LA Times Building- Hard at work on the third floor
Below are two internal LA Times memos from last week from Times' editors to the paper's bloggers in regards to the John Edwards story. The first memo, written by Editor Tony Pierce, was leaked last week to blogger Mickey Kaus of Kaus Files. It was read over the air on the John and Ken radio show (KFI 640 am).
Subject: john edwards
Hey bloggers,
There has been a little buzz surrounding John Edwards and his alleged affair. Because the only source has been the National Enquirer we have decided not to cover the rumors or salacious speculations. So I am asking you all not to blog about this topic until further notified.
If you have any questions or are ever in need of story ideas that would best fit your blog, please don't hesitate to ask
Keep rockin,
Tony
From: Artley, Meredith
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 11:59 AM
Subject: Hubbub
Hi everyone. Many of you have probably seen the Slate item titled “LAT Gags Blogs” citing Tony’s note asking you all to steer clear of the alleged Edwards affair. It’s now linked to from Drudge, and Gawker has an item too.
In the spirit of transparency I want to give some background on this, and to note how in hindsight we might have done things differently to avoid the discontent that led to yet another public poke in the eye.
Various colleagues on the 3rd floor have been working on reporting the story. I made the decision that while we are working on verifying if this has any truth to it, we should stay away from joining the fray. We still don’t know that, and national and metro are still pursuing.
Our message to you (I asked Tony to drop you guys the note) should have been more nuanced. I should have first not encouraged posting on this topic, but if any of you feel that you have a post you really to write, to please discuss it with Tony and myself first since we must always tread carefully on unverified stories. And I should have explained the thinking behind that decision. The idea was not to muzzle any of you and then walk away – that is never a recipe for success.
Russ, myself, Tony and all the editors you work with trust you guys to engage us in open and frank dialogue on just about anything that’s on your mind, and we’ll do the same. You have our confidence and we expect the same. We have a strong network thanks to all of the thoughts that many of you have shared, creating better blogs, growing the readership, and staying focused on the work and not the drama. Let’s keep that up and settle for nothing less.
Questions, thoughts, etc? Ask me or Tony.
Meredith Artley
Executive Editor, LATimes.com
Fousesquawk comment:
I have a couple of thoughts, Meredith.
Is this typical of what is going on in newspaper offices all over the country? How many other memos are floating around directing newspaper bloggers -or reporters- to stay away from the Edwards story?
Ms Artley states that Times reporters (on the third floor) are working on reporting the story. Apparently not very hard since not only did the National Enquirer get the scoop on them, but Fox News beat them to the security guard from the Beverly Hilton who was involved in the incident and confirmed much of the Enquirer's report.
Keep rockin, LA Times.
2 comments:
I wonder if Edwards is going to be the running mate. This would definitely destroy that chance.
I think it is safe to say that is over. An interesting question is as long as the msm continues to refuse to report the story, how do they explain that sudden disappearnce of Edwards from the possible list?
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