Fallout After a Blogger’s Private Comments Are Aired

[groovedaddy]

Journalists, like all people, have opinions. Should those privately held opinions preclude them from writing?

That age-old debate was reignited, with a twist, last week when the blogger David Weigel resigned from The Washington Post after he made disparaging comments about conservatives on a private e-mail list called Journolist.

The twist was that Mr. Weigel was hired three months ago, in part, to have opinions. As a blogger covering the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement, he was given more latitude than traditional newspaper reporters to write with a point of view and reach conclusions.

Mr. Weigel has largely declined interview requests, but he told The Daily Caller last week, “I’ve always been of the belief that you could have opinions and could report anyway.” His blog, called “Right Now,” did not present a conservative viewpoint per se; he has described himself as a libertarian and a registered Republican who votes for Democratic presidential candidates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/business/media/28post.html?th&emc=th

[Angry Dragon]

1. A journalist, in the business about 40 years,

had said we all have bias, as long as you realize this and the people you are reporting to realize your bias then
it should be okay. It is when you say you have no bias is when the distortion arrives.

[Democrats_win]

2. Can't have intelligent people telling the truth about conservative crackpots.

We STILL have the "freedom" to keep quiet. Just like in 1930s Germany.

[ThatPoetGuy]

3. The ombudsman's quote was disturbing.

"Mr. Weigel’s exit, and the events that prompted it, have further damaged The Post among conservatives who believe it is not properly attuned to their ideology or activities."

It's hideous and terrifying that the Post's ombudsman thinks it's important to make conservatives believe the paper is "properly attuned to their ideology." The news is supposed to reflect truth, reflect the facts. Conservatives watch news that tells them there is no such thing as global warming, Saddam was developing nuclear weapons, and Hitler was a socialist.

[frontrange]

4. Ridiculous

Journalists should be allowed freedom of speech and press just like everyone else.

The whole notion of journalistic objectivity is so bogus.

[Spike89]

5. A matter of honesty and integrity

I'm as staunch a supporter of media rights as there is, but this isn't about a commentator being fired for his views. He was hired to be a blogger (commentator) based on a set of worldviews and writings that got him the job. He published (not just held views) opinions that were odds with the opinions he was writing elsewhere. In other words, he was not being honest to one group or the other and he'd destroyed his own credibility as a commentator.

[zbdent]

6. How much do you want to bet that, if the situations were reversed,

(namely, Mr. Weigel was a "libertarian" and a registered Democrat who voted for Republican Presidential candidates, and he worked for the Washington Times and was blogging on the Democratic party and the environmentalist movement)

he would have his own show on one of the "liberal" media outlets by now?