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Topic: Letters Sent to Romenesko
Date/Time: 1/15/2005 6:09:09 PM
Title: CJR executive editor answers Shafer's slam
Posted By: Jim Romenesko
 
From MICHAEL HOYT, executive editor, Columbia Journalism Review: [Hoyt responds to Jack Shafer's "CJR Pricks" piece.]

Dear Jack,

Ouch! What did you have for breakfast Thursday? Your item "CJR Pricks" had the tone and firepower of an item on Ahmed Chalabi or Pedro Martinez or some other villain. All that buildup, and then the argument turns on the splitting of a hair.

Our Dart reported that NPR’s Alex Chadwick managed to have his ethical cake and eat it too, on the issue of making exit poll interviews public before the polls close. We note that Chadwick said, on election day, that "it was NPR's policy" to not report the results of the exit interviews, but that he then helpfully informed listeners that they would be posted online by NPR’s partner – you and Slate.com.

Trained observer that you are, you point out that Chadwick did not use the word "policy" but actually said "NPR also does not report the results of state exit polls until after the voting has stopped in those states." You further note that as a subscriber to exit poll data, NPR is contractually obligated to keep exit poll data under wraps."

Thus you imply that, if it were not held in its legal chains, NPR would leap to broadcast the exit poll results. I doubt it. And anyway, this decision not to use the poll results sounds like a "policy" to us -- contract or no contract.

That’s the "having his cake" part. In the "eating it too" department, you argue that Chadwick was just "reporting the news" when he sent listeners to Slate. If that’s the case, why not send listeners to Wonkette or Drudge or the other sites that were reporting the exit poll results early? Darts & Laurels come in different gauges; this was a small dart, but it was on target.

And what's with that mean-spirited headline? What were you thinking?

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