4 ms·

Agreed. They've allowed Broder to just ride this out by muddying the waters. He walks away from this only slightly tainted now. At the very least, his notes an

Agreed. They've allowed Broder to just ride this out by muddying the waters. He walks away from this only slightly tainted now. At the very least, his notes and the resulting article are not accurate. He confirms this himself. This isn't surprising, and not necessarily malicious. But it's extremely common, as anyone who has ever dealt with a journalist knows. As a group, journalists simply get a great number of things wrong and cannot be relied on for detail oriented work.

Jun8 14y ago
"As a group, journalists simply get a great number of things wrong and cannot be relied on for detail oriented work." This is quite a general statement, which in itself cannot be defended. Furthermore, I think that NYT's standards are higher than the average journalist taken "as a group". Their fact checking is rigorous (although, of course, is not infallible, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Blair http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Blair)
stcredzero 14y ago
> As a group, journalists simply get a great number of things wrong and cannot be relied on for detail oriented work. Something is very wrong here. If the way you conduct business has nearly equal probability of pissing off innocent people unjustly as it has of making wrongdoers hot under the collar, isn't it time to revisit how you do things?
- smsm42 14y ago
  Newspapers are financed by ads and subscriptions. Both categories drive up ad impressions, links, referrals, newspaper profile, etc. and even if somebody would drop out of subscription based on that the chance is very low. So as long as journalists can keep on this side of a complete fabrication (that could drive subscribers away in serious numbers and make advertisers think twice) they're fine with sloppy work. A good controversy only helps the bottom line, and they can always say "we might have been wrong in small details but we illuminated serious concerns of public importance".
- inopinatus 14y ago
  Nonetheless it confirms my experience of journalists also: as a class, they often play fast and loose with the truth and frequently misattribute statements, misinterpret facts and quote misleadingly out of context. Take everything you read in the press with a huge grain of salt.
  - stcredzero 14y ago
    Maybe the death of newspapers and magazines is generally well deserved?
    - JabavuAdams 14y ago
      It's not like the new new media are doing more fact-checking.

Jun8 14y ago

"As a group, journalists simply get a great number of things wrong and cannot be relied on for detail oriented work." This is quite a general statement, which in itself cannot be defended. Furthermore, I think that NYT's standards are higher than the average journalist taken "as a group". Their fact checking is rigorous (although, of course, is not infallible, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Blair http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Blair)

stcredzero 14y ago

> As a group, journalists simply get a great number of things wrong and cannot be relied on for detail oriented work. Something is very wrong here. If the way you conduct business has nearly equal probability of pissing off innocent people unjustly as it has of making wrongdoers hot under the collar, isn't it time to revisit how you do things?

smsm42 14y ago
Newspapers are financed by ads and subscriptions. Both categories drive up ad impressions, links, referrals, newspaper profile, etc. and even if somebody would drop out of subscription based on that the chance is very low. So as long as journalists can keep on this side of a complete fabrication (that could drive subscribers away in serious numbers and make advertisers think twice) they're fine with sloppy work. A good controversy only helps the bottom line, and they can always say "we might have been wrong in small details but we illuminated serious concerns of public importance".
inopinatus 14y ago
Nonetheless it confirms my experience of journalists also: as a class, they often play fast and loose with the truth and frequently misattribute statements, misinterpret facts and quote misleadingly out of context. Take everything you read in the press with a huge grain of salt.
- stcredzero 14y ago
  Maybe the death of newspapers and magazines is generally well deserved?
  - JabavuAdams 14y ago
    It's not like the new new media are doing more fact-checking.