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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Another Jayson Blair? |
| 2003-12-18 |
| Truth in Journalism at the New York Times More of the same at the "Paper of Record." Author’s subtitle, not mine! EFL Looks like the New York Times has another ugly Jayson Blair-like scandal on its hands. This time, the young minority reporter is Charlie LeDuff, a part Native-American, part-Cajun ooh. sounds sexy writer, known as a rising star and favorite pet of former executive editor Howell Raines. The hotshot LeDuff is now in hot water over his cribbing of anecdotes from someone else’s book about kayaking down the Los Angeles River for his own Page One fluff story about — you guessed it! — kayaking down the Los Angeles River. An embarrassing correction [was] published in the New York Times on Dec. 8. snip Perhaps not coincidentally, you’d have never guessed LeDuff was a good pal of the disgraced Jayson Blair. snip ...the Times has been willing to overlook LeDuff’s journalistic shortcuts before. In September, author and columnist Marvin Olasky reported that LeDuff attributed fake quotes to a naval officer in San Diego to fit the reporter’s antiwar agenda. This is long, but the character assault on a military officer pissed me off royally Lieutenant Commander Beidler, 32, on his way to Iraq in January, was walking with his family toward the end of Naval Station Pier 2 when the Times’s Charlie LeDuff asked him for his general view of war protesters. Mr. Beidler recalls stating, "Protesters have a right to protest, and our job is to defend those rights. But in protesting, they shouldn’t protest blindly; instead, they should provide reasonable solutions to the problem."The LeDuff version had Mr. Beidler criticizing Los Angeles protesters but turning his guns at a complacent United States: "It’s war, Commander Beidler said, and the nation is fat. ’No one is screaming for battery-powered cars,’ he added." The journalist then turned to Commander Beidler wife’s Christal: "’I’m just numb,’ she said as she patted down his collar. ’I’ll cry myself to sleep, I’m sure.’" I guess this is the level of accuracy to expect. Mr. Beidler was at sea when he discovered how far at sea cute! the Times’s reporting was, but he sent off a letter to the editor stating what he had said and arguing that the quotes about national fatness and battery-powered cars "were completely fabricated by Mr. LeDuff ..." Mr. Beidler also stated, "Mr. LeDuff continued his shameful behavior by attributing words and actions to my wife that were not her own. Not only did she not say she would cry herself to sleep, but she didn’t pat down my collar either, which was impossible for her to accomplish with my civilian shirt hidden under my jacket and a duffle bag hanging on my shoulder closest to her."In response, a Times editor Hey, CNO: There’s a LCdr Breidler who needs orders that pass him through NYC so he can have an encounter between his fist and some NYT editor’s nose hoping for a satisfactory outcome. Institutional arrogance. Diversity monomania. Intellectual thievery. Wasn’t this all supposed to end with the fall of Raines? naah, guess not How many other victims of LeDuff’s "colorful writing" are out there? And how many other Jayson Blairs remain nestled in the Gray Lady’s bosom? Stay tuned. |
| Posted by:Glenn (not Reynolds) |
| #2 Frank, pretty soon Letterman and Leno will start making fun of being "quoted in the Times." It will catch on as an expression of derision. Then 80 years from now nobody will remeber where the expression came from. How do you like them apples? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-18 8:47:57 PM |
| #1 "Credibility, once lost, can take a lifetime to restore"...hope the NYT has that on their epitaph |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-12-18 11:19:21 AM |