“Does anyone want to guess why we are listening to Rigoletto?” said Times editor Bill Keller in a speech at a staff meeting yesterday. “It’s because Rigoletto had its premiere in 1851, and so did the New York Times. They’ve both held up pretty well … Because the reporters and editors at the Times stand on a century and a half of tradition and reinvention, of high standards and superior craft. So, in some primordial sense, the journalism of the Times began when Verdi was introducing the world to Rigoletto. Like the vines that produce great wine, journalism is enriched by its rootstock, and ours is fine and sturdy.” [NYO]
