As Governor Paterson was embroiled in one scandal after the other this past February, Ken Rudin, the political director for NPR, wrote a blog post on NPR.org about a journalist’s responsibility not to get carried away by “rumors and innuendo.” He wrote:
Meanwhile, Paterson spokesperson Marissa Shorenstein told the Associated Press that rumors about the governor’s personal behavior are “absolutely false” and that he will not resign. She said that the media have sunk to a new low by dealing in such rumors.
After the post went up, Rudin e-mailed it to Shorenstein. Two weeks later, after the Times published a story on the administration’s response to a domestic violence accusation against a top Paterson aide that put the governor on the ropes, he sent a follow-up note expressing his deepest sympathy for the pressure that she was presumably feeling:
It seems like a very genuine exchange—which is why it feels so abrupt when Rudin writes back the next morning,
Of course, Rudin is doing the right thing here, by seeking to “confirm reports” before blasting them out on a blog like the rumor-mongers he chastised just the day before. That confirmation process makes up a lot of the job of a political reporter, obviously. And hey, maybe he does see the irony of this exchange: after all, he starts off that last e-mail with “Ugh.”
1) Ken says in a blog post that people shouldn't get carried away with rumors and innuendo; i.e., report rumors without verifying them or despite contrary evidence.
2) He encounters rumors.
3) He checks on the veracity of those rumors before reporting on them.
Where's the irony?
No, really.I don't see any.
Perhaps you need to check the definition of irony, because what I see is closer to the definition of consistency.
#1 Posted by Pedantic Twit, CJR on Wed 1 Dec 2010 at 01:32 PM
If you were to hear on the street that President Obama was going to release a Christmas CD and then started telling everyone how the CD will be hitting shelves soon, that would be getting carried away by rumor.
If, however, you were to hear on the street that President Obama was going to release a Christmas CD and then started doing research to see if it was true, questioning the veracity of said statement, you are not getting carried away by rumor. You are, in fact, attempting to turn rumor into confirmed fact.
Your understanding of irony is lacking, I'm afraid. I fear you won't be able to understand some of the greatest works of literature and modern drama until you brush up a little more. Apparently you can't understand political analysis either.
thefoolish
#2 Posted by thefoolish, CJR on Wed 1 Dec 2010 at 06:35 PM
Perhaps it's ironic that the organization lobbing claims of rumor mongering is the same that worked with Gawker *snicker* to get emails which serve little purpose other than fodder for more rumors:
http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/the_paterson_e-mails.php
What fun chitter chatter.
#3 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Wed 1 Dec 2010 at 10:00 PM
What a bizarre take on this, Lauren. The NPR reporter was attempting to substantiate a rumor. How is that rumor-mongering?
#4 Posted by Jeremiah, CJR on Thu 2 Dec 2010 at 12:27 PM
Pedantic et al: I concede that our headline did not frame the story well. It's not rumor-mongering, but rumor-checking that Rudin did. The story, though, is on the money. The irony is that Rudin was forced into rumor-checking by the weight and velocity of a rumor. As Lauren writes, the "ugh" suggests that he gets that.
#5 Posted by Mike Hoyt, CJR on Thu 2 Dec 2010 at 01:11 PM
Mr. Hoyt,
You are correct that story is on the money, as you simply retold events. However, starting as story off by saying "Mike Hoyt is a Liar" and then retelling facts that don't support that is still bad journalism.
Personally, I think the 'ugh' is not representative as an admittance of irony, but rather a regret that immediately after writing a letter expressing personal condolences, he had to write her a letter requesting information. I think what the 'ugh' expresses is a regret as to how the proximity of those two messages may be interpreted by Marissa.
foolish out
#6 Posted by thefoolish, CJR on Thu 2 Dec 2010 at 09:26 PM