I agree that the most important thing is how they deal with errors. I disagree That Farrow does this better than most. Indeed I think he deals with it worse than most at main stream news outlets. He has failed to even admit several of his mistakes, much less retract and correct them.
To be fair, I paste below the link to Farrow’s Twitter rebuttal to Smith: https://twitter.com/ronanfarrow/status/1262432976798838784?s=21 Also, I deleted last night a longish paragraph from an already too long post Noting that Smith himself is hardly the best situated to pose as the ultimate arbiter of responsible journalism. Who knows what personal and professional rivalries bubble underneath the surface of his NYT piece, as they both inhabit a similar space. Smith may have evolved Buzzfeed beyond simple clickbait, but he retains that skill, and it looks like his piece got the Times Buzz Feed worthy clicks today. So my point is not that everything, or even most things, Farrow has worked on is BS (and that’s not even Smith’s point). It’s that, in journalism, just as being wrong is not the worst sin, being right is not good enough. It’s the process that gives journalists credibility. The classic example is in the film “All the President’s Men”. Ben Bradlee reads an early proposed W & B story tying the break-in to the WH: BRADLEE: “You haven't got it.(before they can reply) A librarian and a secretary say Hunt looked at a book. (shakes his head) Not good enough.“ In the end, the problem is not so much Farrow (young reporters eager to make a Mae for themselves have always been thus) it is the lack of a strong editorial hand, or maybe an environment in which the young reporter can just take his marbles and go shopping for a place that will let him publish with less than adequate support. On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 7:29 PM Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: Farrow’s biggest gaffe as a journalist was his very personal attack on > Woody Allen. I’m not arguing the validity of his claims, but no real > reporter can maintain objectivity in such a case. He would’ve been better > served offering himself as a source for a different journalist. > > That said, every journalist makes errors... lots of errors. What matters > is when they occur, how are they dealt with. So far Farrow has dealt with > them better than the average. > > On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 4:07 AM Steve Timko <[email protected]> wrote: > >> With Weinstein, Farrow was a David who slew Goliath. Since then the >> quality of his villains has declined. At least twice I saw him having to >> explain why his target's actions were bad. He ran out of obvious targets. >> It reminds me of Siskel and Ebert saying the quality of Bond films was >> determined by the caliber of the villains. Farrow had third-rate villains >> he tried to build up into Goldfingers. >> On May 18, 2020, 3:07 AM -0700, 'Dave Sikula' via TVorNotTV < >> [email protected]>, wrote: >> >> Farrow lost any credibility for me when he went after his alleged father >> and ignored any evidence that cleared him in favor of concentrating on >> rumor, innuendo, and the poison his mother had injected into many of her >> children's minds. >> >> --Dave Sikula >> >> On Monday, May 18, 2020 at 12:14:56 AM UTC-7, PGage wrote: >>> >>> Ben Smith in this NYT Piece gets squarely at an issue that has been >>> discussed indirectly in several ways on this list over last few years. I >>> strongly recommend reading in its entirety (a few fair use excerpt ps >>> follow below). >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Sent from Gmail Mobile >>> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/b6a57144-c24f-41fc-9a33-521e20faade8%40googlegroups.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/b6a57144-c24f-41fc-9a33-521e20faade8%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/39cd4f8e-6688-4a2a-9839-3b88c92c04f2%40Spark >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/39cd4f8e-6688-4a2a-9839-3b88c92c04f2%40Spark?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > Kevin M. (RPCV) > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4CbHnh_a7Bc%3DN8Z101TfStqoCiDyed%2BMcD4k%2Bi9yDj-bg%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4CbHnh_a7Bc%3DN8Z101TfStqoCiDyed%2BMcD4k%2Bi9yDj-bg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYJgTZg6vyF5K3kpey%3D_0_OuOPhC%2B31Yy2BbSaTJyO_aLw%40mail.gmail.com.
