Article content continuedInstead of regarding superiors in their institution with respect and deference, we see young staffers at publishing houses moralizing to their bosses, and instructing them on who they can and cannot publish. We see young staffers at newspapers openly denouncing their bosses for editorial decisions they find offensive, and even agitating — often successfully as in the recent case of the New York Times, for publishing an op-ed by a Republican senator they disliked — for their removal. How swiftly this role reversal has come about. When my son, Jonathan Kay, was hired for the National Post’s first editorial board in 1998, he and the board’s other young turks, who were bright but fairly new to the craft of editorial writing, were treated to the gift of apprenticeship from John O’Sullivan — master journalist, former speechwriter for Margaret Thatcher, friend and colleague of owner Conrad Black — who whipped them into shape before production began, and stayed on to coach them for several more months. It was an intense and demanding experience, but the result was a higher level of performance in editorial writing than mere journalism courses could confer.

Source: National Post June 25, 2020 16:30 UTC