Category Archives: censorship

Judge ignores JOTR, but Convertino hears

Posted on April 29, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell I was disappointed when U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland ignored my advice that he appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the behavior of federal attorneys and maybe even the Detroit Free Press in producing a January 2004 … Continue reading →

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Fixing Free Press A-C bias

Posted on April 16, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell Normally, I’m not in favor of outsourcing, especially when it involves covering local news stories. How could reporters in, say, Bangalore, India have enough background, culturally and politically, to report accurately and concisely on an American news … Continue reading →

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Off guard: Prosecution by newspaper

Posted on January 22, 2009 by admin

By Joel Thurtell Motives are important, even in the newspaper business. And in newspapers, business is a prime motive, though often unspoken. There’s that glass wall between business and editorial, right? Advertising people don’t talk to editors and vice versa. … Continue reading →

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“Han shot first,” and all that

Posted on January 4, 2009 by admin

By Joel Thurtell Some blaster-totin’ goon’s got the drop on you, threatening to blow your brains out on the spot. No help in sight. Your back is to the wall. What do you do? Well, if you’re Han Solo, with … Continue reading →

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Off guard and then some

Posted on December 14, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell If somebody offered me a fifth of my favorite single-malt Scotch, I’d take it. But I hope I never have to take the fifth the way ace Detroit Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter took it on December … Continue reading →

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Detroit dailies not so daily

Posted on December 13, 2008 by admin

  By Joel Thurtell For months, I’ve been reporting that the Detroit Free Press was planning to drop daily print publication and go to twice or thrice a week delivery, with the remaining four or five days of news plopped … Continue reading →

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Off guard: The Free Press and the leakers

Posted on December 8, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell Several weeks ago, I began writing an essay about the case of former federal prosecutor Richard Convertino, who’s suing my former paper, the Detroit Free Press, to force Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Ashenfelter to name the … Continue reading →

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Jeff Daniels: “Unplugged” gets new urgency

Posted on December 3, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell Censorship wears many guises. Sometimes, it masquerades as a beneficent desire to save a writer from his or her own poor judgment. So it happened that Mark Twain long ago submitted his work to his wife for … Continue reading →

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Sales soar once readers get wind of book

Posted on December 1, 2008 by admin

As far as I know, the taboo word “fart” appeared in the Detroit Free Press for the first time in this story I wrote for the January 24, 1992 Freep. I’m re-running this article, with permission from the Free Press, … Continue reading →

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Cards on the table

Posted on November 30, 2008 by admin

Cards on the table 11/17/08 [donation] By Joel Thurtell Reading last weekend’s Detroit Free Press, with a veritable phalanx of columnists weighing in for a bailout of Detroit’s car-makers, was a pretty daunting experience for me. I’ve taken the opposite … Continue reading →

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