07 Aug 2004 New York Times Readers Deserve Full Story

Posted at 08:55h in Blog by

The New York Times just posted online an article exploring Friday’s contretemps over a swift boat veteran, Lt. Cmdr. George Elliot (USN-Ret.) a visible member of the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who says he was misquoted by the Boston Globe, and the Globe’s denial of the misquotation charge.

The article notes a major funding source for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth but failed to note a rather major money issue it has vis-a-vis the Boston Globe: The New York Times Co. owns it, and thus has a vested interest in the Globe’s reputation for accurate journalism.

I think New York Times readers deserve to be told about conflicts of interest of this nature.

(As a side note, I wonder why the New York Times story does not tell us if Boston Globe reporter Michael Kranish’s interview of Elliott was tape-recorded. That’s the second question I’d ask the Globe, right after “do you stand by your story?”)



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