A trip through Editorial Space(shiver!) Part 1/3

Here is a little exchange between me and a couple of the editors(actually the editor's people) at the NYTimes as the Gannon/Guckert story was exploding. In 3 Parts 'cuz this editor sux.

02/09/05 to All the NYTimes Editors:

“Can you please tell me why I can't find mention anywhere in your online paper of the Jeff Gannon/planted "journalist" story that is sweeping AirAmerica and other radio? I mean, this is pretty big stuff and I can't find a peep from you guys.”

And then this the next morning:

“OK, you guys have been scooped on the the Jeff Gannon/ planted correspondent issue. 24 hours after I sent a note asking why I couldn't find it anywhere in your online edition, I still don't see it. Even CNN and the Daily Post have run stories on this, meager as they may be, and DailyKos is planning to issue a press release(more power to them). Your mea culpa for your woefully inadequate reportage in the months leading up to this war in Iraq has been trumped by your utter inability to stand up for your very profession. You no longer stand as much for a free
press and/or investigative journalism as you do for craven marketeering and political prostitution. Please tell me why, besides your crosswords which are arguably the best to be found, I should ever think of contributing to your organization when you have shown yourselves to be so slow to protect the 4th estate which you pretend to embody.”

I wasn't so shocked that my 2/9 letter hadn't spurred them to action but I knew that I was just one of hundreds(thousands?) trying to get this story into the MSM. It still has just barely shown up now 3 weeks later. However there was a story on 02/11 though I can't say I was thoroughly satisfied:

“

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/politics/11gannon.html

Is it any wonder that this administration is able to get away with so much when you guys, with your reach, are so slow to get behind a real story? Not to mention that it's stuck way deep inside. Those liquid lunches sure make it tough to stay on top of the news, huh?”

Yeah, um, weeeell, I felt it was a justified poke. They were sitting on a story that was burning up the blogs and progressive radio. I mean just burning it up. It was all that was being talked about. The administration(aka Karl Rove) had been caught red-handed and the NYTimes was apparently only going to respond with a buried 5 paragraph piece on a Friday. Who reads the Washington section on a Friday?

But, it did get a response from the Executive Editor's office;

“You'll pardon me if I resent your last sentence.......
Sorry you don't like the placement or the timing of the story ...But what has happened to reasoned discourse? Or must everyone be an idiot or a moron or a drunk because the story they are interested in doesn't make the front page of the paper?”

The story I'M interested in?! Everybody who cares about democracy cared(and cares) about this story. But:

“OK, I apologize for the liquid lunch remark. That was the 3rd note I dropped to you guys and the only one to get a response, so I had no reason to believe that it would be any more closely read than the 2 others. I do feel that this Gannon story and the implications toward a White House disinformation campaign it supplies should be, if not on the front page, front and center on the Washington page. I mean, you know as well as I do(or you should) that without freedom of the press to examine our government there will be no ad revenue and no sense in printing fashion stories.”

Which brought this:

“Thank you for your reply. I'm not making excuses -- but the fact is that on this email site alone, we receive over 3000 emails a day. There are 2 human beings who deal with this site ...Stuff gets lost - legitimate emails get sent to junk mail ... There is no way we can answer them all. If you want to send me something directly, email me at (...). Believe me, no one is more aware of White House disinformation than this newspaper. I'm grateful for your measured response.”

OK, fair enough, but WHERE IS THE STORY NOW?! Going to the NYTimes website and searching for “gannon guckert” gives the articles that were available as of last week(ending 2/20) and an AP National Review blurb that notes that Talon News has shut down. More on this later.

(If you want to read these articles, I would recommend searching at nytimes.com and then googling the name of the article unless you want to buy it from the Times. Or just click on the links as they pop up. I think they show all the articles.)