Who Picks Reviewers at the New York Times?
I just threw up my hands when I saw that the New York Times Review of Books had assigned Richard Dawkins to review Michael Behe’s excellent new book, The Edge of Evolution. A more temperate soul, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus of First Things, takes apart the Times’s decision with greater care.
The tendentious Dawkins does not answer Behe, but merely vilifies him. This seems to be the standard Darwinist reply to scientific critics of their One True Faith. The mild surprise is not Dawkins, therefore, but the Times’ rabid partisanship in asking him to review the book in the first place.
The Times is having its problems, as are most newspapers. As a lover of print media, I hate to see it. As someone who looks for objective news and balanced commentary, however, I observe that they are reaping what they sow. One reason that sensationalist radio and TV gain market is that papers like the Times are becoming indistinguishable from them in the quality of their product. And radio and TV demand less attention.