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News
Tuesday, April 7, 2015 — 7
CRAIG RUTTLEAP
Columbia Journalism School Dean Steve Coll answers a question during a news conference to discuss findings of a report conducted at the Columbia School of Journalism
surrounding Rolling Stone magazine’s expose of what it called a culture of sex assaults at the University of Virginia, Monday, April 6, 2015, in New York.
Fraternity announces legal
action against Rolling Stone
Government leaders
uncensor Youtube
and Twitter after
hostage crisis
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey
blocked access to social network-
ing sites Twitter and YouTube
for several hours on Monday over
photos showing a militant point-
ing a gun at a prosecutor who died
last week in a failed hostage rescue
operation. Turkey also threatened
to ban Google over the images.
A spokesman for President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a
Turkish prosecutor had ordered
Internet providers to block the
sites. The request stemmed from
postings of photos that showed
militant Marxists pointing a gun
at the prosecutor, Mehmet Selim
Kiraz, who died in a shootout
between police and the Marxists
who were holding him hostage.
Government
officials
have
blasted Turkish media for post-
ing the images, which they have
called anti-government propa-
ganda. Kiraz, was shot in the head
during the standoff and died in a
hospital soon after.
The state-run Anadolu Agency
said access was blocked because
Twitter
and
YouTube
didn’t
remove images of the prosecutor
despite an official notification. It
said the Internet Providers noti-
fied Twitter and YouTube, but
video, photographs and audio
continued to be posted on these
sites. The Turkish telecommuni-
cations authority wouldn’t imme-
diately comment.
A government official said
Turkey decided to lift the ban on
Twitter in the late afternoon after
the company agreed to remove all
images of the prosecutor and tele-
coms authorities verified that it
had done so. The official spoke on
condition of anonymity because
she was not authorized to speak
publicly on the issue.
Anadolu said access to You-
Tube was restored in the evening
after it agreed to abide by the
Turkish court order.
Turkey however, then threat-
ened to ban Google unless it
removed search results showing
the slain prosecutor’s images.
Earlier, Twitter said it was
working to restore access to users
in Turkey.
The journalists group, Turkish
Press Council, said that while it
understood the authorities con-
cerns over the publication of the
prosecutors’ photographs, it said
banning social media websites
was in conflict with democracy.
“It is meaningless to totally shut
down social platforms — which
contain billions of useful informa-
tion — to the use of the Turkish
people because of some unsuitable
content,” the group said.
Users meanwhile were sharing
information on how to get around
the ban on the Internet.
Last year, Turkey blocked
access to YouTube and Twitter
after audio recordings of a secret
security meeting or tapes sug-
gesting corruption by government
officials were leaked on the social
media sites. Turkey’s highest
court, however, overturned the
bans, deeming them to be uncon-
stitutional.
Previous moves by Turkish
authorities to block the social
media networks have provoked
widespread criticism by Western
governments and human rights
organizations.
Many tech-savvy users, includ-
ing former President Abdullah
Gul, had found ways to circum-
vent the bans both on Twitter
and YouTube while they were in
place.
Turkish officials
end media ban
EVAN VUCCI/AP
In this photo taken April 1, 2015, Jen Psaki, right, talks with Katie Fallon at the White House in Washington.
Two top White House
advisers expecting babies
Senior executive staff
will be first to serve
while pregnant as
assistant to Obama
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jen
Psaki thought the offer to be
President Barack Obama’s com-
munications director wouldn’t
last long.
She figured White House chief
of staff Denis McDonough hadn’t
heard she’s expecting a baby girl
in July. “My immediate instinct
in my head was to tell him I’m
pregnant and this will be the end
of this. He’ll tell me good luck
and be very kind about it and I’ll
be on my merry way,” said Psaki,
who was serving as chief spokes-
woman at the State Department.
Instead McDonough — and
later Obama himself — assured
Psaki they would accommodate
her needs as a new mom amid the
West Wing’s nonstop demands.
She started in the post Wednes-
day and is one of two pregnant
women serving as assistant to the
president — a first for such a top
level adviser in Obama’s presi-
dency and practically unheard of
under previous presidents.
Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s first
chief of staff and now Chicago
mayor, once remarked that every
White House says they’ll be fam-
ily-friendly, but it’s never really
a good workplace for any family
except the president’s.
Yet Obama has pushed family-
friendly policies like childcare,
flexibility and paid leave, includ-
ing instituting 12 weeks paid
maternity leave for his own staff.
But until now, he hasn’t put it into
practice in a very prominent way
with few mothers of young chil-
dren on his own senior team.
“All workplaces are adapt-
ing and that includes the White
House,” said Obama legislative
director Katie Beirne Fallon. She
is scheduled to give birth to iden-
tical twin boys in May, just as her
husband, Brian, plans to start as
press secretary for Hillary Rod-
ham Clinton’s impending presi-
dential campaign in New York.
Fallon said she made it clear
when she took her job that they
were trying to start a family. She
said everyone has been accom-
modating — from cooks at the
mess hall where her lunch orders
have included a baked potato
topped with tuna fish and frozen
yogurt with Raisin Bran, all the
way up to the president.
“He’s constantly checking in
on me,” she said, urging her not to
miss doctor’s appointments and
to put her health first. “Don’t let
us get in the way of that,” she said
he’s told her. Fallon and Psaki
both say they envision working
more flexible hours so they can
put their babies to bed.
Press secretary Josh Earnest
— one of several new fathers in
the West Wing — says he tries
to get home once a week before
his baby is asleep. Obama tries
to make it to dinner every night
with his wife and daughters.
“I don’t think it would be
appropriate for me to be home at
6:30 every night in the way that
he is,” Earnest said at a Center for
American Progress forum. But
he said Obama’s actions signal to
staff they can make family a pri-
ority.
Times have changed. Joan
Baggett Calambokidis, President
Bill Clinton’s political director, is
one of the only other assistants to
the president that former White
House aides can remember hav-
ing a baby on the job. She spent
her delivery taking calls from the
West Wing to discuss the choice
of a new party chair.
Magazine vows to
further investigate
its reporting
CHARLOTTESVILLE,
Va.
(AP) — A fraternity at the Uni-
versity of Virginia announced
Monday that it will “pursue all
available legal action” against
Rolling Stone, saying a Colum-
bia Journalism School review
shows the magazine acted reck-
lessly and defamed its members
by publishing an article that
falsely accused them of gang
rape.
“The Rolling Stone article
viewed by millions fueled a
court of public opinion that
ostracized Phi Kappa Psi mem-
bers and led to vandalism of the
fraternity house,” the fraterni-
ty’s statement said.
“Clearly our fraternity and its
members have been defamed,
but more importantly we fear
this entire episode may prompt
some victims to remain in the
shadows, fearful to confront
their attackers,” said Stephen
Scipione, president of the the
University of Virginia’s Phi
Kappa Psi chapter. “If Rolling
Stone wants to play a real role
in addressing this problem, it’s
time to get serious.”
Rolling Stone’s “shock narra-
tive” about sex assaults at the
University of Virginia was rife
with bad journalism, and the
magazine has nobody but its
own staff to blame, Columbia
Journalism School Dean Steve
Coll said Monday at a question
and answer session about the
review he led at the magazine’s
request.
The
magazine
pledged
to review its practices and
removed “A Rape on Campus”
from its website, but publisher
Jann S. Wenner said he won’t
fire anyone despite the blister-
ing review. In a New York Times
interview, Wenner described
“Jackie,” whose claims provided
the article’s narrative thread,
as “a really expert fabulist sto-
ryteller” who manipulated the
magazine’s journalism process.
“Rolling
Stone
Magazine
admits its staff engaged in reck-
less behavior while covering this
story, yet the magazine refuses
to take any action against those
involved in reporting the story
or address needed changes to its
editorial process. The reporter
in question not only failed to
apologize to members of Phi
Kappa Psi, but doesn’t even
acknowledge the three wit-
nesses she quoted in the article
but never interviewed. This is a
clear and sad indication that the
magazine is not serious about
its journalistic obligations,” the
fraternity said.
Coll strongly disagreed “with
any suggestion that this was
Jackie’s fault.”
“The editors made judgments
about attribution, fact-checking
and verification that greatly
increased their risks of error but
had little or nothing to do with
protecting Jackie’s position,”
the report found.
Jackie’s lawyer, Palma Pustil-
nik, told The Associated Press
on Monday that “we are not
making any comment at all at
this time.”
University President Teresa
A. Sullivan said the article hurt
efforts to fight sexual violence,
tarred the school’s reputation,
and falsely accused some stu-
dents “of heinous, criminal acts
and falsely depicted others as
indifferent to the suffering of
their classmate.”
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