Did New York Press just fire their only remaining good columnist, Jim Knipfel? Gawker reported it last week, but in today’s edition Knipfel denies it and says he's still Staff Writer. It remains possible that he’s been kept on staff but is no longer a columnist; the last two issues have been missing his column. That the headline of the mail section refers to “greatly exaggerated Knipfel rumors” (as opposed to, say, “greatly false”), seems to buttress this theory.
Jim or no Jim, I’m about ready to write the Press off. It’s been putting out increasingly substandard 50-page issues, and if it runs even one entertaining item per week outside of the film section, that’s a good week. If the paper is still publishing a year from now, I’ll be shocked.
Posted by Stephen Silver at May 19, 2005 12:13 AMBut the fact is, this story has much, much more to do with sloppiness and poor sourcing than it does with liberal bias, much less deliberate deception.
Yes, you are absolutely correct. This was simply rushing a 'hot news story' to print, and the research wasn't properly done to substantiate the facts. 'Newsweek' still bears the responsibility (both for a bad story and the after effects it at least partially caused, including the deaths) and was wrong in all ways, but this is not a case of bias, just typically sloppy reporting.
If you saw the exchange yesterday between a reporter and the WH Press Secretary, you will see how con vs. lib this has become....
Posted by: John B. at May 19, 2005 12:29 PMOh, and the above comment goes with the posting 'Seven Points on the Newsweek Scandal' above...I am polish, what else can I say?????
Posted by: John B. at May 19, 2005 12:32 PM