Forget last night’s speech. For me the most unforgettable moments of the Denver convention were the two video reports by NYT media columnist David Carr.

Carr’s column is the first thing I turn to in the Times on a Monday morning. And I have watched with interest in recent months as The Night of the Gun, his memoir about life as a drug addict, received a succession of glowing reviews.

But how did a former junkie make it as a media columnist at one of the world’s most prestigious newspapers? It all makes a lot more sense now: