The Glueck Muck

There’s been so much misinterpretation, in and out of the blogosphere, of my appreciation of Grace Glueck, that I want to reemphasize what I explicitly stated in my original post: Her joining the Clark Art Institute’s board of trustees was, as I have already said, inappropriate. I firmly believe that journalists must eschew even the appearance of conflict of interest, if they are to maintain their credibility.
But I did (and still do) feel that the rakers of muck are leaving out an important part of the story: It appears, in this instance, that Glueck’s ill-advised affiliation did not cause any actual slant in NY Times arts coverage. What’s more, her distinguished, pioneering career as an investigative art journalist (which some of the bloggers are probably too young to remember) deserves mention in any discussion of her professional track record.
That’s not to excuse what she did. It’s just to put it in proper perspective.