Daniel Okrent, the ombudsman or "public editor" for the New York Times, is doing a great job at his new post. We've e-mailed back and forth occasionally regarding certain stories, and Okrent and his assistant, Arthur Bovino, have made a good faith effort to investigate the issues brought to their attention. Okrent's latest piece is headlined "You Can Stand on Principle and Still Stub a Toe" and makes a point that could be applied to the events last summer that outed David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, as too inextricably linked with Tom Daschle to be able to report objectively on stories related to Tom Daschle (for the details, see the links under "Talon News Series on Argus Leader Bias" on the right side of this page). Excerpt from Okrent's piece:
WHEN a news subject tries to get a reporter removed from a story, a challenge has been issued to the core of a newspaper's self-image: its integrity. Unless editors see a clear case of bias or conflict, they tend to respond the way you or I would respond to, say, an insult to a family member. They stiffen with indignation. They try at the same time to support the wounded loved one. Were they to concede, the humiliation could hurt more than the charge itself.
The distinction is that the subject of Kranz's reporting--Tom Daschle--is not trying to get Kranz removed from stories relating to him. In fact, Tom Daschle WANTS Kranz to cover him, because the Argus Leader in general and Kranz in particular are instruments of the Daschle campaign, tending to highlight stories that reflect positively on Daschle, and tending to bury or ignore stories that reflect negatively on Daschle.
The point is, there is certainly evidence that exists which tends to show Kranz has a conflict of interest in covering Tom Daschle. If the AL is interested in at least appearing to objectively cover Tom Daschle, it could start by relegating Kranz's Sunday columns to the op-ed page, where they used to appear. Another thing the AL could do is to hire someone to perform as a "public editor" in the same way that Okrent performs for the NYT. Having the AL's executive editor moonlighting as the "public editor" doesn't wash.
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