Friday, September 09, 2005
The Brooklyn Papers points out: no one covered my report
Weighing in a week late (the Times report came out near their deadline), the Brooklyn Papers points out, in a 9/10 article headlined Report rips NY Times on Ratner, that, well, no one from the dailies covered the report.
My response, in a letter to the editor:
As the author of the report dissecting New York Times coverage of Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards proposal (Report rips NY Times on Ratner, 9/10/05), I'm disappointed but not surprised that daily newspapers in New York didn't cover the report's release. However, they are hardly the only audience for the report. I expect Times Public Editor Byron Calame to take a close look at it and report publicly on the issues raised. I also hope that others in the journalism world, including academics, will examine it.
For example, the Times ignored two polls (one its own!) that said that New Yorkers overwhelmingly opposed a taxpayer-subsidized arena. The Times has not explained how job estimates have been slashed, nor that the promised "15,000 construction jobs" means 1,500 jobs a year over 10 years. The Times has not reported any criticism of the Community Benefits Agreement, though an expert on such agreements says this one lacks legitimacy. And the Times has, at some critical junctures, failed to acknowledge its parent company's business ties to Ratner--in one case, the newspaper ignored an admonition from the Public Editor to do so. There are many more such examples.
My response, in a letter to the editor:
As the author of the report dissecting New York Times coverage of Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards proposal (Report rips NY Times on Ratner, 9/10/05), I'm disappointed but not surprised that daily newspapers in New York didn't cover the report's release. However, they are hardly the only audience for the report. I expect Times Public Editor Byron Calame to take a close look at it and report publicly on the issues raised. I also hope that others in the journalism world, including academics, will examine it.
For example, the Times ignored two polls (one its own!) that said that New Yorkers overwhelmingly opposed a taxpayer-subsidized arena. The Times has not explained how job estimates have been slashed, nor that the promised "15,000 construction jobs" means 1,500 jobs a year over 10 years. The Times has not reported any criticism of the Community Benefits Agreement, though an expert on such agreements says this one lacks legitimacy. And the Times has, at some critical junctures, failed to acknowledge its parent company's business ties to Ratner--in one case, the newspaper ignored an admonition from the Public Editor to do so. There are many more such examples.
# posted by Norman Oder @ 11:47 PM 
