NPR ombudsman on misrepresenting Kaine's abortion position: "NPR should know better"
November 17, 2005 9:18 am ET
"A number of listeners like Richard Linsenberg strongly objected to NPR's description (more than once) of how Virginia's Governor-elect Tim Kaine has expressed his views on abortion:
"For the second day in a row, National Public Radio's (NPR) Morning Edition has misrepresented Virginia Governor-elect Tim Kaine's position on abortion, labeling Kaine "pro-life" and promoting the conservative spin that Kaine, a Democrat, won because he took a Republican position on abortion." Read more »
Chalk one up for the Kool-Aid Zombies!
(hey, that would be a great name for a band.)
That was an excellent article. Besides the mea culpa on the pro-life thing, it talked frankly about trust and unnamed sources.
When journalists use an unnamed source, perhaps they should tell us why that source won't go on the record. Dvorkin gives a good reasons why someone would want to remain unnamed: fear of retaliation. "This smear would make me look like a backstabbing gossipy fascist" isn't a very good reason to remain unnamed.
demand names and watch the sources evaporate