The New York Times Discovers the Boy Scouts
1st August 2010
Read it. It is not a pretty sight.
The best indication of the vast cultural gulf separating people involved in Boy Scouts from people who report and edit the Times probably was in the photo cutline that ran with the story. “Boy Scouts said their pledge at the recent National Scout Jamboree in Fort A.P. Hill, Va. The organization is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.” As any Boy Scout would know, there is no Boy Scout “pledge.” There’s a Scout Law, and a Scout Oath (or Promise).
It goes in that vein. The Times sneers at the Scouts’ size: “In the last decade alone, membership has dropped by more than 16 percent, to 2.8 million.” No mention of what has happened to the Times’s circulation or advertising over that period, or of the fact that, at 2.8 million, there are still a lot more Boy Scouts than New York Times subscribers.