of Dowd's columns, for her to be bucking them in protest would seem apropos.

Here's to hoping that Dowd is really thinking about her readers and, in her own little way, not letting her boss boss her around.