MONKEY SEE MONKEY PUBLISH
Is Luke Ford a dangerous innocent?
 Luke Ford |
Luke replies to this site’s friendly attack on his journalistic scruples—in collaborating with Vicki Polin and JWB in a switch and bait of “You publish, I cite you, then you cite me”—with the following note:
Dear Yori, I read many times (before posting) all the documents you cite.
I report, you decide. Fair and balanced.
I don't decide my postings on the basis of whether or not something will be good for Rabbi Yosef Blau or Vicki Polin or Jewish Whistle Blower. I decide on the basis of whether I think something is true and important (and I hope interesting). Nobody controls this website but me.
That I publish some document does not mean that I endorse the document or support what it says. I publish documents because I think they are important or entertaining or both. I usually just present stuff and allow the reader to decide what to do with it.
Therein lies the most profound, even terrifying problem which has been troubling me and hundreds of Jewish webreaders. Luke’s notion of what’s fair and balanced is faulty, even bizarre. Most of all because he really believes that when he copies and pastes an email he received in the middle of the night he is “reporting,” even “fair and balanced” reporting.
No, Luke, this is not reporting at all. It isn’t even close to any common notion of reporting. It may be web graffiti, it may, at times, be the electronic equivalence of smearing feces on a wall, but it isn’t reporting.
The job of the reporter is to serve as the eyes and ears of his readers. He must examine the issue with which he is dealing, assess to the best of his ability the veracity of the charges on one side, the response from the other side, perhaps speak to insiders and experts, in an attempt to conjure a reasonably satisfactory picture of events.
But you never do that, either because you can’t, or because you don’t want to. I’m yet to read any actual report written by you, one with context, supporting views, analysis. All you do is copy and paste, first come first served, often without rhyme and reason, often pouring stunningly lengthy and virtually unreadable screenfuls of text.
Now, if you were “reporting” in this childish manner about flowers and ice cream and your visit to grandma’s house, you’d be as dangerous as many similar childish blogsites, which are primarily offensive to our sense of culture but are yet to ruin any lives.
But you, Luke, are employing this chronically lazy attitude towards the written word in regard to real human beings. Such as my friend, Hershy, who woke up one morning to discover that his whole neighborhood knows things about him even he didn’t know. You pounded at him from an ambush, in the middle of the night, without even dreaming of getting as much as a fact-checking response from him, never mind giving him ample time to respond before you slashed his throat like a terrorist.
What was the hurry? Why didn’t he merit even a chance to defend himself? Why did you decide to shame him in public on the basis of one-sided dirt? How is this kind of murder even reminiscent of reporting, much less “fair and balanced?” And what gave you the right to do this to a private person, long since having held a position of authority? Which constituency were you saving from his clutches in such a hurry, that you didn't have the time to call him and say, "There's this lady who says this and that about you - is it true?"
The answer is that it made no difference to you whether he was innocent of the charges or not. You spilled blood without even considering the possibility that maybe you made a mistake. You spilled blood, man, it's not me saying it, it's our sages: ...Kol hamalbin pney chavero b'rabim k'ilu shafach damim (Bava Matzi'ah 58:b). Anyone who shames his fellow man in public is considered to have spilled blood. You spilled blood.
Even as we speak, you’ve been complaining that established newspapers are refusing to run with some complaints from a student about her Conservative rabbi teacher. I know the man through friends and I rushed an email to them, inquiring if this was even in the realm of possibility. And just through two emails back and forth I already learned more about the story than your entire tiresome verbatim copy and paste. And I also understand very well why the Forward won’t run with it. It’s not because they worry about his dignity. The Forward has trashed more than a few dignities.
No, it was because when you get into an he-says-she-says story you don’t rush it. You use judgment. You remember that you are not prosecutor and judge; you are a public servant whose job is to present the truth. And a one-sided truth is always a lie.
I’m furious at you, Luke, most of all for your intellectual laziness, moral laziness and frightening lack of introspection. You really believe what you’ve been doing is good reporting, and you don’t understand that the reason folks are frequenting your site is to see fresh blood being spilled.
It’s tragic when a butcher fancies himself a writer.
Curiously, Luke Ford's response to the above note was a manly: "I was going to serve as the eyes and ears of my readers to this story, examining the issues, assessing the veracity of the charges, and speaking to insiders and experts, but then I yawned (exhausted from my complaining about Jewish journalists doing their work responsibly) and took a nap." Sleep, Luke, close your eyes and rest your weary body. And in your dream you'll be a successful writer, selling many books and doing the Tonight Show and stuff. Got milk?
Yori Yanover