WTF !!! - 'NYT Public Editor Criticized for “Truth Vigilante” Column' - FDL

[WillyT]

NYT Public Editor Criticized for “Truth Vigilante” Column
By: David Dayen - FDL
Thursday January 12, 2012 12:59 pm

<snip>

Thrill to the exploits of New York Times Public Editor Arthur Brisbane, aka Truth Vigilante! Watch him wonder if it’s worth it to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Witness him ask around to see if he should run faster than a locomotive!

"I’m looking for reader input on whether and when New York Times news reporters should challenge “facts” that are asserted by newsmakers they write about."

That’s the lead paragraph, folks. Arthur Brisbane has to ask readers if reporters should call bullshit on politicians and public officials. Truth is apparently no longer a normal part of the job description for journalists, but an “optional extra” that the New York Times may or may not choose to install, depending on reader feedback. If reporters were not supposed to challenge the assertions of the subjects of their reporting, you could actually fire them all and hire some low-cost court stenographers to do the work.

The examples cited by Brisbane are all instances where any self-respecting writer would contextualize and analyze the CYA quotes they got before typing them up. But to Brisbane, this is a question of real mystery. A lot of news outlets get around this these days by having a separate “fact-check” column. But needless to say, if the lies aren’t called out right in the article, they never get fully challenged.

Amazingly, Jim Romenesko sought further comment from Brisbane, and he still didn’t get the fuss his column generated: <cont'd.>

<snip>

More: http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/01/12/nyt-public-editor-criticized-for-truth-vigilante-column/

[valerief]

1. Actual journalism is optional. Media is a propaganda delivery system today. nt

[abelenkpe]

2. Of course they should challenge what people say

Very sad that anyone needs to ask.

[DBoon]

3. "fire them all and hire some low-cost court stenographers"

Isn't this what the last 20 years of shrinking the news business was all about?

[Bozita]

4. +1!