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Pontorno's Complaint

Ex-Murdoch Employee Reveals 'Secret Society'

McGowan, a former Newsweekreporter and current Manhattan Institute fellow, points to reviews that have appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Columbia Journalism Review, and so on. These tend to see his book as biased and flawed in its own right, but commendable for raising important questions.

Journalist Jim Sleeper is also disturbed by the Times' decision not to review McGowan's book. Sleeper believes that his own review, which appeared in the L.A. Times, shows that "there is a way to do it fairly. Criticize McGowan all you want, but acknowledge the force of his argument."

One has to ask, What did McGowan expect? His book depicts Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. as the bogeyman who set the national agenda for promoting diversity, and throughout the book he takes whacks at the Times piñata. Any student of the Times knows the paper will not dignify that kind of harsh criticism with a response. Besides, a Times review that trashed McGowan's arguments would sound self-serving, while one that praised them could be construed as an admission of guilt.

"We receive thousands of books each year and we cannot review all of them," said Timesspokesperson Toby Usnik. "We make our choices as best we can, with an eye toward what we think will appeal to a general audience."


ccotts@villagevoice.com

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anuric9651
anuric9651

In Pontorno's complaint which is a true story it should be noted that Greg Franchuk has passed away on February 12th of this year. (http://http://www.spearfuneralhome.com/_mgxroot/page_10780.php?id=1176226/_mgxroot/page_10780.php?id=1176226)  The story is true and I can say this because I knew the rest of the unnamed protagonists not mentioned by name in the article   At the time this was happening Fox had not yet secured a vice grip upon the Metromedia station group they acquired in 1986 and they had not as yet begun to implement more thorough HR policies to weed out the problems in the workplace of which there are, sadly, still many.  This nasty incident was assuredly Mr. Franchuk's pathway to final separation from the company several years later when he was building and facilities manager after being demoted from Operations and Engineering VP post.  They question that lingers  is why was the time frame so long until Franchuk was finally dismissed?  It took years.  What did Greg know that bought him some time?

 
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