Inside Politics

Times change

“The Los Angeles Times and New York Times, on opposite sides of the continent, may also be taking opposite approaches to malfeasance in their midst,” the Media Research Center reports.

“Contrast the hands-off, responsibility-free approach of the New York Times’ Howell Raines and Arthur Sulzberger to that of L.A. Times editor John Carroll as reported [Wednesday] by the Poynter Institute’s Jim Romenesko,” the MRC’s Tim Graham writes.

“Responding the same day to front-page [L.A. Times] reporting on a bill requiring abortion patients be counseled on increased risk of breast cancer, Carroll’s May 22 memo stated: ‘The apparent bias of the writer and/or the desk itself reveals itself in the third paragraph. … It is not until the last three paragraphs of the story that we finally surface a professor of biology and endocrinology who believes the abortion/cancer connection is valid. But do we quote him as to why he believes this? No. We quote his political views. Apparently, the scientific argument for the anti-abortion side is so absurd that we don’t need to waste our readers’ time with it. … The reason I’m sending this note to all section editors is that I want everyone to understand how serious I am about purging all political bias from our coverage. … we are not going to push a liberal agenda in the news pages of the Times.’”

Dowd’s troubles

An editor of a Texas newspaper announced yesterday he is dropping New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd because she cut a portion of a quote from President Bush, changing its meaning in a way that misrepresented Mr. Bush.

“The New York Times’ considerable credibility problem is now our problem, as well,” Marc R. Masferrer wrote yesterday in the Lufkin Daily News in Lufkin, Texas, noting accusations of ethical lapses by two other Times writers, Jayson Blair and Rick Bragg.

“But unlike the Times, which has been engaged in a torturous exercise of navel gazing and self-flagellation, with its accustomed arrogance, since it was revealed that one of its younger reporters had committed all sorts of journalistic sins, we are doing something about it, and fast,” the editor said.

“Until she explains to our satisfaction her own ethical transgression — an apparently deliberate distortion of a comment by President Bush — you will not find the work of Times columnist Maureen Dowd on this page.”

Mr. Masferrer added: “How we can best serve you, the reader, is a daily challenge here at the Lufkin Daily News, for our credibility is the only thing that those of us in the newsroom have to sell. We may not always get it right, and you may not always like what you read, but we will always do our best to make this newspaper, your newspaper, a place where the likes of Jayson Blair, Rick Bragg and Maureen Dowd will never feel at home.”

Moore vs. Borger

Stephen Moore, president of the conservative Club for Growth, takes issue with U.S. News & World Report columnist Gloria Borger, who this week criticized Mr. Moore’s group for what she called its “over the top” ad campaign that targets Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, Maine Republican, and several other senators who opposed President Bush’s tax cut.

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