Margaret Sullivan Moves into the Center Ring

--"Now there are two Irish women," Mrs. Buce remarked over breakfast.

--Two what? 

Oh, right. She's reading the Sunday New York Times, in particular Maureen Dowd, whose weekend offering often provokes at Chez Buce a fullscale dramatic oral rendition.  But, two?

--Ah.  Mrs. Buce had happened on Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times' new public editor, who has already proven she is her own woman, in a kerfuffle last week about indecorous tweets.     Here is Ms. Sullivan today, trolling for much bigger fish: in particular the creepy/unsettling story of the drone attacks, and the general question of whether our President has, or ought to have, the right to knock off  targets or bystanders at the end of the earth on his own say-so. 

Sullivan starts small with a crisp summary of the (reported) record to date: between 282 and 535 civilians, including more 60 children.  She reviews the journalism, including the masterly report last spring by the Times' own Scott Shane and Jo Becker.  

But then--but then the point is not to pat two Times reporters on the back for a piece of work they signed off on nearly five months ago.  Sullivan's real point emerges as twofold: one, this is a hell of a story, not nearly fully enough explored; and two, the Times is one of those not on it:

Since the article in May, its reporting has not aggressively challenged the administration’s description of those killed as “militants” — itself an undefined term. And it has been criticized for giving administration officials the cover of anonymity when they suggest that critics of drones are terrorist sympathizers.  ...

With its vast talent and resources, The Times has a responsibility to lead the way in covering this topic as aggressively and as forcefully as possible, and to keep pushing for transparency so that Americans can understand just what their government is doing.

All this is on point and worthwhile but conceptually, it's not a lot different from clucking about the misspelling the name of the mayor of Pokipsie Pookepsie, Phoughkeepsie.  Far more interesting are ten intervening paragraphs in which Sullivan takes it upon herself to summarize just how creepy/unsettling this whole drone business is: not only an underreported story but rather also a story that would be a lot more unsettling if it got the kind of coverage it deserves.   Here if not before, Ms. Sullivan makes clear that she has got a bully pulpit and is going to use it.  

How long is her term of office, is it two years [no, it's four--ed.]?  My guess is there is someone in the bowels of the Times' overstuffed management echelon who is already marking dates on his calendar.  Meanwhile for Sullivan's full "drone" column, go here.