ProPublica’s GM Responds to the 501(c) Files
After reading my post yesterday about ProPublica’s collaboration with 60 Minutes on a story that the Washington Post also delved into, the journalism nonprofit’s general manager, Dick Tofel, wrote to me with “two factual assertions I hope you’ll reconsider”:
- 60 Minutes “likely would have done [this story] anyway.” What’s your basis for that?
- Our Alhurra story is “nearly identical” to that in the Post. Do you really think that’s a fair reading of the two stories?
My response to Tofel’s note:
In my haste to post this morning, I used sloppier language than I should have. It would have been more accurate to say that the Al-Hurra story is the kind of story 60 Minutes does with some regularity. Regarding the content issue, I used Wasserman’s assertion that the Post’s story, like yours, “was a distressing chronicle of ineptitude and incoherence, and it too was all about Al-Hurra.” “Nearly identical” may be too strong a characterization.
I then asked Tofel if I could post our exchange, and he assented, adding, “I’d also urge you to re-read the Post story and ours and reach your own conclusion about their similarity.”
Duly noted. And good advice always. | 501(c)
