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February 24, 2008

Hoyt Hits Nail on Head; Will Nail Listen?

Clark Hoyt, public editor of The New York Times, examines the recent McCain story and--no surprise--demonstrates he understands the basics of good journalism:

A newspaper cannot begin a story about the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee with the suggestion of an extramarital affair with an attractive lobbyist 31 years his junior and expect readers to focus on anything other than what most of them did. And if a newspaper is going to suggest an improper sexual affair, whether editors think that is the central point or not, it owes readers more proof than The Times was able to provide.

...

The pity of it is that, without the sex, The Times was on to a good story. McCain, who was reprimanded by the Senate Ethics Committee in 1991 for exercising “poor judgment” by intervening with federal regulators on behalf of a corrupt savings and loan executive, recast himself as a crusader against special interests and the corrupting influence of money in politics. Yet he has continued to maintain complex relationships with lobbyists like Iseman, at whose request he wrote to the Federal Communications Commission to urge a speed-up on a decision affecting one of her clients.

Much of that story has been reported over the years, but it was still worth pulling together to help voters in 2008 better understand the John McCain who might be their next president.

Now the question is: Will Bill Keller listen? Yesterday I charged him with arrogance of a type all too common in journalism: "We know the truth." Will he stand by the story, or will he acknowledge what is apparent to so many (across the simplistic political divide): The Times mucked-up a good story leading with the stink sexual shenanigans it cannot prove.



Posted by acline at February 24, 2008 9:56 AM | | Spotlight