Dec 31, 2008

Out with the old

As struggling newspapers start to hack away at bone, some of the shining stars of yesteryear are getting hit with the knife. Last month, the New York Observer dropped columnist Nicholas von Hoffman. On Tuesday, the Village Voice gave columnist Nat Hentoff the pink slip.

On a personal/professional note: I've booked von Hoffman on "To The Point" a couple times in the last year to offer his curmudgeonly wisdom and perspective to the presidential race. I've never booked Hentoff, but he spoke up for TTP when WNYC dropped it from its schedule earlier this year.

2 comments:

Edward Barrera said...

Hentoff was one of the few reasons to read the ever-thinning Voice. When the paper fires investigative reporter Tom Robbins, it will be done.

Anonymous said...

Hentoff is a great figure in American journalism - New York heavyweight division - whose passionate and way-smart embrace of jazz, politics, culture, free speech and press, history, race, and only-in-NY issues inspired countless young readers and future writers, and should still. His writing continues in JazzTimes magazine, in a column called Final Chorus, where he has the inside back page and shows the power and relevance of good writing.