The question of the day — posed by Editor & Publisher — is this: “[I]s The New York Times, normally quick to run a correction or clarification, making it much more than that by stonewalling?”
Yes, stonewalling! In defense of their TV critic Alessandra Stanley’s snarky report that Geraldo Rivera “nudged an Air Force rescue worker out of the way so his camera crew could tape him as he helped lift an older woman in a wheelchair to safety.”
On Monday, Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post defended Geraldo Rivera in his campaign to gain an apology from the Times for accusing him of showboating during his Katrina coverage last week. The Chicago Tribune also covered the dispute today. [..]
Rivera has denied this from the start, claimed that a tape of the incident does not bear this out, threatened to sue, accused Stanley of being “Jayson Blair in a cocktail dress,” and suggested that if a male reporter had made similar allegations he would settle the dispute with his fists.Meanwhile, the Times has not issued a correction, and Stanley has said her description was accurate.
Woah, dude. Watch out, NYT! Geraldo’s right hook can be deadly, as we’ve seen on FOX News.