Larry Summers Is In at the Washington Post
In today's WashPo,
columnist David Ignatius writes about how important the International Monetary Fund is. Along the way, he quotes approvingly from a speech Larry Summers made in India, calling it "a speech that showed why [Summers] remains one of the world's best economists, even as he prepares to depart as Harvard's president."
Let us parse this,
as Mike McCurry used to say.
First off, in my journalism world, when describing someone as "one of the world's best economists," it's usually appropriate to mention that you are friends with that economist, and that you used to play
tennis together at Washington's St. Alban's tennis club, as reported in that fine work,
Harvard Rules,
now available in paperback. This is a simple rule, taught in introductory classes in journalism schools all over and regularly ignored by powerful columnists at the Post and Times.
Second, how exactly did Ignatius hear about that speech when it was delivered in India and only reported in Indian newspapers? One can reasonably presume that it was brought to his attention by President Summers.
In fact, it's even possible that Summers gave Ignatius the idea for the column in its entirety. Larry Summers is, after all, looking around for things to do—and some relationship with the IMF is a plausible option.
Which would make David Ignatius' column a thinly veiled job application for Larry Summers. In turn, Summers would prove a continuing source of column ideas and information—i.e., leaks—to David Ignatius.
Journalists....
