Remora

Conservatives like Mickey Kaus have been cannonading the NY Times for its leftwing bias since Howell Raines became editor in chief. Liberals like Eric Alterman have naturally retaliated by defending Raines. In LI's opinion, the NYT crusade to open the Augusta Masters to women is eminently defensable. However, we aren't golfers, we believe that gender biases in sports are much more pronounced in, say, football or basketball than in golf, and we don't really have any interest in the story.

A more serious breach of journalistic integrity has emerged about the Time's reporting from Venezuala. We wonder if Kaus or his conservative cohorts are going to report on the right wing bias of the newspaper... No we don't. We dont' think for a moment that they will report on this story, which goes like this.

Narco news is a site run by Al Giordano. In a news story about the Times' firing, or letting go, of its Venezualan stringer, Francisco Toro, Giordano revealed a systematic bias towards the upper class side in the dispute between Chavez and the national strikers. In fact, Giordiano's piece is revelatory about what it means to "strike" in this instance. It means that the owners of banks locked out their employees for a number of days -- which was reported in the Times as a bank employees strike. More, in Toro's case, the Times news reporting was being done by a man who was politically active, by his own account, on the anti-Chavez side. Toro finally resigned. Actually, Toro comes out of Giordano's story as a decent man, torn by conflicting interests. Giordiano published Toro's resignation letter to the NYT editor Lyon:


Dear Pat,

After much careful consideration, I�ve decided I can�t continue reporting for the New York Times. As I examine the problem, I realize it would take much more than just pulling down my blog to address your conflict of interests concerns. Too much of my lifestyle is bound up with opposition activism at the moment, from participating in several NGOs, to organizing events and attending protest marches. But even if I gave all of that up, I don�t think I could muster the level of emotional detachment from the story that the New York Times demands. For better or for worse, my country�s democracy is in peril now, and I can�t possibly be neutral about that.

I appreciate your understanding throughout this difficult time, and I hope in the future, conditions will allow for me to contribute with the World Business page again.

Sincerely,

Francisco Toro

What is interesting is that Giordano's generally accurate report on the NYT reporting has been attacked by the NYT in a really silly and stupid way. Giordiano printed this reply to his site from Patrick Lyon:


To: "Alberto M. Giordano"
Subject: Re: To Pat Lyons from Al Giordano
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 10:54:53 -0500

Mr. Giordano,

Requests for information or comment from The New York Times should be directed to our vice president for corporate communications, Catherine Mathis, at (212) 556-1981.

Questions about whether a defamatory screed posted on the Internet with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity is libelous should be directed to a competent lawyer.

Patrick J. Lyons
International Business Editor
The New York Times

Now, it is true that NarcoNews, like LI, like almost any media site on the web, exhibits a gleeful contrarian style that contrasts with the establishment media's tone of evenhandedness. The latter tone isn't always a bad thing. I would pity the man who got all his news and views from, say, this site. There is certainly something reactive about that gleefulness. It reeks of the back row of the classroom.

However, it is also a lively corrective to the deadening biases of the corporate media. My little experience of Timesmen is parallel to Girodano's -- Timesmen seem to regard themselves as members of an exclusive fraternity, and in their offhours take on that country club drawl, indicative of the delusion that they are the very giants of the earth.

As for Narco News publishing a defamatory screed -- that is simply silly. That said, Giordano shouldn't hug this big splat of NYT vitriol too closely to his breast -- he isn't, really, being censored by the heavy hand of government. His reply is a little too cumbersome, and involves imagining a courtroom exchange between himself and the Times. Like Tom Sawyer daydreaming of the ways in which he would be missed if he were dead, there is something queasy about the wish fullfillment involved in daydreaming about having one's day in court with the NYT. This kind of thing happens when a freelancer gets to confront a real media giant -- proportion is the first casualty of media criticism. However, the NYT does measure its language -- it is hard to imagine Lyon sending a similar message to the much more read Kaus.