Banished

The New York Times has banished Andrew Sullivan from its pages, reports Andrew Sullivan. This should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the Raines regime. The Rainesian management model resembles a kind of anti-network; in which an ever-smaller number of people are engaged in the guidance and definition of the enterprise. As the network narrows, the center (Raines and his management team) grows in importance. At its worst, this kind of management leads to the Sun God management system, in which The Great Leader is surrounded by adoring sycophants. Raines is a prime candidate to fall into this trap, since his ego needs greatly exceed his management skills.

The decision to ditch Sullivan is idiotic. Sullivan is a network unto himself. His inclusion on the NYT roster made the paper stronger, not weaker, because as a rule things that expand the network are positive and things that contract the network are negative. As the Blogosphere's most important voice, Sullivan was a uniquely important asset to The New York Times network. Tossing important assets overboard is the essence of bad management.