The New York Times's "Conservative Beat"

Ana Marie Cox, editor of the excellent new webzine Wonkette, has put her finger on one of those obsessions that animate newsroom chatter in Washington and New York: "Everyone's straining to describe exactly how weird it is that the New York Times has put former media reporter David Kirkpatrick on a new 'conservative beat.'"

She's right about the straining, but as we will show, what the Times is up to is far less weird than it looks. First, though, here's what New York Observer media reporter Sridhar Pappu had to say about Kirkpatrick's new beat:

For the next year, David Kirkpatrick--formerly the man charged with covering the book publishing industry--will cover conservatives. Not the Republican Party or the Bush administration. No, it's real conservatives.

In an announcement earlier this month Times national editor Jim Roberts said that Mr. Kirkpatrick "will examine conservative forces in religion, politics, law, business and the media--a job that will take him across the country and make him a frequent presence in Washington. His coverage will cut across the political campaigns this season," Mr. Roberts continued, "but we expect that much of what he does will transcend the race itself and delve into the issues and personalities that drive--and sometimes divide--conservatives."

"I winced a little when I read that job announcement," said Times executive editor Bill Keller, "because it was a little like 'the New York Times discovers this strange, alien species called conservatives,' and that's not what this is about."

If it seems a little wacky,

well, it is. Intellectual movements seldom draw the attention of beat reporters. There is, after all, no correspondent covering think tanks for the Washington Post. What the Times' new beat means to do, Mr. Keller said, is this: Give a great big bear hug to the disparate but at times interconnected conservative organizations--evangelical Christians and anti-abortionists, for example--all as a way of gaining a peek into who the Bush administration listens to, and why.

But again, Kirkpatrick's assignment only seems wacky. The key to the whole enterprise can be found in the national editor's expressed interest in issues that divide conservatives. Particularly, as can be seen in the pieces Kirkpatrick has been filing, in the issues that divide conservatives from the Bush White House.

Here are the headlines for Kirkpatrick's first three pieces on the new beat: "Bush's Push for Marriage Falls Short for Conservatives"; "Conservative Groups Differ on Bush Words on Marriage"; "Concerned Bloc of Republicans Wonders Whether Bush Is Conservative Enough."

In short, there's no weirdness here. From Paul Krugman on down, the Times offers its readers an extensive array of Bush-bashing features. The "conservative beat" is simply a clever new addition to this menu.

Accentuate the Positive

Perhaps you've wondered why the Democratic presidential candidates look so good these days on TV while President Bush is behind the 8-ball. Well, Bob Lichter of the Center for Media and Public Affairs has the explanation.

From January 1, when the Democratic race went full throttle, to January 18, the day before the Iowa caucuses, the coverage of the entire Democratic field on ABC, NBC, and CBS was 71 percent positive. That's the most favorable coverage of presidential candidates ever recorded by Lichter's group. John Kerry's coverage was 96 percent favorable. John Edwards's was 100 percent favorable--not a single unkind word about him was aired on the nets. No wonder he surged in Iowa.