Arianna versus Sulzberger on the Mining Disaster

One would think that Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. would know when leave well enough alone and steer clear of Arianna Huffington. Huffington once selected Sulzberger as a charter member of something unfortunately called The Lucky Sperm Club, meaning that she thought Sulzberger owed his position in society to the family into which he was born and not to talent.

According to a Huffington editorial, Sulzberger approached the controversial blogger-mogul in Aspen last night after she had attacked the coverage in the Times of the Crandall Canyon Mine tragedy in an earlier speech. A conversation ensued in which Huffington says she took Sulzberger to task for the lack of a follow-up on the possible causes of the mine collapse during the past week. Huffington writes:

”Instead, last night, Sulzberger preferred to rationalize away his paper’s choices. ‘I’m told that 324 violations are not a lot,’ he said to me.

”Maybe not if you work in an office on West 43rd Street; but if you make a living by going underground to excavate coal, even one serious safety violation is one too many.”

Note to Sulzberger: next time, just walk away.

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