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March 29, 2008

They keep pulling me back in

Normally I wouldn't bother posting about yet another example of media self-censorship, even one as lame as the New York Times refusing to say the name of the blog Go Fug Yourself ("We only take fug from Norman Mailer," Abe Rosenthal might have said). But this article happens to be a kind of radosh.net perfect storm, seeing as how it's also a Sunday Styles trend story about books by bloggers. Here's the key graf:

One of the first literary agents to troll the Web for talent was Kate Lee, who in 2003 was an assistant at International Creative Management, the sprawling talent agency, looking for a way to make her name.

When she started contacting bloggers and talking to them about book deals, many were stunned that a real literary agent was interested in their midnight typings. Her roster was so rich with bloggers, including Matt Welch from Hit & Run and Glenn Reynolds from Instapundit, that the New Yorker profiled her in 2004. Two years from now, the magazine noted, “Books by bloggers will be a trend, a cultural phenomenon.”

Some of you (hi, mom) will recognize that New Yorker story as one of mine. And some of you (hi, um, me) will even recall that the tongue-in-cheek "cultural phenomenon" line was a set-up for this punchline: "You will probably read about it in the Sunday Times."

So, I was off by two years. And, yeah, the Times already ran this exact story three and a half years ago — but that was on a Wednesday.

[h/t: Susannah]

Posted by Daniel Radosh

Comments

but why short change me? I said it was "two years after that..."

the one you cite isn't the key graf. the graf about apogee is.


True enough! I meant "key graf" as far as the story relates to me, since, being a blogger, only the part that relates to me is important.

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