The New York Times The longest obituary of the past 30 years did not appear on the front page.Combining my last two posts â€" one on long stories, one on front-page obituaries â€" here are a few more numbers to ponder.
Last year's obituary for the former Times publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger was the fou rth-longest obituary in the last 30 years.
Over those three decades, only 10 obituaries have been longer than 6,000 words. The longest was for Pope John Paul II at 13,870 words. (Incidentally, the obituary itself did not appear on A1; news stories and analysis on the pope's death took precedence.) Next was the obituary for former President Richard M. Nixon at 13,155, followed by the one for former President Ronald Reagan at 11,411.
Then Mr. Sulzberger's at 7,725. And the last of the longest five was yet another former president, Gerald R. Ford, at 7,674.
Moral of the story: If you want a long obituary, consider becoming pres ident or pope. Failing that, it's best to be the former publisher of the newspaper publishing the obituary.
I now promise to move on beyond my apparent obsession with obituaries. My Sunday print column will take up the question of whether reporters should bare their biases in a move toward transparency or whether they should keep their personal views to themselves.
In other words, does the traditional concept of journalistic objectivity matter anymore?
