Conversation with Gay Talese and Peter Kaplan

Good stuff in here on the future of the biz, electronic media and this gem of a back and forth:



GT: I remember reading the apologia from the management of the Times with regard to Jayson Blair. If I remember, one of the mid-level editors, Jon Landman, who has now been elevated, was on the same floor as the then-executive editor, Howell Raines. And Landman sends an e-mail, something to the effect that we must stop Jayson Blair from writing again for the New York Times, after he'd done thirty terrible stories. Isn't this crazy. What would I have done if I was that mid-level editor? I would have gotten up from my desk and walked across and knocked on the door and said, "Mr. Raines," as I…