Monday, December 03, 2007

 

Contrast

It's certainly worth comparing the cases of TNR's Scott Thomas Beauchamp and NRO's Thomas W. Smith, Jr. Beauchamp is a fabulist; Smith certainly is not. Beauchamp was slagging the troops; Thomas was covering the enemy from inside his territory. It's worth comparing their editors as well: Franklin Foer is an irresponsible crank, a mealy-mouthed ideologue who stonewalled and blamed his and Beauchamp's accusers, refused to apologise and maintains an air of victimhood to this day; Katheryn Jean Lopez is a complete professional whose handling of the criticism levelled against Smith and the National Review Online is exemplary.

Captain Ed Morrissey:
Every publication eventually makes a big enough error to warrant a retraction and an apology. Even here at CapQ, I've had to do it a few times, and believe me, it never feels good. One has to resist the urge to rationalize mistakes and spin enough to avoid admitting error. Just as with customer service, where I often described my management position as "professional apologizer", editors have to bite the bullet and admit error to maintain organizational credibility.

Kathryn Jean Lopez did so here. Notice that she did not blame the critics for pointing out the error or assume that the criticism was motivated by some sort of conspiracy. She didn't, in essence, blame the customer for a faulty product. She took quick action to investigate, found obvious shortcomings, and issued an apology and a detailed accounting of the problem.

Had Franklin Foer done that when the story fell apart at TNR, he could have not just saved the magazine from a credibility collapse, he could have enhanced its standing. Instead of acting professionally, he assumed the Nixonian posture that anyone questioning TNR's product must automatically be an enemy against whom all defenses were necessary. Instead, even in an apology, he couldn't help blaming the customers for a shoddy product.

Incidentally, I share Michelle's analysis of the failure at The Tank. It was poor work, and it has been highlighted as such. NRO's response has been appropriate and substantial.
Boiled down, the contrast between NRO and TNR in these matters speaks volumes about character. On the one hand, honesty, humility, responsibility and honor; on the other, embarrassing dishonesty, rank obtuseness, a victim mentality and blind servitude to The Narrative.

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