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I have been remiss in not writing about the latest developments in the Howell Raines/NYT situation.   As you may know, Raines' favored son Rick Bragg formally resigned today from the Times.  Yesterday, he defended his practice of relying on stringers to gather facts and conduct interviews, flying in to "toe touch" the locale in question, writing up the notes of others into feature articles, and scoring the prized "dateline" without attributing his collaborators.

I must admit that, being a civilian, I had never paid much attention to "datelines".   I just assumed that the reporter whose name appeared on the byline had actually researched the story (possibly with help from others), but had certainly been present at the locations reported upon, seen the sights, spoken with most of people quoted, and generally absorbed the essence of what actually happened.   According to Rick Bragg, at least at the NYT, this was, more often than not, not the case.   Rather his role was that of a glorified rewrite man... taking notes and interviews conducted by others and then fashioning them into a poignant, and compelling story (often from the nearest airport, where he had just flown in to secure the dateline).

This assertion provoked a fascinating outpouring of commentary from current NYT correspondents and stringers, both attacking and defending this view of the role of a feature reporter.   (These comments were sent to the excellent Jim Romenesko at the Poynter Institute, a journalism school in St. Petersburg, Florida.)   I highly recommend reading these comments, since they consist of many journalists saying that the Bragg approach was an abuse, leavened by a few contributors lauding Bragg for his talent and skill as a writer.

My take on all of this is that the Times should adopt the crediting policies followed by the leading newsweeklies, where the lead writers are given a byline and any additional reporting is credited at the end of the article.   This approach would make it clear that the finished journalistic product was a team effort, and that the person writing the description of the scene and events may well have not been personally present.   Just like in the securities markets: full disclosure.   As one former federal prosecutor once told me, "sunlight is the best disinfectant".