NY Times 'Fishing Expedition' Prompts Call for Probe By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
August 05, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - A free enterprise group is calling for an investigation into the New York Times' effort to get sealed court records regarding the adoptions of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' children.
The Free Enterprise Action Fund, which is a shareholder in the New York Times Company, sent a letter Friday to the company's chairman Arthur Sulzberger requesting that the findings of such a probe be made public and "appropriate disciplinary action" be taken towards anyone guilty of employee misconduct.
"We can't understand why a responsible, publicly-owned company would risk alienating even more of the news-seeking public for a political jihad where innocent children become collateral damage," said Steven Milloy, managing partner and adviser to the Free Enterprise Action Fund, in a statement.
"As the NYT achieves new lows in journalism, shareholder concern grows," Milloy added.
In a letter to Sulzberger, Milloy said the paper's staff consulted lawyers for advice on how to go about unsealing the adoption records of Roberts' five-year-old daughter and four-year-old son.
"Not only does this line of investigation appear to be of little bona fide news value, it appears to have been undertaken without any basis whatsoever except as a fishing expedition hoping to uncover embarrassing information," Milloy wrote.
"Based on news reports, the Times' inquiry seems to be a grotesque invasion of privacy and, as it involves two small children, lacks fundamental decency," Milloy added.
"We are hard-pressed to see how an unethical, invasive and irrelevant investigation apparently intended solely to humiliate a Supreme Court nominee for political purposes and without regard to the well-being of two very small children will in any way advance the Times' commitment to journalistic integrity," said Milloy.