Our Big ‘06 Media Scandal: A Lot Like All Our Old ‘05 Media Scandals

Remember the Big Ol’ Journalism Scandal we speculated on last week? We got it, naturally, about half right, and some of the details are already in the public record. It’s partially described by freelance columnist Cathy Seipp here and here. And here’s a dissenting opinion from a columnist accused of accepting the payola (on TownHall, so you just know he’s a reliable, responsible journalist).

Short summary: The New York Times is sitting on a story about columnist payola either because (depending on who you believe) a DC PR firm (Dezenhall Resources, according to our anonymous and quite possibly delusional source) browbeat Jill Abramson into spiking it, or because reporter Sharon Waxman “polluted her reporting” by threatening said firm (and we can’t imagine anything more terrifying to a giant, powerful PR firm than a single Times reporter, right?). We’d love to hear details from anyone connected to the firm or the paper. Per usual, all tipsters will remain totally anonymous. Even bad, unethical journalists and scum-sucking PR flacks.

Fumento-A-Go-Go [Cathy’s World]
Gosh, Catherine [Cathy’s World]
Hounding of Conservative Thinkers No ‘Phantom Persecution’ [TownHall]
Earlier: Could This Be Our Big ‘06 Media Scandal? Please?

READ MORE: columnists, journalism, new york times, payola, pr, scandal, top