Colleagues:
This latest development piques my interest, since I am a former NYT freelancer. I was bounced in Jan 2004 by the Metro Editor Sue Edgerley because I was once the publicist of the NYC-based AIDS organization ACT UP years before. While The Times demands a political neutrality from all its writers, they had another reason for my dismissal: They claimed that I was so well-known as ACT UP's spokesperson in 1989-1990 that my credibility as an objective journalist was forever compromised. Articles about my dismissal subsequently appeared in The Village Voice, Daily News, Howard Kurtz's WashPost column, The Nation (Eric Alterman) and numerous blogs -- including Choire Sicha's. I am eager to see how this latest wrinkle plays itself out.
Colleagues:
This latest development piques my interest, since I am a former NYT freelancer. I was bounced in Jan 2004 by the Metro Editor Sue Edgerley because I was once the publicist of the NYC-based AIDS organization ACT UP years before. While The Times demands a political neutrality from all its writers, they had another reason for my dismissal: They claimed that I was so well-known as ACT UP's spokesperson in 1989-1990 that my credibility as an objective journalist was forever compromised. Articles about my dismissal subsequently appeared in The Village Voice, Daily News, Howard Kurtz's WashPost column, The Nation (Eric Alterman) and numerous blogs -- including Choire Sicha's. I am eager to see how this latest wrinkle plays itself out.