NY Times' "Exclusive" on Elizabeth Gilbert's House Sale, or "What's Wrong With This Picture?"

Elizabeth Gilbert

Good Friday was certainly good for Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert. In a piece many people would have gladly paid thousands of dollars to place, The New York Times' online edition today included an "exclusive" (the Times' own characterization) on Ms. Gilbert's impending house sale. This article's teaser and link appeared on the Times' splash page (thank you), included a generous photo of the rural New Jersey home on which Gilbert has put a "for sale" sign (thank you, again), and rambled for hundreds of words about the structure and of course, the wonderful Elizabeth Gilbert (one more time, thank you).

The piece's most shameless part was its inclusion of the listing agent's name, contact phone number, and asking price for the house. It even included the current property taxes on it and open house dates! Now, if you're thinking of selling your home, you should seriously consider getting cozy with someone at the paper that insists it selects "All the News That's Fit to Print." Now that I'm thinking about it, perhaps the Times put out its own "for sale" sign for feature stories. Favors and crony corruption come in many forms, as the Times knows only too well.

The Elizabeth Gilbert story comes on the heels of the Times' dismal showing at this year's Pulitzer Prize awards. If one has even minimal journalistic standards, the Gilbert piece is nothing less than a black eye for a once-proud newspaper. What's wrong with the Times? The thinking and execution of the puff piece on behalf of Elizabeth Gilbert is a good place to start one's exploration.