Poynter Online
Go


Top Story

Public TV, Radio Stations to Increase Local Investigative Coverage
Most Recent Articles
1.Poynter's Times Publishing Co. sells Governing
5:15 PM Nov. 20, 2009
2.Recommendation for Fewer PAP Screens Sure to Set Off Controversy
10:32 AM Nov. 20, 2009
3.Gene Patterson to Jack Nelson: Save Us a Desk Up There in That Celestial Newsroom
7:03 AM Nov. 20, 2009
4.Public TV, Radio Stations to Increase Local Investigative Coverage
6:19 AM Nov. 20, 2009
5.Woods: Plagiarism Never Justified
3:47 PM Nov. 19, 2009
Most E-mailed
Recent Comments
Recent Tags
Community Activity

Poynter Training
Poynter Seminars
Small, in-person training experiences.
1.
A New Curriculum for a New Journalism - Jan. 6-8, 2010
Apply by November 23
2.
Multimedia Journalism for College Educators - February 1-5, 2010
Apply by December 14
3.
NewsU: Write Your Heart Out: The Craft of the Personal Essay - January 25-February 19, 2010
Apply by January 4
News University
Today's most popular courses on NewsU, Poynter's e-learning site for journalists.
Webinars
Our online classroom is just a click away. Learn more.
All Webinars

Poynter Forums

View Forum Post

Topic: Letters Sent to Romenesko
Date/Time: 1/15/2005 6:13:40 PM
Title: Shafer answers CJR executive editor Mike Hoyt
Posted By: Jim Romenesko
 
From JACK SHAFER, editor-at-large, Slate: [Shafer answers Columbia Journalism Review executive editor Michael Hoyt's letter below.]

Dear Mike,

Where I come from, you do some reporting and a little thinking before you climb on your hind hooves and call another journalist unethical, as your "Darts & Laurels" column does Chadwick.

What would the overwrought ethicist who writes "Darts & Laurels" prefer
Alex Chadwick to have done on Election Day? Ignore the exit poll story
completely because his company subscribes to the exit poll service and
must therefore observe an embargo? Run an exit poll story but say to his listeners, "Having informed you of a fascinating wrinkle in today's
news, I'm going to be a total tease and insist that you go to Google to
find the Web sites that are running exit poll numbers"? Implore his
listeners to put out their eyes lest they run across unclean numbers while
surfing the Web?

Nowhere in my column do I imply that Chadwick would have aired the exit poll results if unshackled, so I won't waste my time defending something I didn't write. And while the CJR editors find great ethical import in the fact that Chadwick directed the curious to Slate.com instead of Wonkette or Drudge, did they stop and wonder why that was? Was it
because Slate was the first Web site, starting in the 2000 presidential
primaries, to post these forbidden numbers? Was it because Slate aggressively posted the numbers during the 2004 presidential primaries? Was it because Slate had become synonymous with leaked exit polls? Was it because Chadwick interviewed me on "Day to Day" in March 2004 about exit polls and therefore knew Slate was going to post them again? Was it because Chadwick thinks Slate is a more reliable news source than Wonkette or Drudge? Why don't you ask him?

As for my tone and headline, all I can offer is a whoop. The editors of
the Columbia Journalism Review call a journalist unethical on the slimmest of pretexts, and then bellyache when somebody attacks their cheap shot with strong language. If you're going to throw darts, dear
colleagues, you need a tougher hide.

View Complete Forum Topic

Username
Password
New User? Signup Now
Poynter Careers
See All Jobs
Add Your Resume
Post Your Job
Become a Member
More media jobs