Spin Cycle

If someone in a news story reviews and edits it before it goes to press, will it be a fair report? Or will it suffer “spin” by sources and others aiming to shape public opinion in favor or against them or their ideas?

Last month, Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s office asked to review an article about him before publication by a newspaper, The Daltonian. The paper is written by students at Dalton School, a prestigious Manhattan private school where Kennedy spoke on October 28. No other press was allowed to cover the event.

Justice Kennedy or his “spin doctors” asked for changes to the article before print. Although the edits were called “minor tweaks” that “tidied up” the reporting, the editors at The Daltonian allowed a story to be delayed and spun.

Reporters should not allow sources to review stories before print. At stake is journalistic independence. Reporters must insulate stories from manipulation and spin, whether by persuasion, revisionism or strong-arm threats. A spun report is not factual news coverage but propaganda.

The Times was right to fire this shot across the bow on Page One penned by Supreme Court correspondent Adam Liptak:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/us/11dalton.html

Reporter Liptak, who describes Kennedy as “one of the court’s most vigilant defenders of First Amendment values,” asked Kennedy for comment. Kennedy declined.