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Liptak's the one

By Mark Obbie

Now that the Times has made the most natural choice of all to replace Linda Greenhouse -- it's Adam Liptak, as first reported by the Observer's John Koblin (who reprints D.C. bureau chief Dean Baquet's memo) -- the first question I have concerns legal affairs reporting in the Times. Liptak, who was my (and the obvious) first guess to replace Greenhouse once she took a buyout and announced plans to teach at Yale, fills a niche that would be a shame to lose. His weekly Sidebar column is a marvelous exploration of legal issues. His American Exception series, which I've most recently fawned over here and most notably here, shows what a smart, enterprising reporter can do with law if given the chance -- and if not responsible for a beat like SCOTUS, which typically robs reporters of the time to pursue issues-based stories independent of the Court's docket. Considering that the Times' whole point here is to shed headcount and salary expenses, I worry. But the good news, obviously, is that readers of the Times should expect to see no less quality than we're used to (and no less whining from the paranoid right).  P.S. - I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions that the Observer was first. The Observer post isn't time-stamped, but Lyle Denniston had it at 3:47 p.m.

Full post as published by Lawbeat on April 04, 2008 (boomark / email).