David Halberstam was unquestionably a great journalist. The Best and the Brightest was a hugely important book in establishing a new mode of serious, writerly investigation. His coverage of Vietnam for the Times in the 60s (inspired by Graham Greene) helped turn liberal leaders against the war. Yet today The Times ran Halberstam’s obit on page C13, and it wasn’t very long. Even more insulting, it was a slow news day. Halberstam was elbowed off his rightful spot, the bottom of the front page, by two trend stories and the news from Bhutan. What a dis.
A couple reasons for the treatment may be excusable (the story broke late, Yeltsin was already a front-page obit), but a couple aren’t. Halberstam left the Times in the late ’60s, and as Clyde Haberman observed today in the obit, not on amicable terms. A few new journalists left the Times to make their names elsewhere, and the old gray elephant doesn’t forget. Second, Halberstam’s status diminished as he did sports books in recent years, and the Times was letting us know that, in its quiet way.
