Facebook Forces NYT to Quietly Delete Unflattering Reference to Sheryl Sandberg
My main argument for incompetence vs. malice is not necessarily that the NYT is too good to be corruptible&#x2F;pressured, but because the purported gain (in favor of FB) is so small.<p>Let&#x27;s assume the NYT can be influenced to change&#x2F;kill stories. After all, the Obama administration was able to get the NYT to delay&#x2F;suppress stories on national security grounds [0], and this doesn&#x27;t count all the stories that have been starved because of discouragement&#x2F;apathy by editors.<p>But these are stories that have been stopped before they saw the light of day. This reference to Sandberg was published in a widely-publicized (i.e. banner breaking news headline on nytimes.com) breaking news story. To censor it for any reason is going to be a difficult and embarrassing <i>and noticeable</i> decision, and one that is going to piss off someone in the editorial chain (e.g. the reporter, or her editor).<p>So if Sandberg has the ability to pressure the NYT to revoke this reference, <i>why would she do it now</i>? The story is already a major clusterfuck for Facebook because it ties the abrupt dismissal of Facebook&#x27;s <i>entire security team</i> to allegations about Russian&#x2F;CA malfeasance on FB&#x27;s platform. How much face does Sandberg save when the entire company is eating shit, with Sandberg at the helm and being conspicuously absent from making a public statement?<p>If Sandberg had editorial power, don&#x27;t you think she would&#x27;ve exercised it by having prior review of the entire story? If the NYT editors were so afraid of her that they&#x27;d cave in to pressure to retroactively edit a story in her favor, don&#x27;t you think they would&#x27;ve brought this story to her attention <i>before publishing it as a breaking news item</i> and spreading it all over Twitter?<p>NYT famously has one of the most anal-retentive social media policies among all media organizations. If Sandberg had real influence, NYT reporters would not be tweeting this kind of stuff about her:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;sheeraf&#x2F;status&#x2F;975899584550465537" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;sheeraf&#x2F;status&#x2F;975899584550465537</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;MikeIsaac&#x2F;status&#x2F;975793549076611072" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;MikeIsaac&#x2F;status&#x2F;975793549076611072</a><p>FWIW, the author of the NYT article in question has responded to the claims made by the submitted Law &amp; Crime article:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;nicoleperlroth&#x2F;status&#x2F;976156184909553664" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;nicoleperlroth&#x2F;status&#x2F;976156184909553664</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;nicoleperlroth&#x2F;status&#x2F;976157825331216384" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;nicoleperlroth&#x2F;status&#x2F;976157825331216384</a><p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wnyc.org&#x2F;story&#x2F;nyt-reporter-james-risen-reporting-during-war-terror&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wnyc.org&#x2F;story&#x2F;nyt-reporter-james-risen-reportin...</a>