The Political Page, T+113 -- May 13, 2017

This is quite extraordinary, if one a) puts this in context; and, b) reads between the lines. A huge "thank you" to a reader for the link.

Earlier this week there CNBC talked about this a bit longer than usual when earnings came out and Time, Inc, got slammed:

Time, Inc: earnings worse than forecast

• 1Q17: 18-cent loss vs 15-cent loss forecast 
• shares down 6% in pre-market trading; down 10% when market opens

The earnings report must have gotten someone's attention over at Time, Inc. According to Politico, The New York Times publisher sent a "personal appeal to those canceled over Bret Stephens." 

Stephens, who left The Wall Street Journal to join the Times, is also well known as a Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative writer who has written strongly against President Donald Trump, often engaging in public battles during the campaign with the likes of Fox News anchor Sean Hannity. His first column for the Times last month argued that climate data create the misleading impression that we know what global warming’s impact will be, leading to reader complaints, some canceled subscriptions and a public editor column.

In the letter to former subscribers, Sulzberger says it’s important to underscore that the newsroom functions separately from the opinion department, and that New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet “has sharply expanded the team of reporters and editors who cover climate change.”

Earnings are directly related to ad pages and ad pages are directly related subscription numbers in the newspaper publishing business. Unless there were "issues" developing between Stephens and The WSJ, one wonders why he would leave a thriving newspaper to one that is sinking. And one that is well know to post a lot of "fake news" on the front page.

By the way, on a completely different note, the fact that the Times has changed its editorial policy and reporting policy on climate change is not trivial.

My hunch is that Barbra Streisand canceled her subscription, and that's what really got the publisher's attention.

On still another note, it should be noted that Vanity Fair has become much slimmer over the past year or so. I posted that on the blog some time ago, but I noted it again yesterday when at the library. It's kind of too bad. The current issue has some great stories but because of its editorial policy I just can't find myself spending time with it. But it, too, must be feeling effects of canceled subscriptions. 

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Snopes -- Not So Much

Perhaps Snopes can fact-check the Political article above.

With regard to Snopes, consider me one of the duped. Fortunately, I quit reading Snopes years ago.

A huge "thank you" to a reader for alerting me to the story. Again, the British tabloids come through.