The NYTimes' "The Ethicist" Interviews Ex-Wife for Column; Fails to Identify Her

The failures of legacy media have been a bit of a theme here today, but this is unadulterated FAIL material. (Link is to the NYTPicker.)

The so-called "Ethicist" writes a blog and column for the NY Times. His most recent effort was about the importance of transparency to the exchange of ideas and the deleterious effect that anonymous participants can have on communication.

But just two sentences later, Cohen put aside transparency concerns in quoting "the writer Katha Pollitt" -- camouflaging the fact that Pollitt happens to be Cohen's ex-wife. Without disclosing their history, Cohen proceeded to devote an entire paragraph to Pollitt's musings on the topic of anonymous commenters, and generously tossed in a hyperlink to her blog.

Cohen's response to the NYTPicker comes with an extra serving of snark:

"I did indeed discuss this with my editor," Cohen told The NYTPicker in an email, "and we felt that the relationship was not germane, but sure, to answer your surprisingly anonymous query, on second thought I should have identified her as you suggest."

Lovely. Click both links, there's plenty more.

Via Hot Air headlines.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 04:40 PM

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