This last of three lectures in the George Jones Lecture series features Chuck Strum, Deputy National Editor for the New York Times. The topic will be “The New York times in 2011: The Legacy of George Jones.” The event will take place on Sunday, November 13 at 2PM at the United Methodist Church, Main Street, Poultney.

Jones was a 19th century publisher who died in 1891, yet he would find himself very much at home in the newsroom of The New York Times in 2011. At his death, Jones was appraised in The Times as wishing:

“…that the newspaper should pay more attention to the worthy than to the unworthy side of human nature, that it should commend itself to right-thinking persons of some seriousness of mind and judgment rather than strive to satisfy the desire to know what the sinful and frivolous are about.”

In other words, he was a Timesman we would recognize today, and not the editor of a sensationalist tabloid (which were known at the time as penny-dreadfuls).

The lecture series has been a tribute to Jones on the bicentennial of birth in East Poultney on August 16, 1811. Jones was one of Poultney’s most famous sons,  who would later become co-founder of the New York Times and distinguish himself by standing up to the political influence of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall in the late 1800s.

Light refreshments will be served after the talk.

Charles Strum has been a newspaperman for 41 years, the past 32 at The New York Times. He was a reporter and editor on the metropolitan desk, and held various editing posts on the national and foreign news desks, as well. He was also obituaries editor for five years and, from 2006 to 2011 was associate managing editor overseeing the night news operations of The Times. He is now a deputy national editor.