Recently I have come to appreciate the New York Times for a surprising reason. Yes, it’s the newspaper of record, and yes their reporters work very hard (sometimes against great odds) to uncover the real story.
But there’s something else — something that I used to take for granted. It’s the fact that the New York Times does not care that I am reading it.
There was a time when that would have seemed like an odd statement indeed. When you pick up a newspaper, the newspaper doesn’t change just because you’re reading it.
But newer forms of media, like my Google feed, are obviously watching me as I am reading. When they see that I have read about something, they immediately present me with similar things to read.
Which to me seems backwards, because the last thing I would want to do after I have read about something is to read about the same thing again. To me that’s the definition of boring.
I would much rather use my time exploring something new. Call me old fashioned.
So I really appreciate that the New York Times is indifferent to my reading habits. Whatever I choose to read or not read, the contents of the paper stay the same.
It’s as though they actually believe in an objective idea of truth. Now isn’t that something?