How do you spell conflict of interest?
Here's a body worthy of resurrection. On October 29th, a New York Times news analysis noted that one of the reporters at a Plamegate press conference (an investigation whose focus has been on the Vice President's office almost from day one) is a former Cheney staffer.
In other words, NBC reporter Pete Williams is covering a story with a potentially devastating impact on his old boss. Talk about conflict of interest.
The Times itself had the "good sense" to acknowledge the glass house it currently lives in, choosing only to include the Williams conflict in the middle of a longer story and characterizing it as a "hall of mirrors" situation as opposed to an out and out ethics issue.
But Dan Carol and David Sirota picked up the ball and ran with it, noting that it is, clearly, a conflict of interest.
Interestingly, Sirota was contacted by a "well known" NBC reporter after criticizing NBC's choice to allow Williams to cover the story. In the "hysterical, breathless email" the reporter noted Williams spotless record. Sirota counters:
"here's the deal: Dick Cheney's former longtime flack is reporting for NBC on a scandal surrounding Dick Cheney. If you can't see the conflict there...well, then the media really has bigger problems than even I had originally thought."Indeed, as Dan Carol points out, Williams' coverage has been fairly critical of Fitzgerald's investigation. Hmm.
MoveOn Media Action put out an action alert about the conflict yesterday which you can participate in [HERE].
