Discussion for article #223095
Ummm – because he is an elected official and not an employee.
Jesus, really, what a ridiculous comparison.
Strawman, much?
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^ This. And it seems like a rather unnecessary false comparison, surely with all of the executives in the banking industry who got off scott free for their incompetencies during the banking crash there are some actual comparable examples of powerful men avoiding the type of humiliation that Abramson was forced through, while being more deserving of it?
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I’m pretty sure if Rob Ford worked for the NYT he would not have a job. This is the strangest comparison I have ever seen, as in there’s no comparison at all. Apples to oranges.
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I hardly ever comment here, even though I am an original prime member, but this truly is one of the dumbest columns ever put here and I just had to say something.
As the original commenter noted, what the hell does the mayor of Toronto have to do with the NYTimes? And read David Carr’s comment in the Times on this affair,
“Some might suggest that these traits are all in the historical job description of a man editing The New York Times, but Arthur concluded “she had lost the support of her masthead colleagues and could not win it back.” I like Jill and the version of The Times she made. But my reporting, including interviews with senior people in the newsroom, some of them women, backs up his conclusion.”
Anyways, it is crap like this that unfortunately is becoming more common on TPM that convinces me not to renew…
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I get it that a lot of people in the US don’t really get Canadian politics. I also get, and understand, that a lot of people in the US aren’t interested in taking the time to get it.
But honestly, our system is not so different that using an elected mayor as a comparison to a contracted job someone was interviewed for, hired for, and fired for isn’t a complete and total joke.
Besides, city council in Toronto has basically stripped Ford of any functional power anyways, which is yet another thing different from Jill Abramson; they didn’t strip her of any authority until they told her to kick her lunchbox down the road.
If the point of this was trying to steer people towards thinking this was a gender based decision, you lose people by making the “shock value” comparison…when you actually had a better one that you buried down in paragraph 5. As an educator, Michele Weldon ought to know better than that, and as a regular reader with more than a few pieces of gray matter to read and process this op-ed…I’m giving her an F.
Ford is still a sitting mayor simply because they are mere months from an election and any votes to throw him out of office would be a waste of taxpayer time and money. That’s my opinion but it’s actually backed up by evidence.
He’s a figurehead, mayor in name only. Jill Abramson was NEVER editor in name only.
Josh, I’m disappointed in this op-ed in many ways.
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I can’t even convey in words how utterly asinine this comparison is. Truly, utterly, incomprehensibly asinine. Made all the more so by the fact that it is so utterly unnecessary! Make the argument you want about Jill Abramson and the NYT, but the second you make that type of comparison as your opening, you lose every whit of credibility you might otherwise have had. It is really kind of sad; you had an argument to make, and you blew it right out of the box.
Plus: character assassination? You’re using that to describe what has happened to Rob Ford? The repeat-crack-smoking, repeat-lying, drunk, profane, misognynistic criminal who happens to have been elected Mayor of Toronto before all that became obvious? That’s character assassination? I do not think that word means what you think it means.
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Why Rob Ford Still Has A Job And Jill Abramson Doesn’t
Simple.
There is no legal mechanism in the City of Toronto to fire a mayor.
None. It has nothing to do with his gender.
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What an absurd comparison. As others have pointed out here, Rob Ford is an elected official. (Okay, an elected boob.) Jill Abramson was an employee. How could you miss that?
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Not only an elected official, but a Canadian one at that? So why would a New York publication even care who the Mayor of Toronto, Toronto, CANADA!! is?
I still can’t believe how dumb this post is with such a sensational headline. Why does the person who put it here, still have a job we really should ask.
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These two lines back to back tell the story of this whole piece:
[Abramson’s behavior subverted a male hierarchy at the Times, etc.]…why it’s a wonder they did not call for her beheading.
All this in a profession not known for nuance.
You don’t say.
OUCH! this is so stupid it hurts! and is incredibly aggravating because the stupidity of it trivializes a legitimate topic.
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Ira Glass called to say he thinks this is a ridiculous TPM story.
“…The next time…”
It’s inevitable women will eventually get there and even supersede men.
Absolutely great title!
So, uh, how about supporting your lede with some of those things that we in the biz call “facts.” How exactly has Abramson suffered the same “character assassination” and ridicule as Rob Ford? Examples please.
Adding to the muddiness of this screed is the fact that the author doesn’t seem to understand that Rob Ford has no character to assassinate. The harshest criticisms I’m seeing of Jill Abramson say she’s a brilliant reporter who has a hard time getting along with others - hardly unique in the business.
It appears that Abramson tried to make the very popular No. 2 in the newsroom quit by plotting to bring in somebody she knew he didn’t like and making her his co-equal. Pulling a stunt like that and misleading the “boy” who happens to be your boss about it is probably going to land you in hot water.
I’m amazed that TPM would publish such mindlessly aggrieved tripe. Oh, and while I’m venting, Medill’s a joke. To you young people who want to be reporters, save your money and get a job in a newsroom. That’s where you really learn - not from bullshitters who write crap like this.
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Goodness gracious, Ms. Weldon! You find some significance in the fact that Mayor Rob Ford retains his job and Jill Abramson doesn’t? Ford is an elected official answerable to voters on election day. Abramson was working for a private company and was answerable to her bosses every single day. Irrespective of how you feel about Abramson’s firing, comparing apples to oranges makes no point at all. As a retired newspaperman, I’m embarrassed for you.
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What a ridiculous comparison; bitter oranges with rotten apples. Can anyone seriously consider that the Times would not asses the publicity fallout from firing their first woman editor prior to taking that action?
For this reason alone, the Times would hesitate to fire her. Perhaps they allowed her to stay long enough for tensions, anger and resentments to build until there could be no pretense of going away ceremony at her departure.
Duh. He’s a political official in a foreign country governed by its laws and political customs rather than an employee of a private firm, which can fire at will?
This is a really silly and stupid comparison.
Lou Reed has passed away and Howell Raines is alive.
What’s up with that?
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“The only public figure who comes close in recent memory to as much public scrutiny, ridicule, character assassination and professional humiliation as departed New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson is Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. And even though he is in rehab, he still has his job.”
Sterling gets kicked out of the NBA for COMMENTS, NFL team trashed because of their name…
Ray Rice KNOCKS OUT his girlfriend in a casino and will still be playing in the NFL. We must rally around Abramson because of the awful old white man.
Coal miners, fishermen, loggers (all men, almost all white men) die every day but…it is their choice, man…cheerleaders don’t get paid very much…choice has nothing to do with it, man.
Progressives are funny people.