Posted on 08/08/2009 11:57:16 AM PDT by blueyon
NEW YORK – Monotone TV personality Ben Stein has been stripped of his Sunday New York Times business column because of his work as a pitchman for a credit monitoring company.
New York Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis released a statement Friday that said the newspaper decided it would not be appropriate for Stein to pitch for FreeScore.com while writing his column.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Ben is, obviously, better at math than are they. I doubt he’s worried.
While I agree his firing was politically motivated, I also agree those “FreeCreditReport.com” or whatever ads are beyond the pale.
People, you can get a FREE credit report for FREE for REAL via Equifax. This service he advertises is a scam.
Now I wonder if the Cavs will fire Shaq too?
Columbia J School Rag;
Gawker scoops that The New York Times has finally given its Sunday Business columnist Ben Stein the ol’ heave-ho, after an incredibly dumb ethical lapse last month.
Reuters’ Felix Salmon, a longtime Stein foe, was the first to point out that the actor/columnist/emcee/Nixon speechwriter/”Bueller… Bueller” guy had sold out to a company called freescore.com, appearing in TV ads promoting the morally dubious service.
Gawker quotes Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis (who wouldn’t return my requests for comment a few weeks ago—thanks, Catherine! Have fun with your new job flacking those other hard-to-defend credit-rating firms) saying “Ben didn’t understand when he signed on with FreeScore that this might pose a potential conflict for him as a contributing columnist for the Times, because he hadn’t written about credit scores or this company. But, we decided that being a commercial spokesman for FreeScore while writing his column wouldn’t be appropriate.”
The Times clearly made the right call here, if it did take them a bit too long (at least three weeks) to pull the trigger.
First, it’s a point-blank breach of the Times’s own code of conduct, not to mention common-sense journalism standards.
Second, Stein was shilling for a company that tricks consumers into paying money they don’t need to pay for a service they don’t need to have. The new credit-card bill regulates this stuff, requiring these companies to say that the only place to get a really free report is at AnnualCreditReport.com.
Good riddance, Ben. Take a victory lap, Felix.
Now the question is: Who will get his plum Sunday business column in the NYT?
Ben blows with the wind. He supported Franken vocally and financially.
As if it will hurt him. Ben can make money many ways. I would love just the money he made to “Win Ben Stein’s Money”. He discovered Jimmy Kimmel and made a great some of money.
He’s too conservative for them, but if you look carefully at his past, Stein is really more along the lines of the McCain/Nixon country-club progressive statist Republicans.
He also ignored every warning sign of our current economic problems and made fun of people who were predicting it.
This isn’t to say that he doesn’t have his good points. I’m just saying that he’s not Mr. Conservative.
Bwahahahahaha!
It's the NY Times, can't you see how that would not be a standard he'd expect to uphold?
I mean, "journalism standards," what does that mean anyway?
Some on here can say what they will, but I imagine that him being conservative and all made it a whole lot easier for them to give him the old heave ho.
Ben Stein lost me for good when he decided to endorse Al Franken.
“I mean, “journalism standards,” what does that mean anyway?”
Journalistic works that buttress “Liberal truths.”
One good oxymoron deseves another...
Bueller? Bueller? Ben will be ok.........he’s also raking in money doing ads with Shaq!
Just wondering, did they give Ben the opportunity to walk from the unethical company he was announcing for? Does the Slimes really believe that anyone with a modicum of brains would know how corrupt and disgusting Acorn promoters are and, consequently, come down on their heads as well? Just a matter of time before the NYT’s sinks under it own weight of garbage and sewer run-off?
Ben could do much better writing for an ethical and important newspaper rather than the “red rag”.
“...and made fun of people who were predicting it.”
He, among many others, openly laughed at Peter Schiff when he predicted the housing melt-down and the current
economic disaster.
When he was a guest on Glenn Beck’s radio show, Ben Stein said that he, Ben, was in favor of increasing taxes on “the rich,” because, in Stein’s own words, “the government needs the money.” Oh pl-ease......
Ben Stein’s conservative credentials are tarnished, to say the least.
Well, that’s understandable. We wouldn’t want the NYT to lose its reputation for objectivity by doing anything inappropriate.
/extreme sarc
“Stein is really more along the lines of the McCain/Nixon country-club progressive statist Republicans.”
I disagree wholeheartedly:
Ben if staunchly pro-life (loudly anti-abortion).
And the GOP’s country club wing HATES that sort of moral conviction.
Ben Stein is very pro-Al Franken and very anti-Sarah Palin.
Time to move on folks.
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