Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Who's Fooling Whom? I had one of those don't-touch-that-dial moments recently when I happened across NPR's "On the Media". The subject was the continuing debate over journalistic objectivity and whether journalists should just state their political predilections upfront or not. You can listen to the brief segment. Maybe journalists shouldn't be in your face with their views the way Michael Kinsley(former  new Republic editor, Crossfire host  Slate editor, now Los Angeles Times Editorial page editor) suggests, but don't you think Len Downie (Washington Post) is either fooling himself or attempting to fill others with his whole argument against an editor at his level voting?   BROOKE GLADSTONE: Len Downie, the editor of the Washington Post, is the poster child for the opposing view --the one that says reporters should keep mum. But he takes it even further. When executive editor Ben Bradlee handed him the reins 20 years ago, he stopped voting. LEN DOWNIE: Unlike the rest of our staff, I had the last word as to whether or not the paper was being fair in its reporting on these issues, and I didn't want to take a position, even in my own mind on them. I wanted to maintain a completely open mind. 10:26:16 AM     comment []

© Copyright 2004 vivian b. martin. Last update: 10/17/2004; 11:06:08 AM.