Cowling Article

Michael Cowling, a professor at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh, in a presentation yesterday on The New York Times, stated concerning the publication, “I think it lost some of its mystique.”

The dean’s symposium event took place in the University’s Reeve Memorial Union and began with a reservation-only lunch at 11:30 a.m. before Cowling’s presentation at noon.

In Cowling’s presentation, “All the News that's Fit to Print: An Insider's Look at the Venerable New York Times,” he examined the paper’s long history and the bumps it has had throughout, especially lately with Jayson Blair and the war in Iraq.

Mostly due to these recent problems, the atmosphere of the paper has changed from one of a heavy tradition to one more open to ideas, Cowling described.

“I think it’s become much more democratic that way,” Cowling, who has worked the past eight summers on the Times’ national copy desk, said.

Cowling also emphasized the paper’s new public editor position. This was added in response to the Jayson Blair scandal, in which Blair falsified sources and wasn’t at places he said he was. Up until then, Cowling said, the Times thought of public editors and ombudsmen as a “cop out.” Now the Times’ new public representative’s column appears at least twice monthly as a way to check up on the paper.

“They expect excellence from everyone who works for them,” Cowling said, “no matter what they do.”
He expressed that he felt the paper has lost some of its edge of late, though, due to the scandal and management in the newsroom.

“The New York Times is up against many more roadblocks,” Cowling said.

He began the presentation by briefly described the history of the paper.

Afterwards he spoke of the many celebrated Pulitzer Prizes the Times has won – of which there are 90 in comparison to the runner-up, The Associated Press, with 47.

However Cowling pointed out that one of the Times’ prizes has a disclaimer under it as it hangs on the ninth floor hallway at the New York Times Company building. This was won in 1932 for Walter Duranty’s 1931 coverage of the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin. Many discredit it for Duranty’s dismissive reporting on the famine there.

Cowling also displayed that the Times puts great emphasis on winning Pulitzers. He said that they put a great amount of time and money into it and that he had even once asked how much, to no avail.

His next discussions were about the Blair scandal, his experiences at the Times and his $300-winning headline, which read “White House Addition Lets President Enjoy Being in Hot Water.” It was about an addition of a hot tub in the White House.

He ended the presentation with a question and answer segment.

Michael Cowling is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. He currently teaches editing, media ethics and an independent study history in the media course. He has also taught news writing, reporting and feature writing.

Graduating from Eastern Illinois University in 1975, Cowling double-majored in journalism and history. He received his master’s degree from the University of Illinois. He has been a copy editor at the Chicago Sun-Times and a national news editor at the Los Angeles Times. He has taught part time at California State university-Fullerton and at Cal Poly-Pomona. He joined the UW – Oshkosh faculty in the fall of 1994.

Every summer from 1997 to 2004 Cowling has worked as a copy editor on either the national or the foreign desk at The New York Times. He has also been a year-round editor on their web site for 5 years.

He has conducted many editing and ethics workshops and has served as a writing coach for newspapers and organizations.

Cowling was the executive secretary of the Northeastern Wisconsin Scholastic Press Association and together with the board of directives created a $500 scholarship in 2001 for high school students interested in journalism.