The Papp fight converted the New York press from Moses’ protector into his investigator
Evidence
Before the Papp fight, press scrutiny of Robert Moses had been the work of Hortense Gabel’s “chipmunks,” a handful of young, mostly unknown reporters. There had still been many editors and reporters unwilling to face the falseness of the image they had helped create. There had still been newspapers—most notably, of course, the Times—that had shrunk back from the investigations into Title I. Those newspapers concerned with circulation and the headlines that could boost it understood better now that probing Moses’ operations would yield headlines. Those newspapers concerned with their responsibility in a free society understood better now that Moses’ operations not only could but should—must!—be scrutinized. It was during the Papp fight that the Times decided to do its own investigation of Title I, assigning hard-working Wayne Phillips to the task. The fight documented to the newspaper establishment what rebel reporters like Gleason and Cook and Haddad and Kahn had been trying to explain for years. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 4230
Categorization
- XREF: Pays off the ch44 claim about Presse editors suppressing scandal coverage out of faith in the Moses myth. — connects to: Moses’ defeat came when mass media finally covered a local protest — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 4066; Thirty years of reputation cracked irreparably in a single day — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 4085; Smith was insulated from reports of Moses’ abuses by a compliant press — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 1154 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Moses secretly helped the very man he was publicly fighting to destroy
#responds-to(0.80) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 4224