Maureen Dowd not wanted here

The Lufkin Daily News ^ | 5/30/03 | MARC R. MASFERRER

[No Truce With Kings]

5/30/03 Maureen Dowd not wanted here

By MARC R. MASFERRER

The New York Times' considerable credibility problem is now our problem, as well.

But unlike the Times, which has been engaged in a torturous exercise of naval gazing and self-flagellation, with its accustomed arrogance, since it was revealed that one of its younger reporters had committed all sorts of journalistic sins, we are doing something about it, and fast.

Until she explains to our satisfaction her own ethical transgression -- an apparently deliberate distortion of a comment by President Bush — you will not find the work of Times columnist Maureen Dowd on this page.

Since publishing a mea culpa on the Jayson Blair fiasco, the ethical woes have only continued at the Times. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Rick Bragg resigned this week after it was revealed he had passed as his own, work reported by interns and freelance writers. Not even his friendship with the Times' top editor could save him.

The storm clouds have now moved over Dowd, also a Pulitzer Prize winner whose work has appeared here and other newspapers across the country -- and coincidentally, like me, a graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. A Times spokeswoman said the newspaper is "looking into" a column, which we did not publish, in which Dowd apparently twisted to fit her point of view Bush's assessment of the danger posed by al-Qaida terrorists just days before a terror attack in Saudi Arabia.

Dowd, it seems, may have taken the title of her column -- "Liberties" -- way too far.

Here's what Dowd wrote in the column in question:

"'Al-Qaida is on the run,' President Bush said last week. 'That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated ... they're not a problem anymore.'"

Here's what Bush actually said:

 "Al-Qaida is on the run. That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated. Right now, about half of all the top al-Qaida operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they're not a problem anymore."

New York Daily News columnist Zev Chafets offered a perfect criticism of what Dowd did.

"The words in italics were replaced in Dowd's column by three little dots. Those dots say to the reader: Trust me, I'm abbreviating here, but what I'm leaving out doesn't change the meaning.

"But the dots did change the meaning," Chafets wrote. "In fact, they turned it upside down. Far from declaring al-Qaida 'spent,' Bush was warning the country against complacency. The only terrorists the president declared 'no longer a problem' were the ones already jailed or dead."

Dowd quietly "corrected" herself by including the full quote in a subsequent column that appeared in The Lufkin Daily News on Thursday.

That's not good enough, and until Dowd, and her newspaper, fully account for her infraction, her column will not appear on this page.

Critics of the Times, who are everywhere, are watching with glee as Dowd, one of the more clever columnists around, tries to write herself out of this one. Here in Lufkin, at least one reader thinks she has dragged The Lufkin Daily News into the muck with her, noting that we frequently publish her work.

"That does not say a whole lot for The Lufkin Daily News editorial page," one Sound Off caller said Thursday.

Hopefully, our decision to suspend Dowd from these pages will help restore our credibility with the caller and other readers.

Dowd violated one of the cardinal tents of the newspaper business: Don't mislead your readers, because your credibility is your only currency. Lose it, and the reader won't care how good a writer you are.

How we can best serve you, the reader, is a daily challenge here at The Lufkin Daily News, for our credibility is the only thing that those of us in the newsroom have to sell. We may not always get it right, and you may not always like what you read, but we will always do our best to make this newspaper, your newspaper, a place where the likes of Jayson Blair, Rick Bragg and Maureen Dowd will never feel at home.

[No Truce With Kings]

"I don't know about the paper but the town remains heavily Democrat surrounded by Republicans."

Typical of life behind the Pine Curtain -- especially if factories are part of the mix, which they are in Lufkin. But I think non-public sector unions and blue collar are about to flip Republican, anyway.

[Laverne]

Thanks for this great post; I'm going to request my local paper, the Tampa Trib do the same in a letter to the editor. I have had two of my letters published recently, and hopefully I'll have a third soon. Thanks again.

[lonestar]

You might have noticed 18-wheelers pulling trailers with "LUFKIN" on the back.

Guess where they're made?

[Tamzee]

Yippee, Lufkin Daily News! Integrity in journalism... it's a beautiful thing :-)

[small_l_libertarian]

I love the smell of burning liberals in the evening. Smells like victory.

[AnAmericanMother]

. . . to save himself trouble . . .

. . . never mind. :-D

[The KG9 Kid]

Lufkin, Texas?

[Russell Scott]

It's not easy removing venom from a snake.

[Doctor Raoul]

Mo Dowd gets a "journalistic time out" so she can think about her "Journalist Lewinsky".

Amazing how the Democrats got all that mileage out of one pity poke from Michael Douglas.

[ontos-on]

"Maureen Dowd is a nitwit whose girlish effusions . . ."

Says it all. Dowd is a mean, spiteful, envious little girl---mistakenly put into a position to emote on the issues of the day. That mistake should be corrected. It is part of the NY Liberal's weakness for just this type of woman that is at the heart of much of their dysfunctional ideology. [for another eg., see Dowd's predecessor, Anna Quinlan.

[ladyinred]

Good one! Hope Ms. Dowdy read it too!

[ontos-on]

How does "cardianal tents" and "naval gazing" get past a copy editor?

It really does show how low is the educational level in our country---even of people writing professionally for a newspaper. This is really dismaying. It is not even funny. It really discredits the intelligence of the writer as well as the editing function at the paper.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Wow.. a NEWSpaper that will not CONDONE a reporter or Columnist taking quotes out of context.. WHODATHUNKIT??

[cspackler]

I hear you...
I sent a comment to the Austin American Statesman yesterday concerning an error that I found in an article posted here on FR. They had labelled a democrat State Senator as a Republican. I received a reply this morning from the "editor", and this is it, unalterred (with the exception of my name, anyway...)...

Mr. xxxxx,

You're right, we got it wrong. I'll get a correction in for tomorrow's paper.
Thanks for point that out.

Juan Elizondo
State Editor

[Paul_B]

An excellent response by the editor. I'm delighted that word of this infraction is spreading far and wide. When criticism of the Times reaches the Daily News, something is indeed up. Thanks for posting. I hope this editor stops by here to see our appreciation.

[jackbill]

Yippee, Lufkin Daily News! Integrity in journalism... it's a beautiful thing :-)

Do like I did. Send them a letter to the editor commending them. Can't hurt.

[maxwellp]

The New York Times was once "a serious newspaper". I stopped reading it some years ago when it went from just a newspaper to a liberal rag. Howell Raines, Maureen Dowd, etc. contributed to the Times' fall into the sewer. Like many liberals, they never took into account everyday Americans who said "What the heck is going on with this newspaper?" Jayson Blair knew he worked for a rotten paper, took advantage and will probably bury the NYT - and that's okay with me.

[Tamzee]

Will do! I sent letters yesterday to the two papers who used her mutilated "quote" to bash Bush themselves... no response, though LOL

[ThanhPhero]

Naval gazing??

Are they slamming our military again?

Meditating on gray.

[ThanhPhero]

How about all of us writing Lufkin Daily News and letting them know how impressed we are with their stand on Maureen Dowd?

and with their proofreading.