Monthly Archives: August 2008

Figuring it all out

Control. That’s what I wanted. Before we left for vacation on August 1, I wrote enough columns to post a new one each day that I was gone. Well, almost. True, I recycled one. Hey, Bob Talbert did that. Remember … Continue reading

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Step aside, JC

By Joel Thurtell Remember back in 2002 when the FBI raided Ed McNamara’s offices in Detroit? How could that highly publicized piece of law enforcement be connected to Sludgegate? Well, there is a thread — In 2002, Detroit’s longtime U.S. … Continue reading

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A TRUE ethics policy revisited

By Joel Thurtell Still on vacation. Hope you don’t mind another retread. I think this essay on ethics is important and I plan to follow with more thoughts on what’s important and what’s not important to credibility for journalists. With … Continue reading

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Joel on the road — but the roadmap has changed

By Joel Thurtell I’m on vacation, folks. Pecking away at my laptop in a Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario motel. It’s August 2, and I have fresh columns through August 6. Oh-oh. I promised I’d post something new every day. Many … Continue reading

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Ethics ‘paralysis’ charade: II

By Joel Thurtell [donation] Okay, here’s the essay I wrote about in yesterday’s column — the one the Free Press refused to publish and forbade me to publish anywhere else: The Ethics “Paralysis’ Charade By Joel Thurtell The new Democratic … Continue reading

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Ethics “Paralysis” Charade: I

By Joel Thurtell All of a sudden, journalists are dissing John Conyers. Time was when no reporter in his or her right mind would criticize the congressman from Detroit, the second-most-senior member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Time was … Continue reading

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Double standard at the good ol’ Freep

By Joel Thurtell Back in 2003 when I was investigating U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr.’s abuse of staffers, I had anonymous sources for the first stories, and that was very okay with editors. Something changed, though, and I was prohibited … Continue reading

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Easy rentals, Days Out and my big burrito

By Joel Thurtell [donation] Memo to self: Never, never go with the lowest bidder. Unless the company has a name you can trust. In the case of my rental car company in Los Angeles, I’d never heard of them. But … Continue reading

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Message from the Messenger: You’re fired!

By Joel Thurtell Guess they showed me who’s boss. The door did not slam behind me — I got the news at home, by phone. After three months of writing for a liberal blog, I’m out. Liberal or conservative, it … Continue reading

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Stifling Free Press Conyers coverage

By Joel Thurtell [donation] On Nov. 21, 2003, The Detroit Free Press ran the first of what I believed would be a steady series of exposes of U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr.’s abuse of congressional aides to further his own … Continue reading

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