The Times Violates Its Policy on Ethics in Journalism

As revealed by my RedState colleague Soren Datyon, Ed Morrissey catches the New York Times attempting to extort an invitation to a presser with the McCain campaign:

It’s no secret that the McCain campaign believes the Times to be dishonest in its reporting on the candidate, and they decided not to extend an invitation to the Times for the media pool at the release of the medical records on Friday. According to my source close to the part of the campaign that deals with these issues, they have invited a variety of media outlets, including national-reach newspapers, wire services, and cable-news networks into the pool, but told the Times that they would not receive any credentials for the event.

This prompted a conversation between one Times editor and the campaign staff. Again according to the source, the editor told the campaign that the Times would take a negative view about the release of the records if an invitation was not forthcoming. It was clear that an invitation to the pool would change the nature of the coverage.

The McCain campaign did not cave, in the face of the Times threats and promises. That is clear from the Elisabeth Bullimer and Lawerence K. Altman hit job just published on the Times website.

The news organizations in the pool, selected by the campaign, include ABC News, The Arizona Republic, The Associated Press, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, NBC News, Reuters, The Washington Post and, possibly, a newsmagazine.

Each organization is allowed two representatives and is expected to file a “pool report” for other reporters detailing the information in the records.

The so-called news organization took a "negative view about the release of the records," just as Morrissey reported the Times threatened to do.

As if extortion isn't bad enough, in some cases it can be a crime, this unprofessional conduct constitutes a clear violation of paper's Policy on Ethics in Journalism:

A2. How We Gather the News

21. We treat news sources fairly and professionally. We do not inquire pointlessly into someone's personal life. We do not threaten to damage uncooperative sources, nor do we promise favorable coverage in return for cooperation. We do not pay for interviews or unpublished documents: to do so would create an incentive for sources to falsify material and would cast into doubt the genuineness of much that we publish.

The McCain campaign certainly has plenty of reason not to trust the Times. Remember, the Times held a story for months, endorsed McCain to be the Republican Presidential nominee, and when he became the presumptive nominee the Times published a gutter story implying, with so little evidence -- none except two unnamed, disgruntled campaign workers -- that the Times' unprofessionalism became the story, the Senator engaged in some sort of impropriety.

Then there was the story falsely alleging McCain lost his temper, which was discredited by this video.

Finally, there is the earlier "news article" and an editorial attacking McCain over his medical records.

Is it not way past time for the Times to comply with its "Rules of the Road" and "uphold the highest journalistic, business and personal ethics?"

Also posted at Right Side Politics.