March 03, 2004
A Blotcher on their record
If you're tired of hearing about Peter Landesman, relief is on the way, as I expect we're going to see Daniel Okrent start focusing on the firing of Times freelancer Jay Blotcher instead. Apparently they felt the fact that he was once a member of ACT UP meant that it was impossible for him to be impartial.
Or maybe the New York Times is still steamed about ACT UP founder Larry Kramer's accusation that they didn't report aggressively enough on AIDS in the early '80s.
(Via the other James Wagner.)
Posted by Francis at 01:10 AMSorry, Okrent has said he doesn't deal with personnell issues.
Posted by: dlr at March 5, 2004 09:24 AMHi there - There's more coverage of my dismissal from leading media critics -- as well as my own perspective -- on my own blog
http://jayblotcher.com/
Thanks,
Jay Blotcher
Posted by: Jay at March 13, 2004 10:46 AMupdate from New York Times pariah Jay Blotcher:
Hello Colleague:
Thought you might want to know about this new development in my seemingly ceaseless NYT dismissal story.
The National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association has barred me from appearing at their Plenary on Journalistic Objectivity, scheduled at the June Convention in NYC.
The plenary session was created and organized by CNN journalist Rose Arce.
A month ago,Rose invited me to sit on this panel. She felt my case strongly reflected the current debate over journalistic objectivity. She plans to have the two SF Chron lesbian journalists on the panel.
However, when Rose gave her list of panelists to NLGJA's Executive Committee, she was told I could not sit on the panel.
Why? NLGJA felt my problem with the NY Times was a "personnel matter" between employer and employee ... and NOT an issue of journalistic ethics. This was the same reasoning they gave me in March, when they refused to support my case.
(I had been in touch with them since my January 12 dismissal, and for two months they suggested they would help me. In the end, they decided not to. Please note that NLGJA Board President Stephen Petrow spoke out against the reassignment of the SF Chron reporters at the time it happened.)
NLGJA member and NBC-TV producer Barbara Raab asked NLGJA officials several times for an official reason why they would not take my case.
So did journalist Michelangelo Signorile. (I don't know if he is a current NLGJA member, however.)
Both were told that NLGJA would release a statement explaining their decision. However, this was not done.
I received a telephone machine message from NLGJA's President Pamela Strother on April 17, saying they wished to talk to me about my "concerns" about NLGJA. (Passive-aggressive or what?) I replied by e-mail, asking for a written explanation for censoring me. I have not received it. Perhaps they are savvy enough to know they should not commit any incriminating information to paper.
jbb
---------------
Jay Blotcher
15 Gravel Road
High Falls, New York 12440-5116
845.687.2284
jblotcher@hvc.rr.com
http://www.jayblotcher.com (all articles generated by my NY Times dismissal archived here.)