Free Republic

So I was down in DC this past weekend and happened to run into a well-connected media person, who told me flatly, unequivocally that “everyone knows” The LA Times was sitting on a story, all wrapped up and ready to go about what is a potentially devastating sexual scandal involving a leading Presidential candidate. “Everyone knows” meaning everyone in the DC mainstream media political reporting world. “Sitting on it” because the paper couldn’t decide the complex ethics of whether and when to run it. The way I heard it they’d had it for a while but don’t know what to...

For more than a century and a half, men and women of The Associated Press have had the privilege of bringing truth to the world. They have gone to great lengths, overcome great obstacles – and, too often, made great and horrific sacrifices – to ensure that the news was reported quickly, accurately and honestly. Our efforts have been rewarded with trust: More people in more places get their news from the AP than from any other source. In the 21st century, that news is transmitted in more ways than ever before – in print, on the air and on...

Media Ethics Project (“MEP”) of New York today informed counsel for Viacom, Inc. that, based on the actions announced earlier today by CBS News, MEP will moving to dismiss its Petition for Declaratory Ruling, previously filed with the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”). The MEP Petition sought sanctions against CBS News and its parent organization, Viacom, for its recent broadcast of news reports by anchorman Dan Rather based on use of documents, which a steadily growing number of critics have alleged to be forgeries. CBS announced that it will shortly commission an independent review board to determine the process “by which...

If liberals won't move on from the prison abuse photos calculated to incite hatred toward the very troops liberals loudly claim to "support," I'm not moving on from the fact that the editor of the Los Angeles Times, John Carroll, is instructing journalists on ethics. The editor of the Los Angeles Times telling reporters how to behave ethically is a complete contradiction, like ... oh, I don't know ... giving Yasser Arafat a Nobel Peace Prize or something. You know, just patently silly. This is the same L.A. Times that engaged in desperate, 11th-hour attempts to sabotage Arnold Schwarzenegger during...

A Question Of Naming NamesJournalists' Secrecy At Issue in Scandal By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff WriterSunday, October 5, 2003; Page A01 There are at least six people in Washington who know the answer to the city's most politically charged mystery in years. And they're not talking.That's because they're journalists.Whether they should maintain their silence -- and whether they might be legally compelled to break it -- lies at the heart of a burgeoning debate about media ethics and the whispered transactions with government officials that shape the daily flow of news and opinion. Columnist Robert Novak, who sparked a...

CNN News Standards and Practices Policy Guide Item # 3523774043 Books:Nonfiction:Entertainment/Performing Arts:Television Current bid US $5.00   Starting bid US $5.00 Quantity 1 # of bids 1   Bid history Time left 5 days, 14 hours + Location Connecticut Country/Region  United States /Hartford Started May-24-03 13:29:50 PDT  Mail this auction to a friend Ends May-31-03 13:29:50 PDT  Watch this item Seller (rating) itascagirl( 37) Feedback rating: 37 with 97.4% positive feedback reviews (Read all reviews) Member since: Dec-09-01. Registered in United States View seller's other items | Ask seller a question | Safe Trading Tips High bidder beckncall( 48)...

Pfc. Jessica Lynch's capture and rescue was certainly a dramatic affair -- particularly in The Post. This newspaper told its readers that she had been shot and stabbed, that she had fought off her Iraqi attackers -- her gun blazing -- until she went down and was taken prisoner, hospitalized and then rescued eight days later. Trouble is, much of that may be false. Lynch apparently was not shot. Lynch was not stabbed. Lynch may not have put up much of a fight, maybe none at all. The lights may have gone out for her the moment her unit was...

The New York Times has acted honorably in dealing with the wreckage of the Jayson Blair scandal. It published corrections, 54 in all, on Blair's inaccurate reporting. When at last it became obvious that Blair was plagiarizing, making up quotes, and filing stories from places he never visited, the Times applied pressure and Blair resigned. At this writing, the Times is preparing a long article detailing Blair's checkered career. This is the way newspapers are supposed to behave--put it all out on the table. But there is an issue that the Times may not be ready to discuss--whether racial preferences...

AP Fires Reporter After Source Query Mon Sep 16, 5:11 PM ET WASHINGTON (AP) - The Associated Press has dismissed a reporter after the news agency could not confirm the existence of people quoted by name in a number of his stories. AP reviewed stories by Washington reporter Christopher Newton after receiving inquiries about two experts he quoted in a Sept. 8 piece about crime statistics. Editors then found a number of additional stories quoting people whose existence could not be verified. Most of these quotes were attributed to individuals with academic credentials or working in policy research. "Chris Newton...