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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (1512)	5/27/2003 8:33:08 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793717

Here is "Slates" comment by Mickey Kaus on Bragg's, and the NYT, problem. Makes sense to me. "I suspect that what Bragg did was a worse case of stringer abuse than is typical, but that isn't the issue. The issue is whether the Times is routinely deceiving its readers into thinking that its stories have the credibility safeguard of a bylined reporter who has actually done the reporting in the story. When I read the above WaPo story, for example, I assumed that the reporter named as the author--one Howard Kurtz--was the person who actually talked to Bragg and got the quotes from him. That practice a) eliminates a potential error-introducing step in the chain of reporting that comes when a stringer interviews the subject and then transmits the information to the reporter who actually writes the story; and b) establishes accountability, since the named reporter can be held completely responsible--by editors, and readers--if he or she gets anything wrong. I think I'm fairly safe in assuming that Kurtz actually spoke to Bragg. But when I read the NYT, I don't know any longer what to assume. ... P.S.: Why would the Times be so obsessed with 'getting the dateline' if not to give the impression that the bylined reporter has done more reporting work than he or she has actually done? Why not let poor, diabetic Bragg stay at home, conserve his energy, and work his "magic" in comfort--the same way Newsweek writers sit in New York and rewrite files? Just be honest and label it "by Rick Bragg with stringers." Or would that give the game away? ... P.P.S.: Bragg could have gone quietly. Instead, his parting shot hurt the Times. Will whoever is running the show on 43d St. now retaliate against him? ... " slate.msn.com