Ted Rall Has Police Tape Enhanced, Makes Counter-Charges Against LAPD And LA Times

Ted Rall and the media site aNewDomain have continued to press Rall's case against justifications used by the LA Times in deciding to no longer use him as a freelancer. The latest is an enhanced version of a tape provided by the LAPD to the Times, which reveals some dialogue between the cop and an on-looker. I want to make sure that this gets linked to, considering I wrote an article about the back and forth up to the moment at a previous moment, here.

I am going to assume that a lot of articles of similar length and focus will appear at aNewDomain, the majority by Rall. If you want to keep up on the back and forth as it happens, that's probably the place where the most content is going to be generated. I will continue to track and look in on how the story gets reported both there and outside of these very specific channels.

This has already reached a staggering level of directed language and loaded description. A significant chunk of what we have to think thorugh is in the form of an Internet Argument. It might be a full time job for someone to pull everything out and examine it. Did this person really say that, can we trace this claim back to an actual statement, and so on.

When you apply vastly different concepts to the same things, it's hard to have an argument at all, let alone suss out the truth from one side or the other. I don't think losing a freelance gig is the same as losing a position, I think vastly different standards apply. so it would be nice if one set of descriptives were used. I'm not sure why the LA Times didn't punish, criticize or suspend Rall's editors (the primary Times front line here) if they feel a disservice to the truth was done. If the Times is to be damned for seeming to back a version of events that can be picked at, Rall can be held to that same standard. I'm not sure who comes off better were that the case. I'm also not certain why the Times' perceived potential conflict of interest due to its relationship with the LAPD is a more effectively dismissive accusation of bias than a guy arguing directly on his own behalf. The Times may feel the influence of the LAPD, but not more than Ted Rall is pro Ted Rall.

In the end I think the Times looks like less than a major player for using a guy until they're criticized and then showing him the door. They look like boobs if they didn't enhance the tape. It could be they decided it didn't matter. I also think that some of Rall's claims look more like a chat room jeremiad than a rational refutation of the broader facts in question. Freelance relationships are tough, they count on the editor trusting the freelancer, and I don't think that was happening here and thus both sides are better off walking away from one another. Ironically, the furious way in which Rall has gone after his former client may say more about his desirability as a freelancer than anything the police department has claimed.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

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