New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter’s Metro section story on Wednesday, “Newsman to Speak at Events of Group Opposed to Health Care Plan,” tackled the apparent journalistic no-no of John Stossel, the libertarian journalist who recently moved to Fox Business from ABC News. This is not a standard they've enforced at the New York Times.
Stelter suggested that Stossel’s scheduled appearance in front of a conservative group is a rare foray of a journalist into a partisan political event that vindicates the White House’s attacks on Fox News.
John Stossel, the newest star of the Fox Business Network, is also starring this week at a series of events orchestrated by opponents of a Democratic health care overhaul.
On Thursday Mr. Stossel is expected to speak at three forums hosted by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group, in three cities. The group’s Web site says Mr. Stossel and others will “debate solutions and discuss the dangers of government-forced health care” at the forums.
The unusual appearances come at a time when the sister network to Fox Business, the Fox News Channel, is facing fierce criticism from the White House and its allies. In recent days critics have leaped on Mr. Stossel’s speaking engagements as the latest evidence of conservative bias on the part of Fox, a unit of the News Corporation. The Obama administration has cast the network as a part of the political opposition.
Most news organizations discourage participation at partisan political events. In its publicity material for the forums, Americans for Prosperity identifies Mr. Stossel a “veteran journalist.” But Fox says Mr. Stossel is not a part of its hard news division; rather, he is an analyst and host.
In its responses to the White House and other critics, Fox has said there are differences between its journalists and its opinion program hosts. But the Obama administration and others have asserted that those lines are regularly blurred.
Stelter put the burden on Fox News to justify not being attacked by the full force of the White House:
Greg Sargent, a blogger for the Web site whorunsgov.com, a Washington Post Company Web site, wrote last week that Mr. Stossel would be effectively working “as a political activist” by attending the forums, and said it “doesn’t seem like great timing” given Fox’s feud with the White House.Mark Feldstein, an associate professor of journalism at the George Washington University, said the relationship between Mr. Stossel and a partisan group was “pretty shameful” by traditional journalistic standards. “But I guess we’re no longer in an age of tradition,” he said.
One journalist not mentioned: Former Times Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse, who marched in a pro-choice rally in April 1989. According to a contemporaneous story in the Washington Post, Greenhouse was unaware Times policy states that "staff members avoid employment or any undertakings, obligations, relationships or investments that create or appear to create a conflict of interest with their professional work for the Times."
And, in June 2006, Greenhouse ripped the Bush administration to shreds at a Harvard address, claiming “our government had turned its energy and attention away from upholding the rule of law and toward creating law-free zones at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Haditha, and other places around the world. And let’s not forget the sustained assault on women’s reproductive freedom and the hijacking of public policy by religious fundamentalism.”
Yet Greenhouse continued to cover abortion issues for the Times until her retirement in 2008.
(More, including image, from AP.)
—Clay Waters is the director of Times Watch, an MRC project tracking the New York Times.



















Editor at Large
Comments Policy
If Hipocrisy Were....
November 1, 2009 - 07:39 ET by GeneralAlIf hipocrisy were electricity, the Times could power the world! They put new meaning to calling the kettle black! The problem is Stossel has always been open and has kicked all types of butts, political and social! They are merely trying to get in front of him! I think they sense his eyes peering at them through the crosshairs of his sight!
The Times Missed this Newsbusters Story
November 1, 2009 - 08:13 ET by allanfABC Anchor Charles Gibson Emcees Big-Money Fundraiser for Edward Kennedy Institute
→ That's different
November 1, 2009 - 08:21 ET by Cool ArrowGibson didn't know Teddy was dead. He thought he was going for an interview.
Mmm, mmm, mmm - Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
LOL! __________ "mmm,
November 1, 2009 - 08:39 ET by ThisnThatLOL!
__________
"mmm, mmm, mm. Barrack-Hussain-Øbama↓." - The liberals coolaid drinking song
He thought "the cables" were doing it
November 1, 2009 - 10:22 ET by CO2MakerBut the only thing "the cables" were doing was pulling the Oldsmobile out of the water.
By George He's Got It
November 1, 2009 - 17:59 ET by allanfLet us not forget ABC's George Stephanopolous's frequent sessions with his White House "sources". No advice or strategy given there according to ABC.
Stossel's money quote from
November 1, 2009 - 07:53 ET by motherbeltStossel's money quote from the AP story (emphasis mine):
"When I woke up to the fact the government controls were a bigger
problem to consumers and started saying that, suddenly I was breaking
the objectivity canon of journalists ... I've always had a point of
view. It only bothered my colleagues when it was a point of view that
upset them,"
So!!!!
November 1, 2009 - 08:02 ET by richb313So!!! John Stossel has a point of view. That is not news. He has had a point of view the whole time he was a reporter. He changed his point of view almost 2 decades ago and that change is why the NY Times will never forgive him. If he were lockstep with the accepted NY Times point of view would they even have bothered to write this story?
Greenhouse
November 1, 2009 - 08:19 ET by canuckThis woman is such a troll physically and intellectually that her campaigning for one side was actually support for the other.
BUT...
November 1, 2009 - 09:22 ET by Apodictic...She can eat corn through a picket fence!
Stossel's smarts, Greenhouse gases, and my fill of Ifill.
November 1, 2009 - 08:34 ET by CO2MakerI remember 15 years ago or so seeing a report by John Stossel. Can't remember the subject, but I do remember thinking "Who the hell is this guy? How did he manage to get this story on the air? Will the show more reports by him?" I think it preceded his regular "Give Me A Break" items on 20/20. I was surprised that it skewered some exemplars of liberal conventional wisdom (poor people with cars and cell phones, tap water that was chosen better tasting than bottled water, etc.).
I thought it was okay for a reporter to march in a parade in support of the sanctity of abortion (which is a secularly sacred belief). I guess it does make for unnecessary Greenhouse gases.
And btw, don't forget the hoorah surrounding Gwen Ifill's moderation of the vice-presidential debate, or as others described it, her nationwide promotional book tour for her hagiography of the Obamas.
Gwen Ifill's book...
November 1, 2009 - 08:40 ET by Red Jeep..."The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama" is now ranked #90,389 in books at amazon.com this AM.
Mr. Kettle? Mrs. Pot on
November 1, 2009 - 08:38 ET by motherbeltMr. Kettle? Mrs. Pot on line one!! (And I don't mean the wife of Pol!)
She's calling from California
November 1, 2009 - 08:39 ET by CO2Makerwhere she's legal!
Hypocrisy
November 1, 2009 - 08:38 ET by HuapakechiNever mind what the nyt "reporters" have done in the past, they're going to call down any conservative for asking troubling questions and pointing out the lies.
Negotiating with a liberal is incremental surrender.
Yeah,but they're going to have to double up on snarkiness
November 1, 2009 - 08:41 ET by CO2Makersince their numbers in the newsroom will be going down soon.
Most news organizations
November 1, 2009 - 09:00 ET by RMRMost news organizations discourage participation at partisan political events... Really? Then explain that headline below?
ABC Anchor Charles Gibson Emcees Big-Money Fundraiser for Edward Kennedy Institute
NewsBusters: By Tim Graham October 18, 2009 - 17:02 ET-
Stosse
November 1, 2009 - 09:33 ET by jessieHStossel was smart enough to go to Fox. The rest are planning to get their unemployment started. The Bush administration was not the best, but they were better than we have, now. At least the media reported the news, back then. Now, all we hear is obama this & obama, that.
They're just trying to say
November 1, 2009 - 09:43 ET by G. MayThey're just trying to say Stossel should do it like the professionals.
Too Early
November 1, 2009 - 10:46 ET by slickwillie2001Please, we need warnings when a picture of Greenhouse is featured.
What about Rather?
November 1, 2009 - 11:22 ET by GalvanicBefore he was fired from CBS News, self-designated icon of journalism Dan Rather was a guest speaker at a Democratic fund-raiser for high-rollers in Texas. He claimed that he didn't know it was a political fund-raiser, despite the fact that his daughter (the organizer who invited him) was a Democratic political operative in Texas. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1211794/posts
What did the NY Times have to say about that back then?
All the Hypocrisy That's Fit to Print
November 1, 2009 - 12:21 ET by YephoraHypocrisy, thy name is The New York Times.
Why the long face?
November 1, 2009 - 15:22 ET by ghblogI was fortunate to see John Stossel speak about risk a long time ago. His frank speaking style was engaging and that comes out in his books. You can tell when the MSM see someone who is effective...they go after him.
Hey Greenhouse. Why the long face? I know that's mean, but I get so tired of these hypocrites.
The fish wrap of record
November 1, 2009 - 17:53 ET by Patrick MichaelThe only time that the New York Times looks remotely interesting is when it is portrayed as "Pinch" on Red Eye, and some guest smacks it around - that is down right hilarious!!!
Stay Free!!!