Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Chinese Democracy

Another brilliant editorial by Mr. Gill.  I love the Chinese wall metaphor, but I do question one assumption:

That's why newspapers are so meticulous in covering election campaigns and mulling the issues before issuing endorsements.


Perhaps the muffled voices he's hearing on the other side of the wall may be lost in translation.  Although my kids' school is starting to teach Mandarin, so I'm optimistic about the future.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the case of Richmond, it's more like Chinese drywall.

Anonymous said...

Hitting mercury with a hammer is an image that will stay with me.

Editilla~New Orleans Ladder said...

The problem isn't between the Opinion and News.
The wall needs be between the Ad/Marketing and Editors.
With the T-P that membrane is more like a Chinese Finger Trap.
Take the cases of their Corps fluff pieces (like the one yesterday).

Anonymous said...

Mr. Gill's article struck me as being more directed towards the TP staff rather than an explanation to the people. I've heard of the firewall before and the way it's done at the TP is NOT that.

I can tell you the TP staff has ignored, obfuscated and manipulated the reporting of facts and it's either because of incompetence or favoritism.

We also know that there are good reporters at the TP that have their work editorialized, even sometimes without their having realized facts and text had been removed and/or changed without their being aware of it even days later.

The fact is, the only way to look at their (non/mis)reporting on Richmond in the final product and their endorsement of him and comport those two things is to say that in both instances there was a desire to see him win and an out out and out favoritism.

Either the firewall doesn't exist as a practical matter or those on both sides of it are influenced by the same motives or the same people (editors? managers?) above them all.