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Sept. 11

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N.Y. Times Concedes It Lagged on Van Jones Story

Jill Abramson, managing editor of the New York Times, conceded¬†this week that the paper was "a beat behind" on the story of the attack on Van Jones, the White House "Green Jobs Czar" who was forced to resign Saturday after an assault by Fox News’ Glenn Beck and radio talk-show hosts.

"The Times was, in fact, a beat behind on this story," Abramson said in an online chat with readers.

"Why? One reason was that our Washington bureau was somewhat short-staffed during the height of the pre-Labor Day vacation period. This is not an excuse. Another is that despite being a so-called ‘czar,’ Mr. Jones was not a high-ranking official. Nevertheless, we should have been paying closer attention.

"We did cover Mr. Jones’s resignation on Page One on Sept. 7."

Meanwhile, Gabriel Voiles of Fairness & Accuracy in Media last week called attention to a letter¬†to the Times by Leila McDowell, vice president for communications of the NAACP, that said the Times missed the story in reporting President Obama’s speech commemorating the NAACP’s 100th anniversary.

"The New York Times distinguished itself from most major media by virtually ignoring the 100th anniversary of the N.A.A.C.P. . . ." she wrote.

"When The Times finally did send a reporter to cover the speech by President Obama, the resulting article (‘Obama Gives Fiery Address at N.A.A.C.P.,’ July 17) focused on personal responsibility. But that was the least prominent part of Mr. Obama’s speech.

"What was noteworthy was his discussion of racial disparities, the barriers facing African-Americans and the policies to redress social gaps."

Obama himself had complained that some in the media ignored his remarks on government responsibility.

The Times had summarized the speech as, "Obama Tells Fellow Blacks: ‘No Excuses’ for Failure" in a story¬†by the Washington bureau’s Sheryl Gay Stolberg.

Batten Led Va. Paper Against "Massive Resistance"

Frank Batten Sr., who rose "from errand boy he rose to publisher of The Virginian-Pilot and its afternoon sister, then parlayed his newspapers into an adventuresome media company with global reach," led a paper that was alone among major Virginia papers in opposing the pro-segregation "Massive Resistance" doctrine of the 1950s, Earl Swift wrote in his obituary of Batten on Friday in the Norfolk, Va., paper.

Batten died at 82 on Thursday. "He helped lead the fight for integrated schools in Norfolk, midwifed Old Dominion University into being, commanded The Associated Press and its far-flung correspondents, and defied a legion of doubters to create The Weather Channel," Swift wrote.

"He also lavished endowments on schools and universities and co-founded a scholarship program that guaranteed college educations to inner-city children."

The Virginian-Pilot and its editor, Lenoir Chambers, showed up the Massive Resistance policy "as incoherent in an unflinching series of editorials.

"Those were pretty rough days," Batten recalled in a 1987 interview. "We got a lot of bitter letters. We would have racist things spray-painted on the building rather frequently and occasionally had bomb threats."

Gene Roberts, a Virginian-Pilot reporter who went on to become a dean of American journalism in Philadelphia and New York, recalled that Batten initially "seemed to take pride that the two papers could go their different ways.

"But ultimately," he said, "he felt that the Ledger’s position was reinforcing the closing of the schools." When the Ledger’s editorial staff proved unable to effectively change the paper’s position, Batten did it himself.

"I would never ask an editor to write something he didn’t believe in, but also, if I thought the paper was being irresponsible, I was going to either write it myself or get someone else to write it," Batten said. "I think it’s the only time I’ve ever had to… make a radical reversal on the editorial page."

"He also helped organize a full-page advertisement, signed by dozens of Norfolk’s social leaders, calling for the schools to reopen.

"Norfolk’s schools reopened peacefully in February 1959. Chambers’ editorials won the 1960 Pulitzer Prize."

Laid Off, and Her Investigative Work Gets No Byline

Mc Nelly Torres, a consumer investigative reporter and board member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, was laid off from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in May with 29 other newsroom staffers. She says one question went through her mind, Bob Norman wrote on his blog  for the Broward-Palm Beach Post: What was going to happen to her supermarket food inspection story?

"She told me she spent several weeks on the project, finding evidence of unsafe food handling and other health violations at local stores. . . .

"Flash-forward to Sunday. The story was published on the newspaper’s front page, but there was no byline on the story at all, which is highly unusual for an investigative piece. At the bottom of the text, it was noted that the article was written by another staff writer (and it had been rewritten, with essentially the same content). Torres was given only a contributing line on the story she’d birthed. Adding insult, the newspaper got her name wrong, leaving out the space between Mc and Nelly. After Torres wrote for the newspaper for four years, you might think they’d remember how her name goes.

"She was disappointed but sent what she said was a respectful email asking about the decision to Sentinel Executive Editor Earl Maucker, Managing Editor Phil Ward, and Metzger. She didn’t hear back from any of them but did talk with Metzger on the phone. Torres, who is now working freelance, says that Metzger, who didn’t answer questions submitted from the Pulp, apologized but offered no explanation.

"’That story was a labor of love. What happened to giving credit where credit’s due?’ Torres asks rhetorically."

Afghan Journalists Blame West in Colleague’s Death

"A group of Afghan journalists blamed the international coalition Thursday for the death of a kidnapped colleague during the British commando rescue of a New York Times reporter and accused the troops of having a ‘double standard’ for Western and Afghan lives.

"The accusation came as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s office said that troops had carried out the raid Wednesday in an attempt to recover both British-Irish reporter Stephen Farrell and his Afghan translator Sultan Munadi and that the mission was authorized as the ‘best chance of protecting life.’

"The newly formed Media Club of Afghanistan — set up by Afghan reporters who work with international news outlets — also condemned the Taliban for abducting both journalists last week in northern Afghanistan as they investigated reports of civilian deaths in a German-ordered airstrike.

More than 50 Afghan reporters, wearing cameras and carrying notebooks, laid flowers Thursday at the Kabul cemetery grave of Munadi, 34, who died in gunfire as British commandos launched the rescue operation in northern Kunduz province. Farrell survived and was taken away in a helicopter. One British commando was also killed in the raid."

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