PajamasXpress blogger and longtime contributor to this site Richard Miniter has been named to the august title of “vice president of opinion” at the Washington Times. Rich has always been vice president of opinion to us (although we have a number of similar vice presidents).
But he is one of the best, no doubt, and this is the first time that the WT has appointed someone to such a position, “encompassing the [paper's] editorial page, the Op-Ed page and commentary pages.” Some of these sections are being revamped, notably on the Internet, and the new vice president promises to move at the “speed of blog.” Pajamas Media flatters itself that he may have learned something about that here.
Special congratulations are due Miniter for an honor and responsibility earned.
“Vice President for Opinion.” Sounds like a title made up by the Rev. Moon himself.
How rapidly will the Washington Times abandon its dead paper edition? I found out only recently that Marc Andreessen agrees with me. News organizations must completely move to the Internet. Good luck to Richard Miniter. He increases the odds that the Washington Times may be able to save itself.
A very astute move on the WTs part.
I have long enjoyed Richard Miniters’s articles, and I look forward to more.
Vice-president of anything sounds like an executive position. Opinion seems to be a strange thing to preside over, regardless of whomever is supposed to perform the presidence, or the vice-presidence.
What kind of decision is a VP of opinion supposed to make? Generally speaking, an executive is expected to accomplish two things: 1. Achieve the goals of the entreprise, and, 2. arbitrate when consensus did not obtain.
If the goal of the entreprise is to foster debate, I can see how Mr. Miniter can greatly contribute. If the goal of the entreprise is to broadcast a particular color of opinion, the VP’s intellect is in a position to be abused, and he will have to look into the option of tending his resignation.
Maybe the WP realized that newspapers can survive after all, if they actually bring debate, real back-and-forth debate to the readership. I hope that’s the case. I see some poetic justice in the hiring of a contributor to the new media being hired by a longstanding member of the old media.
No doubt Mr. Miniter will soon share his new mission statement with us.
How in the world did a conservative land the job of Vice President of Opinion at a stalwart of objectivity like the Washington Times?
Congratulations to Richard!
“Marc Andreessen agrees with me. News organizations must completely move to the Internet.”
Rubbish.
How many real people get their news from the inernet.
This is as bad as the State Department selling Voice Of America frequencies because they are going to use the internet instead
Inernet should read internet.
Richard is alo effective and eloquent live. When will FOx and others pick up on him? I use to enjoy the banter with him and David Korn on PJM.
Congratulations, Richard.. And to think we knew you when..
I have been an admirer of Mr. Miniter’s for years, and during that time I have watched his career. As a former editor of Pajamas Media (a detail that is oddly left out of Mr. Simon’s blurb), he brought great contributions to the site with Corn/Miniter and numerous interesting interviews. However, one should acknowledge that Mr. Miniter was a powerhouse of journalism long before his involvement with Pajamas. This blurb implies to me that Miniter learned journalism here, though Mr. Simon himself misquotes Miniter when he actually said “blog speed”.
Regardless, I hope Mr. Miniter has great success at the Times, who can greatly benefit from Mr. Miniter’s unapologetic conservatism.