Turmoil at the Times

Opinion Journal ^ | 06/06/03 | editorial board

[Pokey78]

What now? How about a return to good, old-fashioned reporting?

As a competitor, we've been circumspect about the recent struggles of the New York Times. But the resignation of its top two editors yesterday is big enough news that it represents a chance to discuss journalism standards in general.

[Free ThinkerNY]

Asking the New York Times to stop being a Liberal propaganda rag, is like asking Arafat to convert to Judaism.

[Lancey Howard]

Editor John Carroll pointedly rebuked a reporter for a story about the link between abortion and breast cancer for loading up adjectives and phrases that portrayed abortion opponents in a negative light. He wrote in a staff memo that he was "concerned about the perception--and the occasional reality--that the Times is a liberal, 'politically correct' newspaper."

All for show.
The LA Times is hopeless, and the cynical, public release of this "memo" will change nothing at that pathetic DNC mouthpiece. Does anybody really believe Carroll?

[magglepuss]

Like the child liar, hoping beyond hope, truth comes to bear and discipline ensues.Is the the lesson learned? I doubt it.

[JulieRNR21]

As readers of the Times, however, our view is that what we have been seeing on its front page in recent years is less straightforward reporting and more advocacy journalism. In this sense, the scandal over Jayson Blair's fabrications is symptomatic of a broader credibility problem that won't vanish merely because Mr. Raines does.

'Advocacy Journalism' has become the standard operating procedure for the liberal press!

They no longer 'report'. They now print propaganda & opinion in what used to be news reports of ....who, what, where, when & why.

'News Analysis' has become the excuse for articles that belong on the Editorial page.

[mcenedo]

Gotta kick 'em when they're down. The Journal has it right, Jayson Blair was doing exactly what the Times wanted.

link

This link mentions that it was Raines ability to answer questions from the WSJ honestly, that may have been a factor in his dismissal.

Main point was: Raines ruled by fear. Raines is no longer feared (only hated). Raines had to go.

Don't think it will change the Slime's "fair and balanced" reporting. This will probably make the Slime lurch leftward.

[magglepuss]

Saw on Fox an interview with Times reporter Debbie Sontag. A relative of Susan?

[secret garden]

Schadenfreude, beautiful schadenfreude.

[GOPJ]

We can dream...

The best news that could come from the turmoil at the Times would be a revival of old-fashioned, non-spinning, reporting standards.

[liberalnot]

i've read the los angeles times every day for nearly 20 years.

it's very left.

[Lancey Howard]

Bump for the morning crew.

[Joe Brower]

Hey, Julie, get with it! The new buzzword is "explanatory" journalism. "Advocacy" has a bit too much of the sound of truth in it. Can't have that! It's OK, though -- the anointed lie to us stupid peons for our own good, so the ends justifies the means, right?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

And from HobbsOnline :

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Friday, June 06, 2003  

The Continuing Crisis
So, Howell Raines has left the New York Times building, and the NYT's credibility crisis has reached its nadir, right? Soon, the Jayson Blair fiasco and its fallout will be all be behind Times, right? It's clear sailing from here, right?

Wrong, bucko.

The Jayson Blair scandal of fabrication and plagiarism was only one piece of the Times' ongoing credibility crisis.

Long before Blair, weblogs had revealed how many of the NYT's polls were reported in a way that was, ahem, short of the truth and spun for political advantage. Bloggers exposed NYT columnist Paul Krugman's lucrative ties to scandal-plagued Enron and continue to expose how he lies about the Bush administration's tax policy. Bloggers and an Internet news site exposed how the Times lied on its front page about global warming in Alaska and other news and commentary sites exposed how the Times lied when it said Henry Kissinger was against the Iraq war. Even now, the blogosphere continues to ridicule NYT columnist Maureen Dowd for altering a quote from President Bush in order to alter its meaning - a scurrilous tactic now called "Dowdification."

And that's just the beginning. Raines is gone, but the blogosphere isn't. The NYT - and the rest of Big Journalism - are now being watched, 'round the clock, by bloggers from the political Left, Center and Right, and errors, bias and spin will be exposed.

It's often said that the press is a free society's watchdog on its government. But who watches the watchers? Thanks to the Internet and blogging software that has lowered the cost of publishing almost to the vanishing point, the answer to that question is We, The People. As it usually is when things are set right in America.posted by Bill | Friday, June 06, 2003