Despite claims (or hopes) by critics on the right and the left, the New York Times continues to remain one of the most (if not the most) powerful media organizations in the U.S. And their op-ed columnists continue to have a major influence on political opinion and on our culture.
According to Andrew Silow-Carroll, the editor in chief of New Jersey Jewish News, several of the paper's Jewish columnists also are representative of the different Jewish perspectives on political discourse regarding U.S. and Israel policies in 2009.
In a speech presented by the Tampa Jewish Federation last night and delivered at Congregation Kol Ami in Carrollwood , Silow-Carroll spoke for a half hour on the topic, "A Nation of Pundits: How the Media Shapes Jewish Opinion."
Silow-Carroll uses 4 Times Jewish columnists as the anchor for his remarks – the late William Safire, Thomas Friedman, Frank Rich, and Roger Cohen.
Although Safire retired from writing his column in 2005 and passed away in September, Silow-Carroll says that his conservative perspective at "the right-wing pro-Israel desk" at the Times was for decades the voice of for a certain segment of Jewish leadership, and certainly of Jewish Republicans in the U.S.
And Silow-Carroll says he sees the spirit of Safire's conservative voice as very much a part of the Orthodox community today.
He took a considerable portion of his speech to speak about the man considered Safire's conservative replacement on the op-ed pages, David Brooks, who he considers to be a more independent voice. He said that Brooks has "a little Evangelical envy- what he envies is their fervor."
Brooks independence of course, is not welcome in some circles of the GOP. His comment on Sunday's This Week program on ABC that Sarah Palin "was a joke," lit up the conservative blogosphere, but it was nothing new for Brooks, who a year ago said she "represented a fatal cancer to the Republican Party."
No doubt as regular Times' readers know, if the Republican Party does have a civil war on its hands, Brooks is definitely not in the Limbaugh/Beck/Hannity camp. Silow-Carroll said Brooks' stances are what he sees with young Jewish Republicans, "definitely conservative, but not comfortable with social conservatives."
Silow-Carroll, who is the former managing editor of the Jewish weekly The Forward, also spent considerable time discussing Thomas Friedman, the best-selling, Pulitzer Prize winning Foreign Affairs Columnist for the Times. He called Friedman a tough minded critic of Israel, and said his columns were a reflection of the debate within Israel itself on its direction. As Friedman's regular readers know, he has been tough on Israel for their position on not stopping settlements in the West Bank, an issue that is back in the news again today.
Silow-Carroll did not have that much to say of any insight about culture critic Frank Rich, who occupies prime time real estate on the Sunday editorial pages. But he had plenty to say about one of the paper's less well known writers, Roger Cohen.
Cohen is a long time foreign affairs correspondent and former editor at the International Herald-Tribune. His columns have began appearing in the paper (and more online) in 2006, and Silow-Carroll said of him, "If you want to find a Jewish voice designed to annoy American Jews", Cohen is their man.
Cohen's depiction of Jews living in Iran earlier this year (before the disputed election and repression took place) has been the source of fierce criticism from columnists and other activists. Cohen was specifically called out by the American Jewish Committee for his takes.
Silow-Carroll said many Cohen columns begin like Thomas Friedman pieces, but then they generally veer into criticizing Israel, while always leaving the Palestinians off the hook, which he called "condescending."
Silow-Carroll then pivoted by saying that Cohen was a voice of the Jewish Left now being represented by J-Street, the progressive advocacy group that has been depicted as being an answer to the more conservative voice of AIPAC in Washington D.C.
One Jewish columnist that Silow-Carroll declined to talk about was Paul Krugman, who he said "doesn't engage on Jewish issues."
For regular NY Times readers, it was an engaging and provocative discussion. Of course, perhaps no Times columnist inspires as much fervor as its Irish-Catholic scribe, Maureen Dowd, who today weirdly I would argue tries to bond with Sarah Palin as a 'regular American' after reading her new book, Going Rogue.
This article appears in Nov 18-24, 2009.