The N.Y. Times' 'hatchet job' on Richard Blumenthal

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last updated 8 January 2015

Howard Dean is accusing The New York Times of doing a "hatchet job" on Connecticut Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal. The newspaper reported that Blumenthal misrepresented his military service record — he has made statements suggesting he served in Vietnam, but actually served stateside in the Marine Reserve — without acknowledging that the story grew out of research provided by the campaign of a Republican rival, Linda McMahon. Was the Times story a political hit job?

It's the information itself that counts: Newspapers get tips all the time, says Si Cantwell in the Wilmington, N.C., Star-News. "Some are willing to talk on the record, others ask not to be identified, others never give us their names." But "if a newspaper verifies an accusation and nails down the story," sharing it with readers isn't a "hatchet job" — it's journalism.