Category Archives: Arbitration

Newspaper Red Squads — again

By Joel Thurtell Scary news coming from reporters. Newspaper publishers — you know who you are! — are actively searching through journalists’ social media accounts in search of comments critical of news bosses and expressions of political opinion. Sorry to … Continue reading

Posted in Arbitration, Joel's J School | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Witch hunt on air

By Joel Thurtell Hear about NPR’s name change? It’s MPR. McCarthy Public Radio. Instead of covering the news, they’re making it. With a witch hunt. Used to be, people with unpopular political persuasions got beat up by government agencies. Ever … Continue reading

Posted in Arbitration, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Olbermann, MSNBC and Red Squads

By Joel Thurtell Keith Olbermann got it right when he said in his “apology” that MSNBC’s ban on political donations by network employees like Olbermann was “probably not legal.” But why did Keith Olbermann feel the  need to apologize for … Continue reading

Posted in Arbitration, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

MSNBC’s invisible hand

By Joel Thurtell Did you wonder, maybe, why I’ve been beating on New York Times writers for letting the invisible hand of Times company policy guide their printed musings about Keith Olbermann’s suspension by MSNBC? So what? For the Times … Continue reading

Posted in Arbitration, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

David Carr, impartiality and a Times ethics policy

The sidelines, which is where American journalism and news used to live, have become a far less interesting place. Why merely annotate events when you can tilt the playing field? — David Carr, New York Times, November 8, 2010 By … Continue reading

Posted in Arbitration, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

‘Objectivity’ and Olbermann

By Joel Thurtell It was subtle. It was understated in a shifty way. But The New York Times managed to tell its readers that journalists who give money to political causes are bad people without mentioning that the Times has … Continue reading

Posted in Arbitration, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Bullies of the newsroom

By Joel Thurtell Normally, I don’t reply to comments people post on my blog. But now and then one of these letters-to-JOTR is just too obnoxious, too disingenuous to let pass. So it is with a reader’s response to my … Continue reading

Posted in Arbitration, future of newspapers, Unions | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Harvard and the hypocrites

By Joel Thurtell Back in 2007, when top brass at the Detroit (so-called) Free Press reprimanded me for donating $500 to Michigan Democrats, then threatened to fire me if I ever again dared exercise my right as a U.S. citizen … Continue reading

Posted in Arbitration, Joel's J School, Unions | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Equal rights for journalists

[donation] By Joel Thurtell Now some people will say I’m nuts for defending a reporter fired for wearing a political t-shirt to a political rally she was covering. I’m talking about the case of Karen Dinkins, fired September 21, 2008 … Continue reading

Posted in Arbitration, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tainted by my t-shirt?

 By Joel Thurtell I’m sitting here in my t-shirt wondering if this shred of cotton is somehow polluting everything I write because it has a photo of Barack Obama. Is it possible that unseen biases are creeping into my head … Continue reading

Posted in Arbitration, censorship, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment