NYT fires reporter for being involved with gay/AIDs groups in past

[donsu]

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2004_02_22_atrios_archive.html#107799643025617897

Blotcher, who has been involved with gay and AIDS groups in the past, joined the newspaper as a stringer––a freelance reporter––in 2001 after he left New York City for the Hudson Valley. For much of his employment he contributed stories or reporting without ever getting a byline in the paper.
In late 2003, Blotcher published two stories and, under a new Times policy, his name appeared on those pieces. One story dealt with the trial of a woman who was accused of killing her three children. The second concerned some vandalism on a college campus.

“I never dealt with gay issues or AIDS issues,” Blotcher said.

Someone, an editor, another reporter, or a reader noted Blotcher’s name and recalled that he was once a member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT UP.

-snip-

That was it for Blotcher. On January 12, Lew Serviss, a Times editor, told him the paper would no longer use him in any section. When he appealed to Edgerley she responded, “I am setting the bar high to protect against any appearance of conflict of interest that might result through the hiring of stringers and leg-people. My motivation is expediency as well as ethics––we simply do not spend as much time checking into the backgrounds of independent contractors as we do of fulltime staff people.”
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may the New York Times wither and die

[JohnyCanuck]

1. But they still won't fire Media Ho Extraordinaire Judith Miller for

being a willing accomplice in spreading the lies and false information of that notorious lying, embezzling, war profiteering son of a bitch, Chalabi. Starting a war under false pretences is no big deal for the NYT I guess.

[The Zanti Regent]

8. Don't forget Seelye

The Daily Howler goes after Katharine Q. Seelye repeatedly for her GOP bias.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/

Here's a prime example of that liar Seelye covering up for President AWOL

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh012804.shtml

[corporatewhore]

2. Pravda on the hudson strikes again

[cjm2222]

3. I can kind of see their point

After the Jayson Blair incident, the NY Times has to be very careful about whom they hire. I wouldn't want a freelance reporter who had once been involved with the Moral Majority or the Christian Coalition to write articles for the paper.

[salin]

4. If it were not for the whole Judith Miller thing,

I might agree with you. However, as that story unfolded - during the Jayson Blair incident - it demonstrated a very peculiar bent for accepting some poor reporting that has been demonstrated to be tainted with bias - while here coming down on an affiliation when no story was written (or so it sounds) with any bias.

Ms. Miller admitted to putting stories as facts on the front pages, preinvasion, that were straight from Chalabi et al including some dubious reporting. Her tail escalated when she is an embedded reporter with troops on the WMDs hunt in Iraq. The officer incharge, recognizing that the efforts are fruitless and that there are many other serious efforts that needed support was advocating disbanding continuing the WMD hunt. Miller, a mere reporter, then interfered with the mission. She threatened to go up the military chain - all the way to Rumsfeld if needed, in order to force the continued efforts on the WMDs hunt. She won out. More money spent. No wmds found through the effort (or any other effort). Objective reporting? From a reporter who interferes with military operations? Still on staff?

No, the NYT has been compromising themselves lately. They simply do not have the cover to claim 'fear of assertions of bias' rather than fears of the religious right complaining (or someother political motivation for this decision) when holding onto the reporting of demonstrable biased (and false, as it turns out) reporting ala Ms. Miller.

[cjm2222]

5. You're right

and Miller should be fired. You will never hear me argue otherwise. However, I still think reporters who were part of organizations with a political bent shouldn't be hired by newspapers. It might show a bias and the news, despite what is currently going on, is still supposed to be unbiased.

Aside from that, we could really learn a lesson from the right--we should be as vocal and loud as possible to get our way from time to time. The right screams that the media is biased, and when they do so, the media become further biased in favor of the right. The right may be scum, but they are smart scum.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

6. blacklisted an activist

why is this a surprise?

[Rex]

7. NYT pulls a McCarthy (replace gay with communist)

No surprise here.