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Comment by librvf | Hacker News Reader

On the other hand, you should hold the press accountable. It's easy to say fighting the press is a bad idea, I don't even disagree most of the time. But that doesn't mean we should excuse their failures.

Have fun when the press happens to make you the target. Have fun not being allowed to defend yourself while they skirt whatever truths they feel like they can legally get away with to promote their self-serving narrative. Have fun when people come in and tell you that you should not bother to tell the truth in the face of lies, because you'll just cause a snafu. Have fun seeing your associates share the article with each other as if it's credible and honest when you know it is full of half-truths and omissions, and you can't say anything about it because they have ink to spare to bury you with more lies.

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I don't think this is one of those cases. Agreed that when the press goes off the rails (I've had this happen once, a reporter tried to get me to say something I really did not want to say on the record and the cut and pasted my words until they supported his foregone conclusion) it is not nice. But when the press reports actual wrongdoing you should address the problem, not attack the press. Shooting the messenger is usually the wrong response.

> I don't think this is one of those cases.

It most definitely is one of those cases unless you think Jay Carney's argument can be dismissed out of hand as being entirely factually incorrect.

> But when the press reports actual wrongdoing you should address the problem

By stating it this way, you have already ceded that the press's report is truthful and accurate. Furthermore, you seem to just accept that the press's views on what constitutes "wrongdoing" is reasonable and honest.

The substance of Carney's objections is that the report was not, in fact, truthful and accurate. He states, for example:

Elizabeth Willet, who claims she was “strafed” through the Anytime Feedback tool, received only three pieces of feedback through that tool during her entire time at Amazon. All three included positive feedback on strengths as well as thoughts on areas of improvement. Far from a “strafing,” even the areas for improvement written by her colleagues contained language like: “It has been a pleasure working with Elizabeth.”

He's accusing the Times of failing at simple fact-checking. He's accusing them of failing at responsible journalism. Either Carney is wrong or it is "one of those cases." It can't be both.

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