How Many Different Ways Are There To Say BULLSHIT..??

Washington Times Reins

In Staffers Who Blog

Link Here

The lead on the Dec. 14 story was, "Dozens of Ethiopians yesterday braved the cold to protest a forum on the democratization of their country being held at The Washington Times newspaper's headquarters," but the story did not appear in the Washington Times. It was on the Web site of Washington Times reporter Robert Redding Jr.

It seems just the kind of story that Redding would be barred from posting on his Redding News Review under new guidelines announced yesterday by Wesley Pruden, Times editor-in-chief.

"Employees are not to report on or publish anything concerning The Washington Times itself," the rules say.

Redding, who covers the Washington city government, told Journal-isms he was informed that he was not the target of the memo, and Managing Editor Fran Coombs agreed that the policy was not directed at any particular staff member.

"We realized that more and more reporters were doing their own blog sites and were concerned, like many other newspapers, that this raised potential liability and fairness issues for The Washington Times. No one specific Web site was at issue for us. We were not even sure how many of our editors and reporters had created their own sites," Coombs told Journal-isms.

"Accordingly, we developed a policy that protected the newspaper and at the same time allowed our staff members to express themselves outside the newspaper."

"We intend to follow the letter" of the guidelines, Redding said, noting he had started his Web site before joining the paper. The site features Drudge Report-type headlines mostly linking to stories involving allegations of racism. But in November he ran an "exclusive" that screamed, "Steele included in nude video," about Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. Redding reported that Steele, a black Republican considered a rising star, attended a magazine launch party that featured nude women in body paint. Redding formerly covered Maryland state government.