Comments on: Ethics, Anyone?

By: Gene

Gene — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 04:48:55 +0000

In a similar sin of omission, WaPo’s “Think Tank Town” published a piece by Gio Batta Gori called “The Bogus ‘Science’ of Secondhand Smoke.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01158.html

WaPo’s bio of Gori at the end of the piece neglected to mention Gori’s extensive work for tobacco companies, instead reaching back 30 years to cite to his work at the National Cancer Institute. Thus, the bio made Gori appear, to the casual observer, virtually above bias, with no conflict of interest worth mentioning.

Almost immediately, commenters took WaPo to task for this flagrant failure to properly inform its readers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....7012901158

Gori’s tobacco work is common knowledge; the best precis is at SourceWatch.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/ind.....Batta_Gori

It’s a month later now, and WaPo has refused to clarify the bio.

By: MR Blifil

MR Blifil — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:36:30 +0000

*xyz @
127

AZ Matt @ 126

I have been away from this party for 4 hours, did Jane ever get her wallet back?

Yes, and her phone.

Woo-hoo!! Can I gedda “Fitz!?”

By: dcgaffer

dcgaffer — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:30:24 +0000

Phoenix Woman @ 209

Valley Girl @
201

everyone I know calls it “National”. ;)

Same here. Nobody in DC uses the R-word to refer to it.

Anyone’s who questions why you don’t refer to it as RR National Airport you tell them:

“…Its true name is Washington National Airport. It is properly named after the FIRST President of the United States.”

By: S.O.S. in MA

S.O.S. in MA — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:18:15 +0000

Elephantman @ 120

What is the conflict?… Linda Greenhouse …

Couldn’t disagree more, Elephantman. Best way of capsulizing my response would be “You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.”

By: joel

joel — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:17:14 +0000

TeddySanFran @ 175

All in all, swapping cab time for bar time doesn’t seem so bad — and I notice that you’ve adopted the blue locals’ habit of calling National Airport by its pre-Just-Say-No name. I approve, emptywheel!

I had a prof in college (Texas A&M University) who referred to “Jersey Ave.” but which we students knew only as “George [H. W.] Bush Parkway.”

And here in Dallas, I’ve seen an uptick lately in the use of “State Highway [161]” rather than “President George W. Bush Tollway.” There might just be hope for us Texans after all.

By: S.O.S. in MA

S.O.S. in MA — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:15:19 +0000

Mad Dogs @ 117

…It blows the margins here. … You’d have another one at the bottom of the web page for scrolling over to the right.

Funny; I’ve seem lots of superthin squooshed-at-the-top-of-Zigs text, but nary a horiz scrollbar I can remember. Maybe because I use latest FireFox/MacOSX (??). But at any rate, thx for the info, Mad Dogs. Zigs certainly don’t help the look of things hereabouts… :)

By: TiredFed

TiredFed — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:04:15 +0000

I remember Fred Friendly. I did not know of the connection to Murrow, though. Doesn’t surprise me. He was wonderful. I miss him. Not too many could compare to him now. Maybe Bill Moyers.

By: MarkH

MarkH — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 02:39:34 +0000

MSM wants a Republican prez in ‘08. but, if the best they can do is a Conservative “Goldwater girl” like Hillary, then they’ll settle for that.

So, despite what people say about Hillary you can expect the press to call her the front-runner.

By: Dexter

Dexter — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 02:36:16 +0000

Pachacutec @ 196

Tell you what. If I need to pay attention, text message me. Interrupt me. Fair enough, love?

EW, LISTEN. In more ways than one.

By: Boudica

Boudica — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 02:33:56 +0000

Does anybody besides me remember the late Fred Friendly. He worked with Murrow, ended up helping to build PBS. In any event, he used to do a roundtable series on PBS about the press and ethics. His thought, contrary to Howard Kurtz, was you have a right to print anything you want to, but questioned, is it always right to print it? During roundtable discussions he set up scenarios, eliciting answers from his panel about how far they would go to publish a story. As he moved along, the story would gain more and more nuance to see when the various panel member’s ethics kicked in. Don’t laugh, Geraldo Rivera was actally on one of those panels.

Fred Friendly was also way ahead of the curve recognizing that TV news was much more concerned about making money, than informing the public. This man was a giant in the news industry, he also taught journalism and ethics at Columbia. If anyone is interested in how it used to be, how it should be, I suggest you google Fred Friendly.