Former New York Times freelance reporter Natasha Lennard, who contributed to the paper’s reporting on Occupy Wall Street, then participated in a left-wing panel discussion of OWS tactics with protest participants and supporters, broke the chains of "objectivity" for good in a rather refreshing article posted Tuesday morning at left-wing Salon Magazine: “Why I quit the mainstream media – Journalism must break the chains of objectivity and report truth -- and the Occupy movement led me to do just that.” (Lennard has previously contributed to Salon.) She agreed with the "right-wing firebrands" who said "I have no place in the mainstream media."
Natasha Lennard
By Noel Sheppard | October 24, 2011 | 9:47 PM EDT
After a video was published by Big Government Sunday evening showing a New York Times freelancer participating in an Occupy Wall Street strategy meeting, there was speculation concerning how the Gray Lady would respond.
A few hours ago, Politico published a statement from Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy:
By Clay Waters | October 24, 2011 | 2:05 PM EDT
Will freelance reporter Natasha Lennard be reporting on Occupy Wall Street for the New York Times anytime soon? Lennard contributed some of the paper’s reporting earlier this month from OWS, most notably when writing about her arrest on the Brooklyn Bridge at nytimes.com. Her last filing appears to be October 8.
Lennard, who has also reported for Politico and the left-wing Salon magazine, addressed a discussion of Occupy Wall Street at the feminist Bluestockings book store on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on October 14, filmed and promoted by the radical magazine Jacobin (note the guillotine), reported Lee Stranahan at Big Government on Sunday. (The full video is also available at Times Watch).
By Noel Sheppard | October 24, 2011 | 1:24 AM EDT
On October 2, NewsBusters reported the arrest of a New York Times freelancer at the Occupy Wall Street rally that shut down the Brooklyn Bridge.
Big Government's Lee Stranahan on Sunday uncovered a video of Natasha Lennard speaking at an OWS strategy meeting on October 14 (video follows with transcript and commentary, vulgarity warning, relevant section at 1:30):
By Clay Waters | October 4, 2011 | 7:53 AM EDT
Occupy Wall Street, the floating leftist protest in Manhattan that’s camped out in downtown Manhattan in an endless protest against...something, attempted to migrate to Brooklyn this weekend, blocking vehicle traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge and resulting in mass arrests.
The New York Times, whose attitude toward Tea Party rallies was invariably hostile, blasted support throughout the weekend for the vague leftist “occupation” of Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge. Sunday’s National section picked up on the arrests: “About 500 Arrested as Demonstrators Try to Cross Brooklyn Bridge” by Al Baker and Colin Moynihan, with additional reporting by Natasha Lennard and William Rashbaum (Lennard will play a role later).