Somewhere, I heard (or read) that the main problem with the New York Times and liberals in general is not so much leftist politics anymore as it is negativity. That certtainly explains Maureen Dowd and Paul Krugman. Then there's the fascination in high end journalism with good writing, as in creative writing. In Christopher Caldwell's review of the Times' troubles, he calls it "magazine envy:"

A kind of revolt against facts is taking place in society at large, and the news profession is caught up in it. Hence the spate of plagiarism scandals, from the New Republic's Ruth Shalit to the Boston Globe's Mike Barnicle; and fabrication scandals, from the New Republic's Stephen Glass to the L.A. Times photographer who doctored his Iraq war shots. Jack Shafer notes of Glass that he "wasn't really much of a stylist": "Glass' stories read beautifully because [former New Republic editor] the late Michael Kelly poured his genius into them before publication."

It seems to have been Rick Bragg's forte that he could make feature stories sound like fiction, when it was just reworking of some unattributed stringer or freelancer.

Whatever it is, though, it's pretty annoying to have so much of the news devoted to a story that only concerns the blue state elites.