do I really have to say it???
Posted on 09/24/2006 7:50:11 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
The union representing Newsday's reporters and editors violated its own ethics by contributing money to politicians covered by the daily, the paper reported yesterday.
Recipients included Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, the Suffolk chapter of the Working Families Party, the Islip Town Democratic Committee, state Assembly candidate Treewolf West and Islip Councilwoman Pamela Greene.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
FYI
I'm shocked. /s
but, but, there's no bias!!
This problem was well known at the company, and so far no editor or reporter has indicated that he or she didn't know about how data was falsified.
Therefore it shouldn't surprise any of us that they made donations to others of their ilk, to wit, mind-numbed, knee-jerk, robot-like Liberals.
What's new? A Tribune newspaper in trouble again. I just wish those fools would sell the Cubs.
Unions donating to democrats is like a headline that would say French waiters rude to American tourists.
I'm shocked! SHOCKED!
I dispute the premise of TRB ethics.
We must also remember that Newsday was the first major publication to get caught falsifying information used by ABC (audit bureau of circulation) to prepare circulation reports.
Of course we must! :) Allow me preface that story with bit of preaching.
Gn 22:17 your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies
Anyone With A Modem Can Report On The World
. . .
[Hillary Clinton] said, "We're all going to have to rethink how we deal with the Internet. As exciting as these new developments are, there are a number of serious issues without any kind of editing function or gatekeeping function."
Newspaper sale$ decline should be blamed on the Journos
. . .
People who work at journalism full time ought to be able to do a better job of it than people for whom it is a hobby. But that's not going to happen as long as we "professional" journalists ignore stories we don't like and try to hide our mistakes. We think of ourselves as "gatekeepers." But there is not much future in being a gatekeeper when the walls are down.
Study: Web is the No. 1 media - 06/06/2006
TRB'Newsday' Circ Falls in Latest Audit - 08/16/2006
Arrests made in Newsday circulation scandal - 06/16/2005
Newsday, Hoy publishers retire amid circulation scandal - 07/19/04
well.....duh!!!!
Newsday and its unions have - or are supposed to have - ethics? Now that's the real news.
And that ots main editor, James Klurfeld declared war on one of Long Island's local politicans:
Levy Wins Despite Newsday's Threat
Dem Leader Discloses Editor Told Him: "This is War" By Paul Perillie
HOLTSVILLE—For Suffolk Democratic Party Chairman Richard Schaffer, his candidate's primary victory Tuesday night was extra sweet. Steve Levy, an 18-year veteran of Long Island politics, had not only battled William Cunningham, his political rival in the primary race, but he fought relentless opposition from Newsday, which endorsed Cunningham, and threatened to battle the Democratic party's chairman.
To be sure, endorsing political candidates is something that newspapers do. But there are endorsements and there are endorsements. Long Island's lone daily paper ran multiple editorials praising Cunningham and/or belittling Levy. Some observers even feel that the bias leaked out of the editorial pages and into the paper's news coverage. According to Schaffer, in late April, when he confirmed to Newsday that he and the party would back Levy and not Cunningham, Editorial Page Editor James M. Klurfeld "blew his stack" and responded, "Then we're going to be enemies, and this is war."
Luckily for Levy, it seems Suffolk Dems don't care much about what Newsday thinks.
Less than an hour after the polls closed in Suffolk County's Democratic primary for county executive, the jubilant celebration in suite 351 of the Radisson Hotel in Holtsville, filled with reporters and Levy supporters, was spilling out into the hallway.
The 5th District assemblyman shook hands and answered frenetic questioning on how he trounced the challenger, former Nassau County Chief Deputy Executive William Cunningham, taking 68 percent of the vote to Cunningham's 32 percent. Conventional wisdom: A good old-fashioned grassroots get-out-the-vote effort trumped Cunningham's powerful backers in the media, Nassau County and the national stage.
BILL WHO?
According to Schaffer, Newsday approached him as early as December 2002, even before Robert Gaffney, the Republican occupying the county executive seat, announced he would not seek a fourth term. Already, Democratic players were itching for the chance to take on the incumbent, who seemed vulnerable. Even Schaffer's name was being bandied about.
That December, Schaffer was called to a meeting with Newsday's editorial board for an informal preliminary discussion about candidates. Schaffer says he offered up Frank Petrone, Huntington's town supervisor. Two months earlier, Petrone, a lifelong Republican, had flipped over to the Democratic Party. Schaffer felt Petrone had good name recognition, and thought his background might win over a good chunk of Suffolk's 260,018 unaffiliated voters, and possibly even a few Republicans.
"Then they mentioned Bill [Cunningham]," Schaffer recalls. "I didn't even know he had a desire to run." According to Schaffer, members of Newsday's editorial board praised Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi's work and suggested that Cunningham, Suozzi's deputy, might be a good choice for Suffolk.
"I told them Bill just wasn't well-known and would have a tough time drawing voters," Schaffer says, adding that he thought the meeting ended amicably but without consensus.
Schaffer, who still hoped that Newsday would support the party's candidate, whoever that person turned out to be, kept in contact with Klurfeld. In a phone conversation in February, the chairman and the editor danced around the candidate question again to see if a consensus might be found.
"James [Klurfeld] said he thought Tom [Suozzi] could be governor and maybe even president," recalls Schaffer. "I told James the last guy that talked like that was Halpin." Patrick Halpin was the last Democrat county executive in Suffolk, but the one-termer's loss to Gaffney began a Democratic drought. Halpin, it should be added, is a Cunningham ally, who would challenge Schaffer for the party leadership job if Cunningham won.
Schaffer says his comment cooled his relations with Klurfeld. "I told him it was nothing personal. I just felt that it was too early for Tom and Bill to move on up," says Schaffer, who has been Democratic Party chairman for three years.
POL POLL
Consider the fact that Schaffer and the party hadn't yet picked their candidate. On March 13, Schaffer called together the five men who hoped for the nod and shared with them the results of a poll he had conducted in preparation for the November election. Rather than play personal favorites, Schaffer wanted voters to tell him who they wanted.
The poll results clearly showed it was Levy's time. The numbers confirmed that Levy already had a commanding lead against other ranking figures, including Petrone, Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone, Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-East Setauket) and Cunningham. Levy's name was recognized by 65 percent of the Democratic primary voters polled. Even more significantly, 75 percent of those polled expressed a favorable opinion of Levy. Schaffer gave the poll to all the would-be candidates, telling them to go home and consider their desires in light of these numbers.
The battle lines between Schaffer and Klurfeld were drawn the following month. According to Schaffer, during the April call he received from Klurfeld in his North Babylon law office, he told Klurfeld he was "going with Steve."
Schaffer recalls: "I told him Bill was not known in Suffolk and that he had a lot of problems as a candidate—his position as a liberal could hurt the party in the general [election] and his role in the [Clinton] pardons could be devastating."
That's when Klurfeld threw down the gauntlet, Schaffer says, threatening him with "'then we're going to be enemies and this is war.'"
The Long Island Press has attempted repeatedly to contact Klurfeld, who is in France. Other Newsday executives deny any impropriety.
Klurfeld has been described as a liberal whose conservative strain comes out when he writes about Jewish and Israeli security issues. Klurfeld's affinity with the Suozzi clan reaches back to the days of America's Camelot. Insiders say that while working as a journalist in the 1960s, Klurfeld cultivated a personal relationship with Jack English, the founding partner of Cunningham's former law firm, Meyers, Suozzi, English and Klein.
Another co-founder, of course, was Joseph A. Suozzi, Tom Suozzi's father. English is still considered one the most successful Democratic leaders in Nassau history. In the 1960s, English emerged as a leading figure in national politics, serving as a top adviser to John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy. And now, some political observers believe that Klurfeld is trying to fulfill his destiny as kingmaker of the Suozzi political clan.
On Aug. 21, Newsday made official what Klurfeld and what some call his "rubber-stamp" editorial board had been doing all along—in seven previous editorials. Saying voters have "an unusual chance to choose a candidate of rare quality," Newsday gave its official endorsement to Cunningham.
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