New York Times editor talks about campaign coverage

Speaking to a group of students in the Honors Center on Nov. 14, Gerry Mullany, the deputy politics editor of the New York Times, reflected on his paper's election campaign coverage.

Mullany, who attended the Iowa caucuses, both party conventions, and spent time on the campaign trail with Sen. John McCain, said that two years ago the newspaper knew this election would be memorable. For this reason the paper decided to create a political desk in New York dedicated to publishing online material, including a blog and videos.

"We never had a political desk," Mullany said. "It was always run out of Washington." Hiring tech-savvy reporters, the new desk also provided material for the print version of the paper.

Mullany said the large field of Democratic and Republican candidates was difficult to deal with because the newspaper didn't have enough reporters to cover everyone. He said they had full-time staffers covering Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts. Mullany admitted they thought Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton would be the nominees and that they, "had no idea Obama would ever get this far."

Mullany offered insight into what it was like on election night in the newsroom, describing it as frantic. They were forced to wait until the television networks called the election for Obama to do the final edits. In fact, he said they had articles and layouts prepared for three scenarios: one for an Obama victory, one for a McCain victory, and one in the event of an undecided contest. On Nov. 5, the paper's headline simply read "Obama" in large font.

"We never had a headline like that where it didn't have a verb, the but the executive editor [Bill Keller] decided he wanted this to be a historic paper," stated Mullany. He added that, "it was a good decision because then the next day everybody was clamoring for a copy of the paper."

Mullany also discussed the Obama team's relationship with the press, and the President-elect's supposed offer to Sen. Hillary Clinton to become his secretary of state.

A larger version of this story will appear in the upcoming issue of the New Paltz Nugget, which hits the stands on Tuesday, Nov. 25. Make sure to pick up a copy before you leave for Thanksgiving break.