Tom Scocca
Articles by Tom Scocca
The Yankees Make a Myth of Joba Chamberlain
Apr. 30th, 2008, 12:02 am
Sixteen different New York Yankees played in a dramatic 4-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians April 26. None of their names were at the top of The New York Times’ game story the next morning. Instead, The Times led with the news that Joba Chamberlain had not appeared.
Ross Ohlendorf, the pitcher who gave up the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, didn’t appear till paragraph three. It took six paragraphs for The Times to mention any of the Cleveland players by name, and nine to identify catcher Victor Martinez as the one who got the hit. read more »
In Pulitzer Race, Bill Keller Does Not Yet Catch Howell Raines
Apr. 8th, 2008, 6:55 am
The New York Times under executive editor Bill Keller still has fewer Pulitzer victories to its credit than during the short-lived reign of his predecessor, Howell Raines.
Under Raines, who served approximately 21 months before resigning in 2003 in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal, the paper's news pages published seven Pulitzer-winning entries.
In more than twice that span of time—53 Pulitzer-eligible months as executive editor—Keller has published six Pulitzer winners. read more »
Joe Torre, Far From Home
Mar. 19th, 2008, 12:25 pm
BEIJING—March 15 was what people conventionally call a great day for a ball game. A right-handed pull hitter might have disagreed, feeling the strong breeze coming in from the northwest. It was certainly a kind day for red flags, at least in Beijing. Along Chang'an Boulevard, by Tian'anmen Square and the Great Hall of the People, the national flags and accompanying plain red ones stood rippling off their flagpoles, aglow in clear sunlight against the blue sky.
From the other side of the country, in Lhasa, there were reports of flag burnings—and other things burning. It was unclear. The Internet was clogged. YouTube was blocked, and its Chinese counterpart, Tudou, had suddenly announced it was shutting down to work on its servers. read more »
Without Spielberg, Beijing's Olympic Production Runs on Time
Mar. 6th, 2008, 7:00 am
BEIJING -- When an employee of Rupert Murdoch begins badgering someone about cozying up to the Chinese regime, it's clear that the People's Republic is having a public-relations crisis.
"Spielberg said, 'No, I'm not going to go,'" a reporter said, thrusting a Fox News microphone at British filmmaker Daryl Goodrich on Feb. 23.
Eleven days earlier, Steven Spielberg had publicly announced he was quitting as an artistic consultant to the Beijing Olympics. So why, the Fox man demanded, had Goodrich said yes? read more »
Al Gore Has a Nobel! But Ralph Nader? Nada!
Feb. 27th, 2008, 1:30 am
“I say to President-elect Bush that what remains of partisan rancor must now be put aside, and may God bless his stewardship of this country,” Al Gore said on December 13, 2000.
Well, George W. Bush didn’t listen to Al Gore’s advice, and neither so much did God. But Ralph Nader evidently took it as holy writ. read more »
Whose Bastard Sun: If The Wire Is Wrong, Why Is Baltimore's Paper So Bad?
Jan. 29th, 2008, 9:56 am
If David Simon is Captain Ahab, then call me Ishmael. Mr. Simon, the newspaper-reporter-turned-television-producer, stands accused of unhealthy obsession because he is using the current season of The Wire to revisit his old workplace, The Baltimore Sun. read more »
A Reporter Comes in From the Cold
Jan. 1st, 2008, 11:25 pm
BEIJING—“I think it’s actually surprisingly easy for Americans to come here and feel like they can fit in,” Joseph Kahn said, sitting in a coffee shop called Sequoia, a block north of the gate of the Jian Guo Men Diplomatic Compound. It was late December, and Mr. Kahn was nearing the end of his Pulitzer-winning tour of duty as The New York Times’ Beijing bureau chief. On Dec. 31, The Times named him deputy foreign editor, a job that will require him to relocate to New York.
The first time Mr. Kahn was sent home from Beijing as a reporter was in 1989. When the Tiananmen Square protests began, he was in Hong Kong, doing graduate work in East Asian studies. Mr. Kahn entered the mainland on a tourist visa and began working as a stringer for The Dallas Morning News. After the crackdown, the authorities revoked his visa and ordered him out of the country within 72 hours. read more »
Ripken Goes to China
Nov. 6th, 2007, 7:41 pm
Cal’s mission for America meets Olympian bureaucracy in Beijing. read more »
How I Became a Prop for China
Aug. 31st, 2007, 5:22 am
Covering the rush to prepare for the Olympics in Beijing, this reporter inadvertently became a mascot for China's new spirit of cooperation with journalists. read more »
Fluorescent Fanatics Turn Me Off
May. 22nd, 2007, 7:57 pm
As a loyal American, I find myself ever more worried about the fate of electrical lighting. By electrical lighting, I mean incandescent. There are other kinds of lamps that run on electricity, but they count as lighting only in the same sense that brown rice counts as food—only if someone morbidly insists on it, and no one else has the heart to argue. read more »
The Economist: Everyone Copies It, But Does Anyone Translate It?
Mar. 18th, 2007, 8:00 pm
Times' Judy Miller, In Contempt, Says She Won't Budge
Feb. 18th, 2007, 8:00 pm
Sulzberger Sees the Future, And It’s Not Black-and-White
Feb. 18th, 2007, 8:00 pm
Who Needs a Basketball Lesson from the Knicks?
Dec. 24th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Not Since Nixon—Friedman in China, Sells Tom’s World
Nov. 19th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Passing the Gladwell Point
Oct. 8th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Martin Scorsese, Now a Great Hong Kong Director
Oct. 8th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Serene Dean Baquet Has a Birthday Cake In L.A. Times Newsroom
Oct. 1st, 2006, 8:00 pm
Times Draws Ragged Line Between Fact and Opinion
Sep. 24th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Deadline U.S.A. ’06: Old Baltimore Sun Gasps and Leaps
Aug. 20th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Deadline U.S.A. '06: Old Baltimore Sun Gasps and Leaps
Aug. 20th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Why Didn’t Times Back Lieberman? Joe Doesn’t Know
Aug. 6th, 2006, 8:00 pm
The YouTube Devolution
Jul. 30th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Times’ Angry Inch: Latest Vogue Slices Paper Coulter-Thin
Jul. 23rd, 2006, 8:00 pm
Man Who Knew Plenty: Times’ Siegal Imprinted Invisibly on Newspaper
May. 28th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Man Who Knew Plenty: Times' Siegal Imprinted Invisibly on Newspaper
May. 28th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Time Takes A Huey: Editor Kelly Rises, Successor Chosen
May. 21st, 2006, 8:00 pm
Time Takes A Huey: Editor Kelly Rises, Successor Chosen
May. 21st, 2006, 8:00 pm
The Land Time Forgot
May. 14th, 2006, 8:00 pm
The Land Time Forgot
May. 14th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Cargo–Ergo Sum: I Shop, Therefore I Am So Bummed!
Apr. 2nd, 2006, 8:00 pm
Cargo–Ergo Sum: I Shop, Therefore I Am So Bummed!
Apr. 2nd, 2006, 8:00 pm
Stuffed Envelope
Feb. 26th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Stuffed Envelope
Feb. 26th, 2006, 8:00 pm
Stuffed Envelope
Feb. 26th, 2006, 8:00 pm
The Awful Untruth
Jan. 22nd, 2006, 8:00 pm
The Awful Untruth
Jan. 22nd, 2006, 8:00 pm
Rupert Murdoch
Dec. 18th, 2005, 8:00 pm
Gay Talese
Dec. 18th, 2005, 8:00 pm
Gay Talese
Dec. 18th, 2005, 8:00 pm

Scion of The Times
Nov. 20th, 2005, 8:00 pm
Scion of The Times
Nov. 20th, 2005, 8:00 pm
Times Does Duty, And So Does Judy– But It's A Hash
Oct. 23rd, 2005, 8:00 pm
Times Does Duty, And So Does Judy– But It’s A Hash
Oct. 23rd, 2005, 8:00 pm
Times Newsroom Begins To Absorb Iraqi’s Murder
Sep. 25th, 2005, 8:00 pm
Times Newsroom Begins To Absorb Iraqi's Murder
Sep. 25th, 2005, 8:00 pm
Armies of the Right
Sep. 18th, 2005, 8:00 pm
Excuse Me, Is That...? In China, an Attempt To Eat a Killer Fish
Sep. 18th, 2005, 8:00 pm
Excuse Me, Is That...? In China, an Attempt To Eat a Killer Fish
Sep. 18th, 2005, 8:00 pm
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