The WORD’s Blog

This is an introduction of sorts to a six-part series. A few years ago, I invited the New York Time’s first Ombudsman to my journalism ethics/responsibility class. That position, now occupied by Clark Hoyt, is primarily known now as the New York Times Public Editor. I’m speculating that the presence of a Public Editor is more preferable to Ombudsman which sounds akin to a lawman enforcing the law in a lawless community (at least, that’s how I imagine the NYT natives perceive the position when it was announced in the wake of the Jason Blair scandal and other journalistic ignominies which didn’t get as much attention but contributed to marring the public image of the Times).

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File Photo: On assignment for a story.

For her journalistic work with New York Times Reporter Kirk Semple for “Suicides Soar Among New York Koreans,” Jang, who speaks and writes fluent Korean, and interns for New America Media, earned a Contributing Tag at the end of the story.

NYT news lead for the double suicide of Yongho and Soonhee Kim, February 25, 2008:

They had navigated the move from South Korea and opened a nail salon on Long Island, but by last winter, Yongho and Soonhee Kim were in debt and deeply unhappy. They were fighting a lawsuit over nonpayment of rent on the Long Beach salon and were months behind on rent payments for their apartment in Oakland Gardens, Queens. The bank had repossessed their car.

Courtesy The Korean Times

Soonhee, left, and Yongho Kim.

At dawn on Feb. 25, the couple left a note for their 20-year-old daughter outside their apartment door, doused themselves with gasoline and set themselves on fire, the police said. The blaze killed them and destroyed their home.

“They 100 percent lost hope,” said Mr. Kim’s brother-in-law, Chi Kun Park.

An earlier story was published/broadcast by NAM in July. NAM’s Odette Keely interviewed Jang about a piece that the Korean Times in NYC wrote about Korean suicides in America.

August 7 – In the wake of an August 1 expose in the New York Times, an agreement reportedly reached by executives at the parent companies of Fox News Channel and MSNBC to rein in the networks’ two stars’ criticism of each other seems to have fallen apart. The behind-the-scenes deal-making, though, still illustrates the corrosive effect on media of corporate ownership.

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In an earlier blog, my ignorance was obvious. Why were those legislators primping and strutting as if they were immune to the disgrace mounting and mounting before them? The news media, I surmised, weren’t going after them savagely enough and should start treating them the way that news organizations treat perps when they perp walk.

So, I found a good explanation.

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I’m reading news coverage of the D.C. metro crash that happened yesterday. There are, of course, some clear distinctions in the reporting styles and manner of main NYC news organizations and the Washington Post.

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This New York Times June 18 special project on homicides in New York City provides good resource material for aspiring journalists interested in writing about, well, murder and crime. And I will most likely try to incorporate into the reading list of one of my advanced news writing classes. Story and the multimedia can be found here. And that recommendation allows me, in good conscious, to segue to this recollection: That period in my journalistic life when murder was on my mind.

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NYT May 27 Story:

There is so much hugging at Pascack Hills High School in Montvale, N.J., that students have broken down the hugs by type:
— There is the basic friend hug, probably the most popular, and the bear hug, of course. But now there is also the bear claw, when a boy embraces a girl awkwardly with his elbows poking out.
—There is the hug that starts with a high-five, then moves into a fist bump, followed by a slap on the back and an embrace.

One can guess that youths’ nervous systems are picking up the pitter-patter of day-to-day life effected by the bleakness threatening their dreams, and they want a reassurance that is difficult to describe. However, this kind of NYT anecdotal lifestyle piece overlooks the reality of the hugbug, so to speak: It cuts across generations. Asking for a hug is becoming as common place as people bumming for cigarettes or asking strangers for a light.

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I couldn’t resist Egan’s Outpost passage, I thought it was candid about certain brands of Americana …

“We kill innocent Americans often enough through our legal system, kill them because of shoddy police work or racial prejudice.”

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So, what do students think about this? The question to be posed sometime March 18 on Hunter-L, the College’s main listserv for general info and communication for the Hunter community, this being this New York Times article. The Big Question to be put to the students: Should I reconsider my default grade, B?

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Note: This info comes via Tikkun - Rabbi Michael Lerner: 

We hope the people who did this spoof on the NY Times and Tom Friedman don’t get sued or go to jail because this is some of the funniest and at the same time smartest things that have come down the pike in a long time.

Send it to your friends.

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