Skip the boring bulk of Public Editor Byron Calame's latest innocuous, inside-baseball column and skip straight to the brief shirt-tail, "Drawing a Line."
Apparently some liberal Times readers complained that Times military reporter Michael Gordon had the bad taste to go on the PBS talk show"Charlie Rose" January 8 and say he wanted the United States to win the war in Iraq.
Calame:
"Times editors have carefully made clear their disapproval of the expression of a personal opinion about Iraq on national television by the paper’s chief military correspondent, Michael Gordon.
"The rumored military buildup in Iraq was a hot topic on the Jan. 8 'Charlie Rose' show, and the host asked Mr. Gordon if he believed 'victory is within our grasp.' The transcript of Mr. Gordon’s response, which he stressed was 'purely personal,' includes these comments:
"'So I think, you know, as a purely personal view, I think it’s worth it [sic] one last effort for sure to try to get this right, because my personal view is we’ve never really tried to win. We’ve simply been managing our way to defeat. And I think that if it’s done right, I think that there is the chance to accomplish something.'"
A Charlie Rose watcher complained, and Calame acted.
"I raised reader concerns about Mr. Gordon's voicing of personal opinions with top editors, and received a response from Philip Taubman, the Washington bureau chief. After noting that Mr. Gordon has 'long been mindful and respectful of the line between analysis and opinion in his television appearances,' Mr. Taubman went on to draw the line in this case.
"'I would agree with you that he stepped over the line on the ‘Charlie Rose’ show. I have discussed the appearances with Michael and I am satisfied that the comments on the Rose show were an aberration. They were a poorly worded shorthand for some analytical points about the military and political situation in Baghdad that Michael has made in the newspaper in a more nuanced and unopinionated way. He agrees his comments on the show went too far.'
"It’s a line drawn correctly by Mr. Taubman -- and accepted honorably by Mr. Gordon."
Apparently Gordon's sin was to admit he was putting forth a personal view. He should have been like his colleague Neil MacFarquhar, who works the Muslim-American beat, and who advanced his own liberal opinion on the Charlie Rose show, without any caveats about it being his "own personal view" (although it obviously was).
MacFarquhar appeared on "Charlie Rose" last July and slipped in this anti-Bush, America-critical personal commentary:
“If you talk to people my age -- I’m in my mid-40s -- and who grew up in poor countries like Morocco, you know, they will tell you that when they went to school in the mornings, they used to get milk, and they called it Kennedy milk because it was the Americans that sent them milk. And in 40 years, we have gone from Kennedy milk to the Bush administration rushing bombs to this part of the world. And it just erodes and erodes and erodes America’s reputation.”
Apparently MacFarquhar didn't get any lectures from Times editors for voicing liberal opinions on the Charlie Rose show.
For more New York Times bias, visit TimesWatch.
—Clay Waters is the director of Times Watch, an MRC project tracking the New York Times.
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Comments Policy
I'm not surprised at the lock step Storm Trooper NYT dictates.
January 29, 2007 - 11:26 ET by acaiguanaI'm not surprised at the lock step Storm Trooper NYT dictates.
That's how Liberals do it. How anyone with personal integrity could work for such a group with obvious censorship of their freedom of speech (I mean the guy said it was his own opinion);
Well, jobs in Journalism must be very scarce.
I would not work under such a terrifying environment. Every word I utter is subject to review and censorship. Toe the party line?
And they blatently go public with it.
ACA
...
Acaiguana says: "I love blind Monkeys and any inference that I am making fun of blind Monkeys would be wrong.
ac,Pravda?The dogs bark, but
January 29, 2007 - 11:44 ET by Chris Normanac,
Pravda?
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
- Arabian Proverb
Transgressions of the Left
January 29, 2007 - 22:01 ET by UnsaneI wonder how severe his beating his was, or if they tortured him and his family for that transgression.
"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???." - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)
NYT (unwritten) rules: All op
January 29, 2007 - 11:43 ET by mattmNYT (unwritten) rules: All opinions must be authorized by the editorial board. Items presented as factual do not have to be verified: if they support the editorial viewpoint, they can be published, if they don't, they should be omitted.
Hey I just emailed Melanie Mo
January 29, 2007 - 11:48 ET by Jack BauerHey I just emailed Melanie Morgan at KSFO Hot Talk Morning Show regarding this story.
She mentioned it on air at 08.41 PST -- for the huge San Francisco/North Calif. audience the show gets.
Mel is also posting a link to Clay's article on the Move America Forward website.
Thanks again to Al Gore for inventing the internet!
I also placed a link at digg.
January 29, 2007 - 12:04 ET by Eric Turnerwrong thread
This is as good as any why yo
January 29, 2007 - 12:00 ET by Clear thinkerThis is as good as any why you should never elect a liberal to lead a nation.
Liberals are perenial losers and quitters!
Funny, I never hear complaint
January 29, 2007 - 13:19 ET by Dave RFunny, I never hear complaints from these people when DimLib reporters express a desire for us to lose this war.
This is just silly. But I thi
January 29, 2007 - 13:27 ET by Hero SquadThis is just silly. But I think in the future, Mr. Gordon can circumvent the criticism of incorporating his opinion by citing what military leaders are saying about the situation, rather than suggesting it as his own analysis.
Add a "General So-and-so says..." about the surge, and not only do you get the point across and answer the question, but you also give it more credibility while maintaining your objectivity. And really, that's what we deserve from all of our news reporters.
*****
"I thought you might say something stupid... or liberal." - Frank Barone
"some say..."I chal
January 30, 2007 - 12:06 ET by TruthMonger"some say..."
I challenge these so-called "peace-activists" to organize JUST ONE MAJOR D.C. PROTEST AGAINST AL QUEDA by the end of 2007...
If this bunch of media losers
January 29, 2007 - 13:49 ET by InfomanOhioIf this bunch of media losers were around in December 1941, I could just imagine the headlines:
"FDR Urged to Surrender to Japan; American Lives Not Worth Cost of War"
Michael Gordon is a military adviser - what does anyone with half a brain think he's going to say? I think along the same lines he does - let the military pull off the gloves and give the insurgents some real hell. You don't win a war by not trying to lose.
This bunch of liberal media clowns should be arrested and tried for treason.
The truth may be ugly, but it is still the truth.
Yes, well we simply can't hav
January 29, 2007 - 14:06 ET by PeskyDaneYes, well we simply can't have an American liberal rooting for victory for his own country, now can we?
They did not seem to have a p
January 29, 2007 - 15:58 ET by BDThey did not seem to have a problem with it when noted liberal FDR was running things, but can you imagine WWII if a Conservative was Commander In Chief?
On a positive note, at leas
January 29, 2007 - 14:51 ET by thomasrhallOn a positive note, at least someone reporting for the NY Times appears to want the US to
succeed. I wonder if there are any others?
I honestly cannot believe wha
January 29, 2007 - 16:27 ET byI honestly cannot believe what America has come to. When I first read the excerpt on the front page for this posting, I had to read it again. I simply could not believe what my eyes were reading.
Wow, an actual reporter fro
January 29, 2007 - 19:02 ET by happyuscitizenWow, an actual reporter from the ol' Grey Dinosaur states something non defeatist and he is taken out back and flogged for wanting his country to win. Amazin' ain't it? Really I am not surprised the NYT would react this way, you know them being the arbiters of free speech and all.
However, I am of Mr Gordon's opinion that while our troops have fought valiantly on a daily basis and sacrificed much, the rules of engagement have been too restrictive hindering the ability of the troops on the ground.
Let's hope and prey that more of the same that has occured this past weekend in Iraq is only the beginning of us coming in for the big win.
"I'm just a big fat hairy American Winning Machine!" - Ricky Bobby
MacFarquhar.... GoodGordon...
January 29, 2007 - 19:30 ET by bigtimerMacFarquhar.... Good
Gordon.... Bad.
Got it.
Talk about hypocritical.
Outrageous!
NYT's.... It Figures.
NYT
January 29, 2007 - 20:49 ET by pocomocoCN,
How about - The New Pravda Times?
Note: Both FDR and LBJ (Democrats) thought the NYT was run by Communists.
And the beat goes on.
"But the subjects of the
January 29, 2007 - 22:08 ET by Eric Turner"But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 8:12
That's the first thing that came to my mind when I saw his bosses jump on him.
The Wall Street Journal Jam
January 31, 2007 - 10:39 ET by daveinbocaThe Wall Street Journal James Taranto had some choice observations on the spineless degenerates at the NYT and their double standard---a quote from Neal McFarquahr on the Rose show went unchastised because Neal echoed bouffant-head Kerry in voicing concern over America's decline in world opinion, which should only worry chattering chatterers and tenured morons, not defenders of US national security.
The NYT continues to sink into tabloid irrelevance, as do its pilot fish in the MSM. But they can still affect opinion, unfortunately.
The Wall Street Journal Jam
January 31, 2007 - 10:39 ET by daveinbocaThe Wall Street Journal James Taranto had some choice observations on the spineless degenerates at the NYT and their double standard---a quote from Neal McFarquahr on the Rose show went unchastised because Neal echoed bouffant-head Kerry in voicing concern over America's decline in world opinion, which should only worry chattering chatterers and tenured morons, not defenders of US national security.
The NYT continues to sink into tabloid irrelevance, as do its pilot fish in the MSM. But they can still affect opinion, unfortunately.