Eileen McNamara says the New York Times Co. treats the Globe like a "cheap whore." Rory O'Connor agrees. Given that the Times Co. is threatening to close the paper--without even deigning to publicly comment on this threat--I understand why they're pissed.

But without defending the Times Co.'s current MO, let me play devil's advocate.

This week's Phoenix included a short excerpt of a Q-and-A I did with Rory O'Connor, the media critic and author of Shock Jocks: Hate Speech and Talk Radio. Here--finally!--is a full transcript of my chat with O'Connor, who recently returned to Boston as a fellow at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics & Public Policy.