Colin McEnroe asks the Times to do some 'splainin'

The Hartford Courant's Colin McEnroe is now asking The New York Times to sic its ombudsman (in Timesspeak: public editor) Clark Hoyt on the relationship between Sarah McGrath, editor of Love and Consequences, and Charles "Chip" McGrath, former editor of the Times' book section....

Seltzer's book got the kind of ride from the Times that authors dream of. A rave in a featured daily review by alpha critic Michiko Kakutani and then a truly gushy piece in the House and Home section. How did it get that kind of star-making treatment?

One has to think it has something to do with Seltzer's editor, Sarah McGrath, who worked for three years on this book without ever noticing that it was 100 percent hooey and who is the daughter of Times writer-at-large Charles McGrath. In identifying papa this way, the Times kind of covers up who he really is -- the editor emeritus of the Times Book Review.

So, Mr. Hoyt, one thing I would like you to look into is how many times Mr. McGrath slouched into this or that office around the building and suggested that a little more than usual could be done for this book by one of Sarah's authors.  "Never" would be a wonderful answer.

I can't imagine McGrath père would actually flex his deltoids that inelegantly; that's not the way publishing, or book sections, tend to work. But The New York Times is doing itself no favors by not disclosing that family connection in its coverage of the case.

It's a fair question for a newspaper ombudsman, and I suppose McEnroe is a lot safer asking it of Mr. Hoyt instead of the paper's first embed-ombud, Dan "Deign of Terror" Okrent. But the story's not going away, so maybe Motoko Rich will address it in the next news cycle.

Comments

[cholmondoley]

Interesting that Chip McGrath and Motoko Rich sit right next to each other in the New York Times office, and that Rich has frequently reported stories on McGrath's suggestion.

So why are they not reporting that little factoid?