As we've stated before, no one can challenge the awful harm wrecked upon youth at the hands of Catholic clergy. The harm is real, incredibly sad, and unspeakably damaging. But that is no excuse for the Los Angeles Times to continue its dishonest practice of false and misleading presentations on the narrative of Cardinal Roger Mahony and the Los Angeles Catholic Church abuse scandal.
The latest offense from the Times is a dishonest op-ed (Tue. 2/3/09) from ex-staffer William Lobdell, who just-so-happens to be promoting a new book that's out in three weeks.
Lobdell claims that Cardinal Mahony has escaped punishment from the law because of "news fatigue, parishioner apathy, and propaganda." Even Lobdell's former colleague, perpetual Church basher Tim Rutten, knows this is untrue. In a flash of clarity Rutten acknowledged in a column last week:
"[E]very cleric who can be criminally prosecuted already has been by the county's district attorney ... All of the relevant information on [the L.A. archdiocese priest] cases has been in the hands of county prosecutors for years ... The legal acrimony between the D.A.'s office and the archdiocese over all this has been corrosive enough to eat through titanium alloy. If any sort of criminal obstruction had occurred, does anybody really think L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley wouldn't have prosecuted?"
Lobdell also blasts Cardinal Mahony for supposedly "promot[ing] himself -- with the help of a high-priced public relations firm." Meanwhile, a peek at Lobdell's very own web site finds that Lobdell himself markets himself as a "media consultant" p.r. man! From his site:
Lobdell will show you how to develop a realistic and effective media strategy to help achieve your company’s goals, how to stay ahead of a breaking and/or controversial story, how to create genuine relationships with journalists, how to effectively use off-the-record comments to shape the story in your favor, how to handle a 9 p.m. call from the New York Times (”No Comment” isn’t the answer), how to navigate the tricky world of New Media ...
Hypocrisy, anyone? Of course! (H.t. to a commenter at the Times' web site.)
Does William Lobdell really care about the awful abuse of children? If he does, where is his outrage at the current-day scandals that have happened right under his nose in the Los Angeles Unified School District? (See this and this for starters, Bill.)
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The above post is a shortened, much-edited version of a longer piece. See the full version at TheMediaReport.com.
