The lead article in the Arts & Leisure section of this morning's New York Times is a harsh critique of art museums. Singled out for particular derision is the Guggenheim in New York.
The Times writes that "This fall has brought the spectacle of a major New York museum acting like the world's longest store window. That would be the Guggenheim, with its overproduced, undercurated 'Armani' exhibition spiraling down the ramp. Although the show was sponsored by In Style magazine, it coincides with a reported $15 million donation -- read rental fee -- from Mr. Armani, a gift that the museum claims is completely unrelated."
The Arts & Leisure article is interesting in the context of a November 29 Times editorial on the plans for a new, $678 million Guggenheim museum along the Manhattan waterfront south of the Brooklyn Bridge. That editorial praised the "enormous" "symbolic value" of Mayor Giuliani's endorsement of the plan, which includes more than $60 million in funding for the museum by the city's taxpayers.
One bad exhibit may or may not be a reason to pull a museum's taxpayer funding. But if, as the Times Arts & Leisure article asserts, the Guggenheim is indeed acting as "the world's longest store window," then the city's mayor and taxpayers -- and the Times editorial writers -- may want to reconsider whether, at a moment when there are many other pressing needs, it makes sense to grant that "store window" a taxpayer subsidy of more than $60 million.
Impersonation: An article in today's New York Times magazine about corporate espionage is co-authored by one Marc Barry. The article reports that Mr. Barry "phoned the Sussex Chamber of Commerce and posed as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal." This raises some interesting questions of journalistic ethics. How, we wonder, would the editors at the New York Times feel if a paid writer for the Wall Street Journal had gone out and "posed" as a reporter for the New York Times. They would probably be miffed, and they would be justified. (Disclosure: The editor of Smartertimes.com is a part-time freelance contributor to a web site of the Wall Street Journal.)
Wrong Name: What is it about the New York Times that it can't spell names correctly? Today's example comes in coverage of the legal proceedings in Tallahassee, Fla., stemming from Vice President Gore's challenge to the results of the election in Florida. A news article about the matter refers to "Stephen Zack, a lawyer for Mr. Gore." A photo cutline on the same page refers to "Steve Zach, left, a lawyer for Vice President Al Gore." Which is it, "Stephen Zack" or "Steve Zach"? Rather than figuring it out before publishing the newspaper, the Times editors print both names and leave it up to the readers to decide.