Sam I am

New Orleans is one of my favorite cities; I’ve probably been there half a dozen times for work or pleasure. It has all of the sensibility of a northern city with all of the geniality of a southern city. The food and architecture is representative of the United States: a true combination of cultures and traditions. Hurricane Katrina appears to be heading straight for New Orleans. The entire city is below sea level; to the south of the city is the Gulf of Mexico and to the north of the city is a huge lake. I hope the city survives the hurricane.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted some pictures.

“Auugh! It’s got me!!!”
Life Underground by Tom Otterness

The view from my living room at night

This afternoon, there was a huge thunderstorm across Manhattan and Brooklyn. There wasn’t a lot of rain, just a lot of lightning. The bridge is the Manhattan Bridge. The building in the distance is the Empire State Building.

From a post on Wonkette this afternoon: Teaching [intelligent design] as “alternative” to evolution is a little like teaching “magic” as an alternative to physics, which at least would at least explain the president’s belief in the missile defense program.

Matt Cooper decided to speak to the grand jury. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal both have good coverage.

Poynter Online, a site for journalists, posted an email exchange between Nick Goldberg, the Op-Ed Editor of the LA Times, and Bill Keller, Executive Editor of the New York Times. The message from Keller is clear–a real person has gone to jail because of her ethical beliefs. This is not an abstract intellectual exercise.

Frank Rich wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times that appeared in last Sunday’s paper that is incisive and insightful. The issues surrounding this case are not limited to journalistic ethics or a small number of people.

The New York Observer is a weekly, liberal newspaper that regularly covers the media. (You can read more about it on Wikipedia.) The secondary cover story, In Stunned Time Inc., Angry Freeze Sets In; Cooper ‘Not Surprised.’ by Tom Scocca, Anna Schneider-Mayerson and Gabriel Sherman, provides a good overview of the history behind the decision and its relation to other cases. However, while the secondary cover story is worth reading, the primary cover story, The Norman Evasion by Robert Sam Anson, should not be missed if you care about journalism. Anson’s piece investigates Pearlstine’s decision in relation to the history of Time Inc. and ends with a harsh quote:

“Would John Huey have decided differently?” mused a Time Inc. editor over a recent dinner table, where the conversation was nothing but Norm and what he’d done. “I think so. Because John, you see, is a journalist. A tough son of a bitch as an executive, but still a damn fine journalist.” He shook his head.

“Just like Norm used to be,” he said.

As I wrote yesterday, the fact that Time Inc. delivered Matthew Cooper’s notes to the special prosecutor did not make Cooper’s subpoena moot. Today, the special prosecutor reiterated his request to the court that Cooper needs to be sent to jail. The New York Times wrote:

Mr. Fitzgerald [the special prosecutor] quoted at length from news accounts concerning Time’s decision to show that journalists and others are not of one mind about news organizations’ and reporters’ obligations to obey final court orders concerning their confidential sources.

In addition to the material I quoted yesterday, Norman Pearlstine wrote:

In declining to review the important issues presented by this case, we believe that the Supreme Court has limited press freedom in ways that will have a chilling effect on our work and that may damage the free flow of information that is so necessary in a democratic society.

I believe the choice Time Inc. made to release the notes will create more of a chilling effect on journalism than the Supreme Court decision. In addition, Pearlstine’s decision may have created domino effect of tumbling press freedoms.

While I am an employee of Sports Illustrated and Time Inc., I do not in any way speak for Time Inc. I am not directly involved in making decisions that effect the content of our magazines. The comments above represent my own opinions.