The Independent Press

Blogger Norman Oder suggests The New York Times hire a free-lancer (no, not himself, but perhaps Paul Moses) to cover the construction of its own headquarters on Eighth Avenue, and maybe even Atlantic Yards. Our first thought was, Wouldn’t that free-lancer face the same conflicts of interest that Times staff reporters do? Not necessarily. Oder uncovered a precedent at the Seattle Times. Unfortunately, the precedent got canned--or more precisely, his contract was not renewed. Meanwhile, NoLandGrab reimagines today’s Times article on eminent domain as if it were Bruce Ratner talking about the Times building, rather than Douglas Durst about the Bank of America tower. The parallels are unmistakable. -Matthew Schuerman