Subscribe Today

The Kicker

Slate goes low

By Paul McLeary Mon 6 Aug 2007 01:18 PM 

Slate magazine dipped its toes in the media gutter this morning when it ran a piece looking at Rudy Giuliani’s 17-year-old daughter’s Facebook profile. The limited news value of splashing a 17-year old high school student’s picture and profile across the pages of a major Web site is served, according to Slate, because Caroline’s profile said that she belonged to the Facebook group “Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack).”


The reporter says that “According to her profile, she withdrew from the Obama group at 6 a.m. Monday, after Slate sent her an inquiry about it.”


Now, there’s a certain expectation of public exposure if you post a profile to a social networking site and fail to “lock” it, meaning that you’re leaving it open for viewing to anyone who chances across it—but for Slate to run a silly little item about it, and expose a 17 year-old to public ridicule like this is more than unnecessary. Some might even call it tasteless.

CJR

Subscribe Today
Comments
padikiller [TypeKey Profile Page]
Mon 6 Aug 2007 10:17 PM

Paul McLeary Wrote


Now, there's a certain expectation of public exposure if you post a profile to a social networking site and fail to "lock" it, meaning that you're leaving it open for viewing to anyone who chances across it--but for Slate to run a silly little item about it, and expose a 17 year-old to public ridicule like this is more than unnecessary. Some might even call it tasteless.


padikiller comes to praise McLeary, not bury him


Sure enough...


This kind of reprehensible crapola is certainly not a "blockbuster" story like the preelection revelation of certain GOP senator's "jewishness" was... Huh Mr. McLeary?...


Mr. McLeary has a selective tolerance for such yellow journalism in politics...


Word to the wise.... Wait till election day before judging Mr. McLeary's ethical boundaries...

Circus Boy [TypeKey Profile Page]
Tue 14 Aug 2007 06:36 PM

I missed this gem. Another stalking, Padi? Now McLeary's left wing bias is showing because he's supporting not harrassing the weakest Republican candidate's daughter in an effort to get a Democrat elected. Insane.

God, I can't sleep worrying about how unfairly George Allen was treated. I think he created a conspiracy against himself when he used the word "macaca" two weeks before the incident you cite. He obviously was trying to ruin his own campaign. I'm as obsessed about it as you are—maybe even more.

Post a comment

We ask our readers to express opinions in a manner respectful to the readers and writers of CJR. Criticism of ideas is strongly encouraged, but personal, ad hominem attack will result in deletion of posted comments and, after one repeat violation, banning of the individual user. CJR reserves the right to edit or delete, for reasons of content, comments submitted to CJR. We also ask users to please keep posts to the topic at hand; those wandering far afield or appearing to be spam may be deleted. Please read the complete comment policy and full legal disclaimer.

 


About the Author
Paul McLeary is former CJR staff writer and currently a senior editor at Defense Technology International magazine. He blogs at paulmcleary.typepad.com, and he can be reached at pjmcleary(at)gmail(dot)com.
Also by Paul McLeary
Current Cover

July / August 08

Table of Contents Browse Back Issues Subscribe Crossing Lines Second Life More...
The American Newsroom Series

The Associated Press. Miami, Florida. Photo by Sean Hemmerle. More...

Top Stories
Recent Comments