Earlier this week, Slate's Jack Shafer unleashed a virtual love-fest on the late A.J. Liebling, prolific journalist and press critic for the New Yorker. Jay Rosen, of weblog Pressthink, wonders why Shafer hasn't come close to matching Liebling's legacy:

A.J. Liebling wrote the Wayward Press column for the New Yorker. Shafer writes the Press Box column for Slate. Those are roughly similar activities. Shafer tells us that Liebling did 82 press columns over 18 years at the New Yorker. Judging by the Press Box archive, Shafer has written 200+ columns over four and a half years. Is it fair to ask: why has Shafer himself not emerged as the "next" Liebling? After all, he has the most interest in the question. The opportunity has been there for him, week to week. He had motive, means. Is it the anxiety of influence? Other priorities at the time? Lack of competition, perhaps?

Somehow, this strikes us as a media-journalism version of a "Just Asking" item in Page Six.
Why Isn't Shafer This Century's Liebling? [Romenesko]