Hubbry Logo
Howell RainesHowell RainesMain
Open search
Howell Raines
Community hub
Howell Raines
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Howell Raines
Howell Raines
Howell Raines
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Howell Hiram Raines (/ˈhaʊəl ˈreɪns/ HOW-əl RAYNSS; born February 5, 1943) is an American journalist, editor, and writer. He was executive editor of The New York Times from 2001 until he left in 2003 in the wake of the scandal related to reporting by Jayson Blair. In 2008, Raines became a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio, writing the magazine's media column.[1][citation needed] After beginning his journalism career working for Southern newspapers, he joined The Times in 1978, as a national correspondent based in Atlanta. His positions included political correspondent and bureau chief in Atlanta and Washington, DC, before joining the New York City staff in 1993.

Key Information

Raines has also published a novel, two memoirs, an oral history of the civil rights movement, and a history of the Union soldiers from Alabama who played a decisive role in the Civil War and were scrubbed from the history books. [2]

Early life and career

[edit]

Raines was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He earned a bachelor's degree from Birmingham-Southern College in 1964 and a master's degree in English from the University of Alabama in 1973. In September 1964, Raines began his newspaper career as a reporter for the Birmingham Post-Herald in Alabama. He also reported for WBRC-TV in Birmingham.

After a year as a reporter at the Birmingham News, in 1971 Raines was selected as political editor of the Atlanta Constitution. In 1976 he left that post to become political editor at the St. Petersburg Times.[3]

The New York Times

[edit]

Raines joined The New York Times in 1978, as a national correspondent based in Atlanta. By 1979, Raines was promoted to Atlanta's bureau chief, a position he held until 1981, when he became a national political correspondent.

By the next year, Raines had advanced to become a White House correspondent for The Times. He progressed to management in 1985, becoming deputy Washington editor. In 1987, Raines transferred to London and worked as the newspaper's London bureau chief. The next year, he returned to Washington, D.C., to become the city's bureau chief.

In 1992, Raines published an essay, "Grady's Gift", about his childhood in Alabama. He fondly described the family's black housekeeper.[4] His memoir was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.[5]

In 1993, Raines moved to New York City as the Times editorial page editor, a position he held for eight years. The aggressive, colloquial style of his editorials, especially those critical of President Bill Clinton and his administration, drew widespread notice and a share of criticism. His work marked a departure from the measured tone for which Times editorials had been known.[6][7]

Raines was appointed executive editor of The Times in September 2001, serving until May 2003.[1][citation needed] At that time, controversy generated by the reporting scandal related to Jayson Blair led to his dismissal. A Times internal investigation revealed that 36 of the 73 national stories Blair filed with the paper over a six-month period were marred by errors, false datelines, or evidence of plagiarism. Raines was faulted for continuing to publish Blair months after the paper's metro editor, Jonathan Landman, sent him a memo urging him "to stop Jayson from writing for The Times. Right now."[8]

The Blair inquiry also revealed widespread discontent among Times staffers over Raines' management style, which was described as arbitrary and heavy-handed. According to a New York Times article, the deputy metropolitan editor, Joe Sexton, was quoted as telling Raines and managing editor Gerald Boyd, at a closed meeting of employees, "I believe that at a deep level you guys have lost the confidence of many parts of the newsroom ... People feel less led than bullied."[9] On another occasion Jerelle Kraus, art director for the newspaper's weekend section, was quoted as saying, "I hope things settle down and we get a decent executive editor who's reasonable. Howell Raines is someone who is feared."[10] Both Raines and Boyd resigned.[10]

The paper's owner, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., also conducted an investigation and concluded that Raines had alienated most of the New York and Washington bureaus. Raines' resignation, along with that of Gerald Boyd, was announced in the June 5, 2003 issue of The Times.[10]

Joseph Lelyveld, who had been executive editor of The Times from 1994 to 2001, agreed to replace Raines on an interim basis. On July 14, 2003, it was announced that Bill Keller had been chosen as Raines' permanent replacement. In an interview on the Charlie Rose Show of July 11, Raines admitted that Sulzberger had "asked [him] to step aside."[11]

Later activities

[edit]

Raines reviewed his tenure as executive editor of the New York Times in a 21,000-word piece published in the May 2004 issue of The Atlantic.[12] In it, he said that he was hired by Sulzberger in the shared conviction that The Times had grown complacent and no longer functioned as a meritocracy in the assignment of stories to reporters.

In the private meeting with reporters called by Sulzberger, in which the owner announced Keller's succession to Raines' old job, Sulzberger reportedly denied ever holding such a view. Raines stood by his account and implied that Sulzberger was retreating from the position which he said he and the owner shared at the time of his promotion.

In the only interview I have given on the Jayson Blair affair, I spoke on the Charlie Rose show of the resistance I had encountered as a 'change agent' who was handpicked by the publisher to confront the newsroom's lethargy and complacency. A few days later, as he introduced my successor, Bill Keller, to the assembled staff, Arthur [Ochs Sulzberger, Jr.] rebutted my comment by saying, 'There's no complacency here—never has been, never will be.' I can guarantee that no one in that newsroom, including Arthur himself, believed what he said ... Arthur's words signaled that nothing dramatic would be done to upset the paper's cosseted world.[13]

Raines revisited the controversy in his 2006 book, The One That Got Away. It combines fishing stories and a review of his career as a journalist and editor. He assessed the events preceding the Jayson Blair scandal and his own dismissal. On January 14, 2008, Condé Nast Portfolio announced that Raines would become its media columnist. His first column, published in the March issue, analyzed the possibility of Rupert Murdoch buying the New York Times, which he said would have deeply adverse consequences.[14] Raines published an op-ed in the March 14, 2010, edition of The Washington Post that was highly critical of Fox News Channel. He suggested its biased reporting was not sufficiently criticized by legitimate media.[15]

Books by Raines

[edit]
External videos
video icon Booknotes interview with Raines on Fly Fishing Through the Midlife Crisis, May 1, 1994, C-SPAN
video icon Discussion with Raines on The One That Got Away: A Memoir, at the Aspen Institute, July 20, 2006, C-SPAN

In addition to his 2006 memoir, Raines' books have included a novel, Whiskey Man (1977); an oral history of the civil-rights movement, My Soul Is Rested: Movement Days in the Deep South Remembered (1983); the best-selling memoir Fly Fishing Through the Midlife Crisis (1993); and Silent Cavalry: How Union Soldiers from Alabama Helped Sherman Burn Atlanta--and Then Got Written Out of History (2023). [16]

Family

[edit]

Raines's son Ben was the discoverer of the remains of the last known ship to bring Africans as slaves to the United States, the Clotilda, in Alabama waters in 2019.[17]

His other son, Jeff, is a guitarist for the New Orleans band Galactic.[18]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Howell Raines

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Howell Hiram Raines (born February 5, 1943) is an American journalist, editor, and author whose career spanned local reporting in to national prominence at , where he served as executive editor from September 2001 to June 2003. Born in , Raines began as a reporter there before advancing to roles including national correspondent and White House coverage at the Times, which he joined in 1978. Raines earned a in 1992 for feature writing, recognized for his reflective essay "Grady's Gift" on race and personal encounters in the South, published in . He has authored several books, including the 1977 My Soul Is Rested: Movement Days in the Remembered, which compiles interviews with Civil Rights participants, and Silent Cavalry (2023), examining overlooked Union contributions from soldiers in the Civil War. His tenure as executive editor ended amid the scandal, in which the reporter admitted to plagiarizing and fabricating details in dozens of stories, prompting Raines's alongside managing editor Gerald Boyd after internal investigations revealed lapses in oversight and promotion practices that favored Blair despite prior warnings. Critics within the attributed the episode to Raines's autocratic style and emphasis on rapid advancement for select reporters aligned with diversity initiatives, which undermined journalistic standards.

Early Life

Upbringing in Alabama

Howell Raines was born Howell Hiram Raines on February 5, 1943, in , to Wattie Simeon Raines and Bertha Estelle Walker Raines. His father owned a business manufacturing department-store fixtures, contributing to the family's position in 's white middle class amid the city's steel-industry boom, while his mother managed the household. The family resided in a segregated urban environment where enforced strict racial divisions, including separate facilities, schools, and public spaces for whites and blacks, a system upheld through legal and extralegal means in 's industrial heartland. Raines grew up witnessing the entrenched racial hierarchies of mid-20th-century Birmingham, a city notorious for its tolerance of activity and resistance to integration, though he did not directly participate in the era's conflicts as a child. One formative personal connection was his boyhood friendship with Grady Wilson, the Black housekeeper employed by his family, whose interactions highlighted the paternalistic dynamics of Southern white-Black relations under segregation; Raines later described this relationship in his 1993 essay "Grady's Gift," which won a , noting Wilson's influence on his understanding of human dignity amid inequality. These experiences occurred against the backdrop of Birmingham's pre-1963 civil rights tensions, including economic disparities and occasional violence, but Raines' upbringing remained insulated within white social norms of the time. By age ten, Raines developed an interest in writing, aspiring to pursue it as a , influenced by the storytelling traditions of Southern culture and exposure to local newspapers covering regional events. This early inclination toward narrative craft emerged in a household without notable literary precedents, shaped instead by the oral histories and regional lore prevalent in Alabama's working communities, though specific catalysts beyond general youthful curiosity remain undocumented in primary accounts.

Education

Raines attended Birmingham-Southern College in , where he earned a degree in English in 1964. Following his undergraduate studies and a period of service in the , he entered but later pursued graduate education. In 1973, Raines obtained a degree in English from the in Tuscaloosa, enrolling as a graduate student while beginning part-time work at the Tuscaloosa News. This advanced degree supplemented his early career in reporting, though he held no further formal academic credentials beyond the master's level.

Pre-New York Times Journalism Career

Early Reporting Roles

Raines commenced his professional journalism career in 1964 as a reporter for the Birmingham Post-Herald, a daily newspaper in Alabama's largest city, where he handled general assignment duties amid the state's turbulent social and political landscape of the mid-1960s. This entry-level role involved deadline-driven coverage of local events, including sports and community news, as he navigated the demands of daily reporting in a competitive media market dominated by two Birmingham dailies. Following his stint at the Post-Herald, Raines transitioned to , working as a reporter for WBRC-TV in Birmingham from approximately 1965 to 1967, gaining experience in on-air and visual storytelling during an era of intensifying regional tensions over and governance. He subsequently joined the Tuscaloosa News in 1968–1969, initially on a part-time basis while pursuing graduate studies in journalism at the , focusing on local beats that honed his skills in factual, timely reportage. In 1970, Raines returned to print media as a reporter for the , the larger competing daily, where he contributed to coverage of Alabama's political and civic affairs, accumulating practical expertise in investigative and routine news gathering before advancing to editorial positions elsewhere in the . These early roles emphasized empirical observation and verification over interpretive analysis, providing foundational training in the mechanics of regional during a period marked by Alabama's gubernatorial elections and legislative debates.

St. Petersburg Times and Pulitzer Recognition

In 1976, Howell Raines joined the St. Petersburg Times (now the ) as political editor, recruited by managing editor Eugene Patterson, a prior Pulitzer winner. His two-year tenure focused on national political coverage, including Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, leveraging his prior experience in Southern reporting to emphasize contextual human dynamics in political narratives. Colleagues later described him as one of the paper's most influential reporters, contributing to its reputation for in-depth regional journalism amid the post-Watergate era's emphasis on investigative and interpretive political stories. Raines departed for The New York Times in 1978, but his career advanced with the 1992 , awarded for "Grady's Gift," a December 1, 1991, essay in . The 5,000-word first-person account details Raines' boyhood interactions with Grady Hutchinson, an African American employed by his Birmingham family from the late 1940s, portraying her as a exemplar who instilled egalitarian values amid Jim Crow segregation through everyday guidance and quiet defiance of racial norms. The Pulitzer board cited it specifically for capturing "the lasting lessons of their relationship," selected from entries judged on originality, clarity, and emotional resonance under standards favoring introspective features that humanized social issues. Empirical grounding rested on Raines' autobiographical recollections, corroborated by family context but unverifiable beyond personal testimony, aligning with the genre's tolerance for subjective over detached reporting. The award underscored Raines' skill in blending with broader commentary on Southern , yet retrospective views have questioned feature writing's occasional indulgence in emotive, anecdotal styles that risked idealizing historical inequalities. Some analyses frame such pieces as evoking sentimental "mammy" tropes—benevolent Black caregivers uplifting white families—common in mid-20th-century Southern literature, potentially softening structural causal factors like economic dependency in segregated labor markets without rigorous data scrutiny. Nonetheless, contemporaneous reception, including reader letters to , largely affirmed its authenticity and impact, with minimal documented dissent at the time of publication or adjudication.

New York Times Tenure

Rise Within the Organization

Raines joined in 1978 as a national correspondent based in , focusing on Southern politics and civil rights developments in the region. He advanced quickly, becoming Atlanta bureau chief in 1979 and then correspondent from 1981 to 1984, where he reported on national political events during the Reagan administration. Following this, he served as deputy Washington editor from 1985 to 1987 and bureau chief from 1987 to 1988, gaining international experience before returning to the U.S. In November 1988, Raines was promoted to Washington bureau chief, a role he held until , overseeing the paper's capital coverage amid escalating political controversies, including early reporting on the administration's policy initiatives and personal scandals. During this period, the bureau under his leadership produced in-depth accounts of congressional and executive actions, contributing to ' reputation for detailed political analysis. Raines ascended to editorial page editor in January 1993, serving until and infusing the section with a more assertive style that emphasized liberal-leaning positions on domestic and , while also critiquing figures like President Clinton in editorials on proceedings. His oversight shaped opinion content that drew both praise for vigor and criticism for perceived partisanship, as attributed by media analysts.

Executive Editorship and Initiatives

Howell Raines was appointed executive editor of on September 5, 2001, by publisher , succeeding Joseph Lelyveld after serving as the paper's editorial page editor since 1993. The appointment occurred six days before the terrorist attacks, immediately thrusting Raines into oversight of the paper's extensive coverage of the events and their aftermath. Raines prioritized a more assertive approach, advocating for "hyperaggressive" news-gathering to "trigger" stories and challenge official narratives, including intensified scrutiny of administration's and economic policies following the attacks. He implemented a "" that elevated select high-output reporters, aiming to streamline decision-making and boost page-one impact through favored bylines and rapid story development. Complementing this, Raines reinforced efforts to diversify the staff, emphasizing recruitment and promotion of minority journalists in line with Sulzberger's institutional goals for broader representation. These policies yielded measurable outputs in investigative depth and recognition, with the Times securing a record seven Pulitzer Prizes in —six for September 11-related reporting and one for financial market coverage exposing corporate . The awards underscored expanded enterprise journalism on , intelligence failures, and economic accountability, though the emphasis on velocity and select talents strained broader newsroom contributions and did not correlate with accelerated circulation gains amid industry-wide digital shifts.

Management Style Criticisms

Raines's leadership at drew accusations of , with staffers portraying him as dictatorial and dismissive of dissenting views. Critics highlighted a perceived "" that elevated a small cadre of favored reporters—such as those aligned with his aggressive reporting priorities—while marginalizing others, regardless of merit. This favoritism reportedly bred resentment and undermined collaborative norms, as ideas from non-favored staff were often ignored in favor of Raines's directives. In a May 15, , town-hall meeting with newsroom staff, Raines himself conceded these grievances, stating he had heard complaints that the newsroom was "too hierarchical," that his ideas were prioritized while others were sidelined, and that a "star system... singles out my favorites for elevation." He further acknowledged "fear" as a pervasive issue stifling open dialogue and initiative among employees. Such admissions underscored deeper cultural fractures, including factionalism between "stars" and sidelined veterans, which eroded trust and morale independent of later events. These patterns deviated from established journalistic standards emphasizing and broad input, as staff accounts indicated poor communication channels exacerbated isolation for non-favored reporters. Raines's insistence on rapid output and personal oversight, while intended to invigorate coverage, instead fostered exhaustion and perceptions of inequity, with long-tenured journalists feeling demoted in influence. The resulting discontent manifested in subdued productivity and interpersonal tensions, priming the for heightened scrutiny.

Jayson Blair Scandal

The Jayson Blair scandal erupted in early May 2003 when the New York Times detected plagiarism in a Blair story on the search for missing soldier Jessica Lynch, prompting his resignation on May 1. An internal investigation by Times staff reviewed Blair's 73 articles from late October 2002 onward, uncovering fabrication, plagiarism, and factual errors in at least 36 of them, including dispatches falsely purporting to originate from Iraq War-related sites and Washington-area scenes tied to the D.C. sniper attacks. Blair had fabricated quotes, scenes, and interviews—such as claiming to witness grieving families in Iraq or interrogations in the sniper case—while often remaining in New York, using cellphones and emails to simulate on-site reporting. Under executive editor Howell Raines, Blair had been fast-tracked despite multiple red flags, including a series of corrections to his work and a April 2002 memo from metro editor Jon Landman warning of Blair's "serious problems" with accuracy that was not escalated to top leadership. Raines later acknowledged that Blair's prior issues with basic reporting craft should have barred high-profile assignments like the D.C. sniper coverage, yet defended extending opportunities post-recovery from reported issues, attributing decisions partly to a commitment to merit-based advancement over seniority. Critics, including Times staff, highlighted a pattern where Blair's promotion aligned with Raines' aggressive diversity initiatives, which prioritized hiring and career advancement for minorities amid internal pressures to diversify the , potentially sidelining rigorous competence checks. Raines conceded race may have subconsciously influenced approvals for Blair, a Black reporter, but maintained that affirmative action efforts aimed to correct historical underrepresentation without compromising standards. The Times' May 11, 2003, front-page report detailed systemic lapses in verification, such as editors failing to cross-check Blair's claimed datelines or sources, compounded by siloed departments and absent standardized procedures for monitoring repeat offenders. This exposed breakdowns in editorial oversight, where concerns raised by colleagues—like unverified travel or plagiarized phrasing—were not aggregated or acted upon decisively under ' centralized management style. The underscored vulnerabilities in journalistic integrity at a prestige outlet, fueling debates over whether unchecked favoritism—exemplified by Blair's elevation despite documented unreliability—stemmed from ideological priorities like diversity quotas eroding meritocratic safeguards, rather than isolated individual failings. Raines attributed some fault to entrenched newsroom resistance and poor inter-departmental communication, arguing these cultural inertia issues predated his tenure and hindered proactive accountability, though he accepted ultimate responsibility for the oversight vacuum. Empirical evidence from the probe pointed to causal lapses in basic protocols as enabling Blair's deceptions to persist for months on nationally significant beats.

Resignation and Immediate Fallout

Howell Raines resigned as executive editor of The New York Times on June 5, 2003, alongside managing editor Gerald M. Boyd, following an internal review mandated by publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. in the wake of the Jayson Blair plagiarism and fabrication scandal. The review, detailed in a May 11, 2003, Times article, documented Blair's "frequent acts of journalistic fraud" across at least 36 stories, exposing systemic failures in editorial oversight, fact-checking, and accountability under Raines' leadership. Sulzberger stated that Raines and Boyd "believed and I sadly came to agree that this was the right course," citing the need to restore trust amid widespread internal dissent. Immediate staff reactions included emotional turmoil, with reporters weeping during Raines' farewell address to the , where he acknowledged the resignations as necessary to heal divisions exacerbated by his top-down . However, the departures capped a period of intense revolt, including an from over 100 staffers in late May criticizing Raines for fostering a culture of favoritism and eroding morale, which had alienated mid-level editors and hindered scandal detection. Raines later claimed in a July 2003 that Sulzberger had effectively forced the exit by deeming the newsroom unrest unmanageable, framing it as a response to internal power struggles rather than solely personal lapses, though contemporaneous evidence from the review highlighted ignored warnings about Blair's work and inadequate verification processes as direct failures of editorial hierarchy. The institutional fallout prompted swift leadership transitions, with Joseph Lelyveld appointed interim executive editor and later confirmed permanently, alongside the formation of a to overhaul standards, training, and buyout offers to reduce staff amid cost concerns. Public trust in The Times suffered an acute hit, with the amplifying perceptions of elite media vulnerability to unchecked errors, though immediate subscription data showed no precipitous decline; longer-term analyses attributed eroded credibility to the episode's exposure of favoritism in promotions and lax internal checks. Raines' initial post-resignation statements emphasized external and rival-driven factors over empirical lapses in oversight, such as the failure to act on multiple flagged discrepancies in Blair's reporting dating back to 2002, underscoring accountability deficits in a centralized model.

Post-Editorship Activities

Authored Books and Writings

Raines published his first , Whiskey Man, in 1977, depicting a set in Depression-era that intertwines romance, tragedy, and Southern rural life. The work draws on regional themes of and but received limited critical attention and commercial success, with contemporary reviews noting its evocative portrayal of a bygone era without widespread acclaim. In 2006, following his resignation from The New York Times, Raines released The One That Got Away, a memoir framed through fishing anecdotes that reflects on personal evolution, family, and professional setbacks, including veiled defenses of his editorial tenure amid the Jayson Blair scandal. Critics praised its witty, self-deprecating prose and insights into angling's philosophical undertones, as in Kirkus Reviews' description of brisk, bracing writing, though others, such as a Slate analysis, faulted it for omitting accountability on Times coverage errors like Iraq War reporting, viewing it as selective self-justification rather than rigorous introspection. The book garnered moderate reception, with Goodreads averaging 3.8 stars from 52 ratings, but lacked strong sales data or empirical validation of its biographical claims beyond anecdotal recall. Raines' 2023 historical account, Silent Cavalry: How Union Soldiers from Helped Sherman Burn —and Then Got Written Out of History, examines the overlooked role of Alabama Unionists, particularly the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment, in Sherman's 1864 campaign, using primary sources like muster rolls and diaries to argue against Lost Cause historiography that minimized Southern pro-Union sentiment. The narrative traces how Alabama scholars allegedly suppressed evidence of these troops' contributions, framing it as a deliberate erasure tied to post-war reconciliation narratives. Reviews commended its archival depth and challenge to regional myths, as in 's assessment of remarkable detail on familial Unionist ties, though its interpretive emphasis on systemic denial invites scrutiny for potential overreach beyond verifiable records, with ratings at 3.6 from 177 users reflecting mixed empirical reception. No major factual inaccuracies have been widely documented, but the work's reliance on selective primaries underscores the need for cross-verification against Confederate accounts.

Media Commentary and Later Public Engagements

In May 2004, Raines published "My Times" in The Atlantic, a 21,000-word reflection on his tenure as executive editor of , where he acknowledged management errors but attributed much of the scandal's fallout to subordinates' resistance and institutional inertia, prompting critiques that he evaded full personal accountability. He defended his push for journalistic innovation against what he described as a risk-averse culture, yet the piece drew accusations of self-aggrandizement and insufficient contrition, with observers noting its portrayal of predecessors as overly cautious bordered on dismissive. By 2006, in a Forbes interview titled "Life After The Times," Raines critiqued American media's structural flaws, arguing that corporate pressures had diluted the press's adversarial role toward power, while lamenting the erosion of amid profit-driven decisions. He highlighted how outlets prioritized access over , a view he tied to broader failures in holding institutions accountable, though detractors viewed his analysis as projecting his own top-down style onto the industry without empirical metrics on causation. In later public engagements, such as a 2013 interview at the , Raines emphasized journalism's watchdog function amid digital disruption, warning that fragmented audiences and speed demands were compromising depth and verification standards. He foresaw accelerated local news declines, later echoed in his 2018 comments on "news deserts," where he asserted that vanishing community reporting weakened national oversight, as unmonitored local power structures influenced broader without counterbalance—a aligned with data showing over 1,800 U.S. newspaper closures since 2004. Critics, however, characterized these reflections as elitist, suggesting Raines romanticized legacy media's gatekeeping while sidestepping how his era's objectivity lapses, including selective coverage biases, contributed to public distrust now exacerbated by online alternatives.

Personal Life and Perspectives

Family Background

Howell Raines was born on February 5, 1943, in , to Wattie Simeon Raines and Bertha Estelle Walker Raines, the youngest of three children in a with deep Southern roots. His father co-owned the Raines Brothers Store Fixture Company, a business that supplied department stores, reflecting a working-class entrepreneurial background in the region's industrial economy. Raines' siblings included an older sister, Mary Jo, and a brother, underscoring a environment shaped by post-Depression life, where his parents had married in 1929 amid modest circumstances. Raines married Susan Woodley on March 22, 1969, with whom he had two sons: Ben, born in 1970, and Jeff, born in 1972; the couple divorced in 1990. He later married Krystyna Anna Stachowiak, a Polish national, in March 2003. Public records indicate no further children from the second marriage, and Raines has occasionally referenced his grown sons in personal writings, noting their independence by the early 2000s. Family relocations aligned with professional moves, from origins to postings and eventually New York, though specific details on spousal or accompaniment remain limited in verified accounts.

Political and Ideological Views

Raines, raised in , during the civil rights era, documented the movement's oral histories in his 1977 book My Soul Is Rested, drawing from interviews with activists and opponents to highlight the moral imperatives of desegregation and federal intervention against Southern segregationist structures. This work reflected his evolution from a Southern upbringing marked by exposure to Jim Crow practices toward advocacy for racial progress, informed by personal observations of violence like the 1963 church bombing. Conservative critics, however, contend that Raines selectively emphasized progressive narratives in later writings, such as his 2023 book Silent Cavalry, which unearths Alabama Unionists' roles in the Civil War to dismantle Lost Cause mythology, potentially advancing ideological revisionism over comprehensive historical accounting. As editorial page editor of from 1996 to 2001, Raines shaped opinions that aligned with liberal priorities, including support for abortion rights, measures, and restrictions, positions that drew accusations from media watchdogs of compromising the paper's impartiality in news coverage. During the Clinton administration, his page pursued aggressive scrutiny of and Lewinsky scandals, yet right-leaning analysts argue this masked broader institutional leniency toward Democratic figures, contrasting with intensified post-9/11 critiques of George W. Bush's policies, where Times reporting under Raines' later executive oversight amplified dissenting voices on and domestic security. Such patterns fueled conservative claims of partisan asymmetry, with outlets like the citing examples like disproportionate emphasis on controversies as evidence of ideological favoritism overriding journalistic balance. Raines advocated for assertive unbound by excessive caution, asserting in that he was "not a political partisan" but committed to "vigorous" reporting, even as his tenure saw tensions between press autonomy and internal accountability mechanisms. Post-resignation commentaries, including critiques of as disproportionately conservative compared to mainstream outlets' leftward tilts, underscored his belief in journalistic independence tempered by elite self-regulation, though conservative observers like those at Discover the Networks portrayed this as symptomatic of liberal media arrogance, where oversight lapses—exemplified by tolerance for ideologically aligned reporters—eroded credibility without proportional self-critique. Empirical disparities in coverage, such as lower criticism rates of Bush by conservative media versus by liberal ones in contemporaneous studies, lent weight to arguments that Raines' worldview prioritized progressive ends over neutral .

References

  1. https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Howell_Raines
  2. https://communications.yale.edu/poynter/howell-raines
  3. https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/howell-raines/
  4. https://bookfest.tulane.edu/authors/howell-raines
  5. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/24851/howell-raines/
  6. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-06-na-nyt6-story.html
  7. https://www.spj.org/ethics-case-studies-the-times-and-jayson-blair/
  8. https://www.nndb.com/people/974/000026896/
  9. https://nymag.com/news/media/16862/
  10. https://apps.lib.ua.edu/blogs/this-goodly-land/county/author?AuthorID=100
  11. https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/news/2006/09/07/gone-fishin/27686811007/
  12. https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/howell-raines
  13. https://www.al.com/spotnews/2013/04/in_an_essay_howell_raines_lame.html
  14. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/raines-howell-1943
  15. https://news.ua.edu/2004/10/communication-leaders-to-be-inducted-into-uas-cis-hall-of-fame/
  16. https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/news/2003/06/06/alabamian-raines-steps-down-as-top-nyt-editor/27840966007/
  17. https://blog.bsc.edu/index.php/2024/01/19/howell-raines-64-signing-his-new-book-at-alabama-booksmith/
  18. https://nationalpress.org/award-winner/howell-raines/
  19. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/22/nyregion/times-names-raines-as-successor-to-lelyveld-as-executive-editor.html
  20. https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/howell-raines-on-911-and-after-at-the-times%2C22251
  21. https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/news/2001/05/22/ex-tuscaloosa-news-writer-named-editor-of-ny-times/27807564007/
  22. https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/opinion/columns/2011/10/02/at-large-after-40-years-journalism-still-beats-working/28390484007/
  23. https://alabamanewscenter.com/2017/09/05/day-alabama-history-howell-raines-became-executive-editor-new-york-times/
  24. https://www.poynter.org/archive/2003/howell-raines-gone-fishin/
  25. https://www.gulfcoastmedia.com/stories/former-times-editor-pulitzer-winner-named-alabama-humanities-fellow%2C83634
  26. https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/01/magazine/grady-s-gift.html
  27. https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/211
  28. https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/links/essays/mammy.htm
  29. https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/05/magazine/l-grady-s-gift-412292.html
  30. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/21/business/raines-to-succeed-lelyveld-as-executive-editor-of-times.html
  31. https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individuals/howell-raines
  32. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/05/22/ny-times-names-raines-next-editor/5ea255cc-9002-4092-9b9b-f2999c754076/
  33. https://nymag.com/news/media/20334/
  34. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/06/10/the-howell-doctrine
  35. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/15/us/editor-of-times-tells-staff-he-accepts-blame-for-fraud.html
  36. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/08/nyregion/new-york-times-wins-a-record-seven-pulitzer-prizes.html
  37. https://www.salon.com/2003/06/06/nytimes_5/
  38. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/06/06/times-editors-tough-style-left-him-few-staff-allies/36fa505b-1b7d-4872-9e67-a01deeb1258c/
  39. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2966588.stm
  40. https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/1065-9293.59.3.155
  41. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/jun/05/pressandpublishing.usnews
  42. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/us/correcting-the-record-times-reporter-who-resigned-leaves-long-trail-of-deception.html
  43. https://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/05/10/ny.times.reporter/
  44. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/national/witnesses-and-documents-unveil-deceptions-in-a-reporters-work.html
  45. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/05/11/ny-times-uncovers-dozens-of-faked-stories-by-reporter/cf38d271-f799-44e4-91a1-b51dec1329af/
  46. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/my-times/302952/
  47. https://shorensteincenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/2005_04_mnookin.pdf
  48. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/05/19/after-jayson-blair-a-diverse-array-of-questions/bb34dfbb-cf23-4195-8b66-d98adeb7b8ff/
  49. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/05/national/executive-editor-of-the-times-and-top-deputy-step-down.html
  50. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/national/times-reporter-who-resigned-leaves-long-trail-of-deception.html
  51. https://www.npr.org/2003/06/05/1288977/top-new-york-times-editors-step-down
  52. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/jun/05/pressandpublishing.internationalnews
  53. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/06/nyregion/changes-times-overview-times-s-2-top-editors-resign-after-furor-writer-s-fraud.html
  54. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/07/12/raines-says-he-was-asked-to-resign-at-ny-times/1a3d4396-1a37-4cb9-b855-8737e7302796/
  55. https://www.amazon.com/Whiskey-Man-Deep-South-Books/dp/0817310673
  56. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2450200.Whiskey_Man
  57. https://www.amazon.com/One-that-Got-Away-Memoir/dp/0743272781
  58. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/howell-raines/the-one-that-got-away-3/
  59. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2006/05/the-fishy-memoir-of-howell-raines-press-critic.html
  60. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1143100.The_One_that_Got_Away
  61. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624155/silent-cavalry-by-howell-raines/
  62. https://armyhistory.org/silent-cavalry-how-union-soldiers-from-alabama-helped-sherman-burn-atlanta-and-then-got-written-out-of-history-review/
  63. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/feb/11/silent-cavalry-review-howell-raines-southern-resistance
  64. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/128130332-silent-cavalry
  65. https://emergingcivilwar.com/2024/06/20/book-review-silent-cavalry-how-union-soldiers-from-alabama-helped-sherman-burn-atlanta-and-then-got-written-out-of-history/
  66. https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2004/auletta-finds-maddening-things-in-raines-atlantic-piece/
  67. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2004/03/the-autobiography-of-howell-raines.html
  68. https://www.forbes.com/2006/05/17/howell-raines-media-qanda-cx_daa_0517raines.html
  69. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1XfvCTPLKo
  70. https://manhattan.institute/article/news-deserts-no-news-is-bad-news
  71. https://www.geni.com/people/Howell-Raines/6000000176747300824
  72. https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/news/2006/07/30/don-noble-howell-raines-tells-of-the-one-that-got-away/27682633007/
  73. https://www.amazon.com/My-Soul-Rested-Movement-Remembered/dp/0140067531
  74. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/27/howell-raines-silent-cavalry-civil-war
  75. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/12/20/howell-raines-alabama-civil-war-history/
  76. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2001/08/29/a-liberal-bias/f32db46f-91df-4abf-aabf-bbf7c5aada68/
  77. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/09/06/the-gray-ladys-colorful-chief/2e506688-a1c1-44e0-8c7b-19bb3aef461f/
  78. https://nypost.com/2003/05/18/when-it-raines-judging-jayson-and-howell/
  79. https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/howell-raines-right-about-fox-news-some-say-yes
  80. https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individuals/howell-raines/
  81. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2003/08/right-wing-papers-are-more-doctrinaire-than-liberal-ones.html
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.