NY Times man, dumped by Met, gets his job back
NewsMany fanfares were blown when, exactly two years ago, Peter Gelb hired Times hack Daniel Wakin to be his senior director of communications.
Wakin had spent 22 years on the Times and his new job was to keep Gelb smelling sweet.
Apparently it didn’t work out that way.
Very quietly last summer, Gelb dumped Wakin. He went crawling back to the Times, where they have given him a desk job as ‘Deputy int’l editor, NYT Opinion’.
So he can carry on spinning from behind a Times screen.
The real world is more complex and interesting than your version. Some years ago Wakin’s reporting gave Gelb one of his worst months at the Met, and the Times ran the story on A1 even though Gelb’s father used to the the Times managing editor.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/crack-up-at-the-met
I haven’t seen a lot of stories about the Metropolitan Opera in the NYT’s international opinion columns, so to me this looks like a pretty sturdy wall between Wakin and his former employer, but maybe you read a different edition.
There are people who read the New York Times?
Indeed. All the predictably left leaning sheep that bleat the party slogans on these pages. (I dare you to publish this)
As you can see, it was published. You can bet that “controversies” will always get in print — and not just on this site.
Mr. Wakin’s position was one of the most bizarre hires of the Gelb regime…and there have been plenty.
I just felt sadness that a working journalist had such career desperation at his age to accept and/or suggest a job at the Met, a downward trajectory by any measure.
At least the NYT bailed him out. Perhaps Mr. Wakin has another book in him. (A note of caution – not on the Met or Gelb; no one cares.)
Sounds to me as if Peter Gelb expected miracles. Maybe Mr. Wakin was used to reporting and not “spinning,” and found the challenge distasteful. After all, if we are to believe half the stuff posted here about the Met, you could conclude that no “spin” could save it from widespread criticism.
And a quick look at Mr. Wakin’s c.v. shows that he is no “hack,” rather a versatile and very experienced newsman who has international experience and who seems to have turned to whatever he was assigned with enthusiasm and dedication.
I do not know what your animus against the Times is based upon. But I could put a spin on it…
Despite his faults, Wakin was a far better music critic than Zachary Woolfe. That said, trying to keep Gelbzabub above water with his chronic mistakes is a thankless job which no salary could compensate for the groveling one has to do before the press. It is also not heard of for companies to hire their critics for short periods of time to get them to stop criticizing them. Interesting they did not put him back in the music division at the Times, as all vestigal ties to Arthur Gelb are long over.
Wakin was never a critic. He was a recycler of press releases.
Thanks for setting the record straight. Too often posters repeat falsehoods that somehow eventually become fact.
Daniel Wakin is a world class journalist and a reporter of great integrity! Your portrayal of him is ridiculous and misguided! The Met was lucky to have him and the NYT are lucky to have him back.
We have recorded many instances of his bias and unprofessionalism.