Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Vicki Iseman Sues new York Times

Many will remember the name Vicki Iseman from when the New York Times wrote a piece about John McCain implying he had an inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist, Iseman, then proceeded to write a story which showed no inappropriate relationship whatever.

Caused a stir with the right and many on the left criticizing the NYT for their lack of journalistic integrity and their yellow journalism practices.

Now news reports are out that Iseman is suing the NYT for $27 million over that piece.

The suit, filed in the Federal District Court in Richmond, Va., said that a front-page article on Feb. 21 “falsely communicated” that the lobbyist, Vicki L. Iseman, and Mr. McCain “had an illicit ‘romantic’ and unethical relationship in breach of the public trust in 1999.” At that time, Ms. Iseman was representing clients before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, then headed by Mr. McCain.

“Ms. Iseman did not engage in any behavior toward him that was anything other than professional and appropriate,” said the suit, which seeks damages of $27 million.


The defendants named are Bill Keller, the paper’s executive editor; Dean Baquet, its Washington bureau chief; Jim Rutenberg, Stephen Labaton and David D. Kirkpatrick, all Times reporters; and Marilyn W. Thompson, then a reporter for the paper.

You can read the 44 page complaint, filed December 30, 2008, here.

As Hot Air points out, the complaint alleges "malice" reckless disregard of the truth and falsity of material.

Strong allegations and hopefully the Times will be held accountable for their actions.

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