The Imploding Plastic Inevitable

The New York Times as the Velvet Underground?! Sorry–this is an analogy that’s a Pinch too strained, though I understand the point that Kevin D. Williamson is trying to make:

The problem with the Times isn’t that its readership is huge, though it is huge. The problem is that the Times is the Velvet Underground of newspapers. Lou Reed’s old band didn’t sell many records, the story goes, but everybody who bought their record started a band. The Times may not be read by everybody, but it’s read by everybody who’s anybody in the media. Through its influence on the Associated Press, broadcast news, and the second- and third-tier dailies, the Times and its biases end up shaping the news in markets far, far removed from the paper’s home turf.

So does this mean Maureen Dowd is Nico?