Update: New Year, Same Old Inky Boycott
As we trudge through lots of new year business over these next days, we did think it would be a good time to remind you all: We’re still boycotting the Philadelphia Inquirer because of its continuing employ of torture advocate John Yoo, and we’d like you to consider the boycott, too. Since we began our boycott in May, we have refrained from linking to, or discussing, any Inquirer stories, as well as refraining from purchasing the physical paper at all. Surprisingly, this has been a much easier thing to do than we would have ever thought. This has as much to do, we’ve found, with the general echo-chamber nature of news in general as it does with the Inky just not being a very good newspaper. To qualify, however, we will continue to link to and discuss things that appear in the Daily News; even though they currently suffer from the same bullshit ownership, they’re still the voice of the city, and hey, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater here.
January 4th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
yea, well who cares. since the boycott, i’ve cut way down on philebrity, and it hasn’t really bothered me either. kind of stupid to pronounce the inquirer “not a very good newspaper” when you haven’t read it since May. read it, critique it, fine. boycott it, then just boycott it, don’t presume to judge it.
January 4th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Let the record show that Philebrity commenter “amye” works at the Inky, and suffers related post(mid?)-traumatic stress disorders. Also that her comment was posted within minutes of this post going live, so, uh, so much for the “cutting down,” honey.
January 4th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Let’s hope “amye” isn’t a journalist there, then. That’s some pretty ethically dubious bullshit.
January 4th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
I’m curious about amye’s stance on her employer hiring a known war criminal and the thereby implicit absolution it grants him in journalistic circles.
January 4th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
I recently subscribed to the Inquirer. I was tired of reading the paper online (mainly the NYT because philly.com is the worst) and just wanted to get back to the physical copy. However the NYT costs $2 a paper which is fucking insane so I went with the Inquirer. It’s not as bad as I thought for the most part and if I want more information on a certain topic I go find it elsewhere.
The John Yoo columns are ridiculous as are some others .. but they are good for getting you a little hot under the collar and even a good laugh at the absurdness. I still refuse to go to philly.com, I can never find anything on there!!!
January 4th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
@Sonny, can you explain the ethical issues of commenting on this post by an Inquirer reporter?
I am concerned about the ethical issues of tips’s habit of “outing” commenters. There are no blogger ethical guidelines as far as a I know, but it seems pretty “dubious” to me, not to mentioned conversation stifling.
@expat, I am not a fan of Yoo but he is not a convicted war criminal nor has he been charged. Good thing you are not a journalist.
And finally, @Philebrity, what is the point of this boycott if you continue to support the Daily News? It is just an acknowledgment that the Inky/Philly.com/PNI do, in fact have the local news scene on lock. There are some blogs that have some ok news (this is not one of them, but it is entertaining) but the PNI reporters and columnists have the scene covered. Look at Michael Klein’s column, the “It’s Our Money” blog, and the PhillyClout blog. The only non-PNI blog that is doing good original reporting is PlanPhilly.
January 4th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
@barryg:
You bring up a lot of good points here. Let me try to address them:
- I don’t particularly like to out commenters on here, but feel compelled to do it when I think that they’re hiding behind a wall of anonymity, not revealing key facts that could explain their position better or, worse, to be altogether disingenuous. As it happens, this actually isn’t the case for amye, who has revealed herself in previous comments to be in the Inky’s employ, so far as I know.
- Regarding the “point” of the boycott: Obviously, it isn’t to put the Inky out of business. They’re doing a fine enough job of that on their own watch. Rather, it’s to exclude them from the conversation to the admittedly small degree that we can. As far as posting links to the DN being some kind of admission that PNI has the local scene on lock, I disagree. And the past months — where we’ve in fact not even linked to the DN all that much (and certainly not Philly.com proper, which is basically a shell) — have borne that out. Do the DN, and some other the other properties you mentioned, have things that don’t appear elsewhere? Sure. But that’s hardly a lock; rather, it’s just confirmation that they are performing their most basic functions. Let’s not start slapping each other’s backs just yet.
- Finally, as to your claim that “The only non-PNI blog that is doing good original reporting is PlanPhilly.” I also beg to differ, though I do applaud PlanPhilly as well. The Clog breaks news all the time, and so, in our own small (and usually less consequential) way, do we.
January 4th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
@barryg
I said he was a known war criminal, not a convicted war criminal. The distinction is real and justified. An examination of his legal opinions and a moderate understanding of constitutional law can and does justify my statement. Around the world, dictatorial tyrants and their bureaucratic enablers are rarely convicted of their crimes, yet where would journalism and public knowledge stand if we had to couch our accusations against an Ahmadinejad and his ilk because their authority keeps them safe from conviction?
As for your opinions about my suitability for journalism…let’s just say the feeling is mutual.
January 4th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
I like Philebrity because it is easy. They give good updates around the city and the world (news, entertainment, sometimes even sports) and it’s a perfect balance of the important and the ridiculous. I gave up trying to find out everything that is happening everywhere. I tend to visit maybe 2 blogs for news (this and npr’s Two-Way) and the rest through the paper and I feel pretty covered without worrying too much.
Philebrity is a perfect balance. Keep it up. Less is more in 2010!
January 4th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Is this why the Kitchen Consigliere has yet to be mentioned in Phoodie?
@expat, Ahmadinejad is certainly a “bad person” but using his existence as justification in calling Yoo a “war criminal” doesn’t fly well. I don’t know why the anti-Yoo people don’t stick with “torture architect” since that’s much more specific and accurate than the “war criminal” accusation for reasons related to the whole banality of evil situation you lay out there.
I know this gave Sonny a raging hate-boner last time I said it, but Yoo’s a patsy for something a look bigger than just him (“I was just providing my opinion” is the new “I was just following orders”), and it’s a shame that the Inqy’s sheltering of said patsy prevents Philebs from commenting on say the recent Inqy expose on the purportedly broken criminal trial system in Philly.
@Sonny, do let us know why Amye having set her Google Reader to pop her a note every time Philebrity mentions the inqy is “some pretty ethically dubious bullshit” beyond grouchy overstated old head bluster.
January 4th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
meant “lot bigger” than “look bigger” – happens in proximity to old head’s raging hate-boner
January 4th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
@ BjTtE!
I’m not trying to draw an apples to apples comparison in terms of their specific crimes. I’m using Ahmadinejad, and the many tiers of Iranian government he’s associated with, simply as a topical example whereby one doesn’t need an explicit conviction to deem a a governmental figure responsible or complicit in ill deeds.
A lot of Americans are in denial that their government perpetrated abysmal acts in their name and willfully ignore ample public records and evidence consistent with such.
As for your assertion that Yoo is more aptly labeled a “torture architect” rather than a “war criminal”, isn’t that kinda “tomato/tomatoh”?
January 4th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
@Taco and BarryG:
Aw, do I sound that old? I’m not that old — I even used the “@” sign like you cool kids do these days.
The reason it’s unethical was touched on lightly by Tips, but basically journalists are trained (those who still are these days) that the job comes with a responsibility to be transparent about any axes one might have to grind when covering an issue. Thus a reporter who writes a glowing story about the local police department’s clearance rate without mentioning that she’s married to one of the cops on the force is unethical. Same with, say, a financial reporter who writes a feature about a company — good or bad — while hiding the fact that he owns the stock.
In Amye’s case, she’s hiding the fact — in this post, although, I gather, not in previous ones — that she owns the stock. She’s talking her book, as they say. If she’s a reporter or editor there, she should know this isn’t cool. If she’s on the business side or in some non-editorial capacity, it’s not as reasonable to expect that she would know these ethics. So that’s why I qualified it.
Going back to my Milk of Magnesia now. Happy new year.
January 4th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
@expat, no they’re not if we’re talking about effective language.
I’m saying “torture architect” is relatively indisputable, he is the fall guy on the public paper trail after all, whereas “war criminal” too easily falls into abstract semantic debates as seen in this thread.
Sticking with “torture architect” forces the discussants to stick with what Yoo wrote and the discussants moral opposition or permissiveness of the acts speculated upon within that writing. With “war criminal” that can be danced around by debating whether that’s an appropriate term. I know anti-Yoo peeps probably thought they were turning the heat up a notch with the war criminal banter, but really they diffused it.
So it’s a choice if you want to talk about abysmal acts performed in their name, or insulate those acts through an abstract legal concept.
January 4th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Considering the Inky’s coverage of Fumo, the BRT and Failing Criminal system (as Black Taco points out), you guys missed out on a very good year.
Though I would prefer that the Inky not provide an op-ed column to Yoo, it really doesn’t matter that much to me – not enough to write off the Inquirer. War criminal hyperbole aside, I think any grown adult understands that, in war, there will be torture (don’t hate the player, hate the game – and I hate the game in case there was any doubt). The best we can hope for is that countries will abide by the realistic treaty that low-level officers will not be included in such endeavors. I would hope that many of us understand that torture would occur with or without Yoo. I encourage you to talk shit on Yoo and raise awareness without trying to hurt the Inquirer as we need the remaining investigative journalism that it provides for this crumbling city.
January 4th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
@Black (jack) Taco the Eviscerator!
I get the semantic argument you’re making, but I think it’s fundamentally flawed. “Torture Architect” is an abstract concept, an attempt to hone the specificity of his actions, but ultimately a term with no legal bearing whatsoever. Whereas a “War Crime” and the associated “War Criminal”, while perhaps sounding to vague for your liking, are actually defined terms per the Geneva Convention and hardly an abstraction.
January 4th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
@barryg: @amye’s comment “since the boycott, i’ve cut way down on philebrity” immediately led me to believe that he/she is an employee.
January 4th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
“The best we can hope for is that countries will abide by the realistic treaty that low-level officers will not be included in such endeavors”
Are you fucking high on moonbeams and unicorn farts?? Who the fuck do you think is going to drown people and shock their dicks with car batteries? Dick Cheney and Mitch McConnell? Jesus, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve read yet in this oh so brief year.
January 4th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
joey, you should give me a kickback for comment production.
i’ve never “hid” my identify, i’m a reporter for the inky, joey knows that and, as he said, i’ve made that obvious in prior posts. that’s why i bother to post on these, to defend the paper, which, i agree with some of the commenters, has had an excellent year, its best in a long time. it’s part of what has made this a strange year, in the midst of bankruptcy, uncertain future for newspapers, it’s been a great year to be at the paper. i’m sorry joey didn’t get a chance to read the brt stories, along with a lot of other good work, including my own opus on ladder ball at the beach this summer. i, like many reporters, get calls and e-mails of appreciation from readers, many of whom lament the financial state of the business. it’s still very cool to have a job where you empty your brain, and people appreciate it. i think @tips knows how that feels. as we used to say, just saying.
January 4th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
I could have worded that better. What I meant to say is that, hopefully, low level soldiers and officers won’t be tortured – not carrying out the torture. Either way, I’m not holding my breath – hence the use of “hope.” Also you may be aware that there are shades of gray between Lindy England and Dick Cheney, not to mention the FBI, CIA and NSA. Thanks for catalyzing clarification, dickface.
January 4th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
@A Feculent Rainbow
I know I mocked your comment, but “dickface”? C’mon son…
January 4th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Sorry I couldn’t keep it to the civil level of discourse wherein one would find “moonbeams and unicorn farts.” I was thinking of going snarky (see previous sentence)- but “dickface” is much more concise.
January 4th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Then Amye, you should be ashamed. If you assumed prior knowledge on the part of the readers, you’re not a very good journalist. And if you hid it anyway, you are a deceitful one.
Just saying.
And, everyone, for the record, I’m a reporter, too.
January 4th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
@A Feculent Rainbow
…and oh so creative too!
January 4th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
@expat_attack,
Just because some lefties like to throw around the label “war criminal” does not make it a known fact. And WTF does constitutional law have to do with war crimes? I think you would be happier on the Young Philly Politics board.
January 5th, 2010 at 9:49 am
@barryg
Read a book sometime when you get the chance.
January 5th, 2010 at 11:22 am
really though? you’re not going to “throw the baby out with the bathwater,” but you stand behind dismissing an entire huge chunk of first-hand journalism in this city due to a disagreement with one journalist? I can’t believe this is the most effective or meaningful way to express your qualms with the inky.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
“you stand behind dismissing an entire huge chunk of first-hand journalism in this city due to a disagreement with one journalist”
I would have used “op-ed columnist” as opposed to “journalist,” but I agree otherwise. But hey, simply calling Yoo a douche isn’t what got them a brief reference on The Daily Show.
@ Expat: should he read a book or the constitution? Could you refer us both to the part of the constitution that explicitly address international standards of war? (note: I am aware of references to adherence to international treaties – but I do not doubt that you could provide further insight) Can you then refer us to the pages that would make him a “war criminal” as opposed to, at best, guilty of malpractice for a lack of due diligence? What I see is another scumbag attorney making big bucks trying to justify, after the decision has already been made, the nefarious actions of their client. He hasn’t even been disbarred yet.