(Outrageous nonsense from a crappiest newspaper in the state. - promoted by ctblogger)
Progresssive columnist Sarah Littman, whose essays are carried in Greenwich Time and Stamford Advocate, was fired by publisher John Dunster on Thursday for having written a column critical of Loony Lee Whitnum while having held a "meet-and-greet" for Jim Himes last year. According to Sarah, Dunster said that having criticized Loony Lee while having supported Jim Himes campaign "compromised the integrity of the paper".
What's the truth? This is a right-wing rag that has been shilling for Whitnum for months. In virtually every article about Jim Himes, Greenwich Time's political reporter Neil Vigdor has been boosting Whitnum's candidacy, covering up her whacky utterances and essentially portraying Whitnum as a courageous fighter against the Democratic machine.
But this appears to have been nothing but a pretext. In an appearance before the Greenwich Retired Men's Association about a month ago broadcast on Greenwich Community Television channel 79, Dunster, responding to a complaint about "liberal" Sarah Littman, admitted that he personally "on the conservative side of the spectrum", and said that he was going to make changes in the editorial page.
It is absurd for Dunster to have fired Littman, because she's not a reporter who is required to be objective, but in fact is paid to give her subjective take on political and social issues. Does anyone believe that David Brooks, George F. Will, or the editors of the Wall Street Journal don't contribute to political candidates? Of course they do. And George F. Will has actually served as an advisor to Republican candidates in the past.
This is all the more reprehensible since Sarah Littman's contract with GT and Stamford Advocate makes no mention of a prohibition against making political contributions, or holding a "meet-and-greet", nor did any member of the papers' managements ever stipulate that she could not. In short, it appears that this was seized upon by the paper's right-wing management to get rid of her.
Let's be clear: Sarah Littman is the only local progressive columnist to publish in those papers in memory. She has certainly developed a following among Democrats and enlightened independents, and it is particularly dim-witted of Dunster and the managing editor to have fired her, given the increasing registration of Democrats in town, now close to a quarter of the electorate. Greenwich Time/Stamford Advocate management have not made an announcement, nor have they taken down her column or photo (curiously, they didn't even carry her columns in their online edition until Tuesday when I complained to the publisher, and noted that it was only their progressive columnist who was excluded from their electronic editions!).
I have chosen to cancel my subscription after eleven years, and I think a strong argument can be made thatit's time for everyone disgusted with their firing of Sarah Littman to begin a boycott of the paper. It's been grossly unfair to Democrats for years, and their shilling for Lee Whitnum has been nothing short of disgraceful.
If you want to stick up for Sarah Littman, please write the editor John Dunster at:
john.dunster@scni.com
Also, please be sure to copy or write the president of Hearst Newspapers, Mr. George P. Irish at:
girish@hearst.com
It's important that Hearst Newspapers understand what sort of sleeze is going on at their publications.
It's time that progressives stood up against this sort of blatant right-wing bias. Greenwich Time/Advocate have gotten away with it for far too long. It's time to get them to back down and take Sarah Littman back as a columnist.
MLN is powered by