Snitching reporter from NYT sees bid to censor Cedars-Sinai for COVID-19 light research blow up in her face

So here's the doings of the New York Times' Davey Alba, the former Buzzfeed hack, Ali Watkins, turned "technology and disinformation" reporter who proudly announced that she'd "reported" medical researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, one of the most prestigious medical institutions on the planet, to the YouTube site police, for their YouTube video showing how they had conducted UV light research as a means of killing off viruses within the body, something that had been brought up by President Trump a few days ago.

I contacted YouTube about this video, which is being shared on tons of replies on Twitter & on Facebook, by people asserting that it backs up Trump's idea throwing it out there that UV rays kill coronavirus.

Worse still, instead of reporting that the researchers said that the viruses killed include the novel coronavirus, along with a host of other plagues, her idea of 'reporting' was of the Stasi kind. If she were interested in the real kind, she'd have learned that the medical institution's research has been going on for years, well before President Trump brought up the possibility that maybe light treatments could be researched as a means of killing the disease. It turns out that was already being done and Trump was late to the party.

Her Twitter site is absolutely loaded with instances of her "reporting" things to authorities and then announcing it afterward.

Trump said it, so the years of advanced research simply had to be reported to the authorities and shut down. YouTube's Katzenjammer Kidz of course went along with the ignorant, Trump-deranged Times-snitch's recommendations, and Cedars-Sinai has presumably been taught a lesson about trying to conduct life-saving research.

New York Times Reassigns Reporter in Leak Case

By Michael M. Grynbaum July 3, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/03/business/media/ali-watkins-times-reporter-memo.html

Ali Watkins, who had been covering federal law enforcement in Washington, will be assigned a mentor and moved to a new beat in New York.
Ali Watkins, the New York Times reporter whose email and phone records were secretly seized by the Trump administration, will be transferred out of the newspaper’s Washington bureau and reassigned to a new beat in New York, The Times said on Tuesday.

Ms. Watkins, 26, had been the subject of an internal review by The Times after revelations that she had a three-year affair with a high-ranking aide on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which she covered for several news organizations before joining The Times in December.

The aide, James Wolfe, 57, who handled classified material for the committee, was arrested last month as part of a leak investigation in which the Justice Department also seized Ms. Watkins’s communications, an unusually aggressive move against a journalist that prompted an outcry from press advocates. Mr. Wolfe was charged with lying to the F.B.I. but not with leaking classified information; he has pleaded not guilty.

[Read more about how Ms. Watkins’s relationship with Mr. Wolfe rattled the world of Washington journalists.]

Ms. Watkins, who had been covering federal law enforcement at The Times, will be assigned a mentor and moved to a new beat in New York “for a fresh start,” the paper’s executive editor, Dean Baquet, wrote in a memo to the newsroom.

“We hold our journalists and their work to the highest standards,” Mr. Baquet wrote. “We are giving Ali an opportunity to show that she can live up to them. I believe she can.” He added: “I also believe that The Times must be a humane place that can allow for second chances when there are mitigating circumstances.”

In a statement on Tuesday, Ms. Watkins wrote: “I respect and understand the Times’s review and agree that I should have handled aspects of my past relationships and disclosures differently. I sincerely regret putting The Times in a difficult position and am very grateful for the support I’ve received from my editors and colleagues here. I also appreciate the review’s conclusion that my reporting has been fact-based and accurate.”

The story of Ms. Watkins’s affair rattled Washington journalists and raised questions about prosecutorial overreach and journalistic ethics. In his 575-word memo, Mr. Baquet acknowledged the complexity and sensitivity of Ms. Watkins’s situation.

“As an institution, we abhor the actions of the government in this case,” he wrote, calling the Justice Department’s seizure of her records “an attempt to interfere with the work of journalists by an administration whose leader has called the media ‘the enemy of the people.’” Other Times journalists have noticed sources “clamming up because of this assault of on how we do our jobs,” he wrote.

But, Mr. Baquet added, “We are troubled by Ali’s conduct, particularly while she was employed by other news organizations. For a reporter to have an intimate relationship with someone he or she covers is unacceptable.”

Ms. Watkins, who has not written for The Times since Mr. Wolfe’s arrest, was notified in February by the Justice Department that her email and phone records had been seized. On the advice of her personal lawyer, she did not inform her editors in The Times’s Washington bureau, and only revealed the information last month when her colleagues were about to report on Mr. Wolfe’s arrest. Mr. Baquet wrote that those actions “put our news organization in a difficult position.”

The government’s pursuit of Ms. Watkins — who at one point was confronted in a bar by a Customs and Border Protection officer, who seemed to have gained access to her private travel records — has outraged press advocates. But journalists were also unsettled by her violation of a bedrock norm of their profession: avoiding romantic involvement with a person she covered.

Reporters at The Times, and at other news organizations, have expressed unease over Ms. Watkins’s conduct. Women in particular say the episode has made them more vulnerable to an ugly and false stereotype often lobbed at female reporters, that they exchange sex for information.

Ms. Watkins met Mr. Wolfe while reporting on the intelligence committee as a 22-year-old intern at McClatchy Newspapers, where her coverage led to a series of stories named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.

She has said the relationship did not turn romantic until after those stories ran. During the relationship, she continued to cover the Senate Intelligence Committee for The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed News and Politico, telling editors at those organizations that she did not rely on Mr. Wolfe as a source. Last fall, after Ms. Watkins and Mr. Wolfe had broken up, she briefly dated another staff member at the intelligence committee, friends said.

Although her disclosures varied in detail, none of her editors barred her from covering the intelligence committee, or explicitly told her that the relationship was inappropriate.

Mr. Baquet echoed that point, writing, “As she started her career, I believe she was not well served by some editors elsewhere who failed to respond appropriately to her disclosures about her relationships.”

He added that leaders at The Times “also bear some responsibility: our inquiry found that during the hiring process she disclosed aspects of her past relationships to some editors.”

The Times, Mr. Baquet wrote, intends “to tighten our job candidate screening process to ensure that significant questions make their way to the newsroom leadership for full discussion — which did not happen in this case.”

[Read Mr. Baquet’s memo.]

The Times has dealt with several sensitive personnel issues in recent months. Glenn Thrush, a political reporter in Washington, was temporarily suspended, and then removed from the White House beat, after allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior. The paper’s metro editor, Wendell Jamieson, resigned in April after he was accused of inappropriate behavior by at least three female employees of The Times.

NEW YORK TIMES HEAD EDITOR DEAN BAQUET ON ALI WATKINS

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/65-dean-baquet-ali-watkins-memo/8c561cd6318a885ae85e/optimized/full.pdf

A Note From Dean: Update on Ali Watkins

Dear Colleagues,

We have concluded an internal review of the F.B.I. leak investigation involving Ali Watkins, a
reporter in the Washington bureau. Typically, we would not comment on our findings concerning
a sensitive personnel matter, but given the extraordinary nature of the case, the public interest
issues it raises and the importance these issues may have for the profession, we felt we should
share our thinking with you.
As an institution, we abhor the actions of the government in this case. Without notice,
investigators rummaged through years of a journalist’s phone and email records, an intrusion
that puts First Amendment protections at risk and violated Justice Department guidelines that
have bipartisan support. An undercover border patrol agent, who appears to have illicitly
accessed her confidential travel records, also tried to pressure her into spying on other reporters
and their sources.
It is worth noting that prosecutors were not looking into leaks of documents involving warfare or
life-and-death secrets. Ali was reporting about an inquiry into whether one of the president’s
campaign advisers had been approached by Russian agents in 2013.
As we learn more, it is clear that the government leak investigation was an attempt to interfere
with the work of journalists by an administration whose leader has called the media “the enemy
of the people” and has pledged an unprecedented crackdown on disclosures about government
activities, threatening to undermine reporters’ ability to inform the public. Times reporters have
already noted that sources are clamming up because of this assault on how we do our jobs.
But this case has also raised questions about the line between private and professional life. We
are troubled by Ali’s conduct, particularly while she was employed by other news organizations.
For a reporter to have an intimate relationship with someone he or she covers is unacceptable.
It violates our written standards and the norms of journalism. Additionally, on the advice of her
personal lawyer, she did not disclose to The Times that her records had been seized months
ago, which put our news organization in a difficult position.
Ali is a talented journalist, and no one has challenged the accuracy of her reporting. She has
also made some poor judgments. But as she started her career, I believe she was not well
served by some editors elsewhere who failed to respond appropriately to her disclosures about
her relationships. We also bear some responsibility: Our inquiry found that during the hiring
process she disclosed aspects of her past relationships to some editors at The Times.
Ali was forthcoming and cooperative in our internal review — which included interviews with
people inside The Times newsroom and at her previous workplaces, as well as an examination
of her stories — and she understands the gravity of her mistakes.
After careful examination and discussion, I have decided to reassign her to a position in New
York for a fresh start, where she will be closely supervised and have a senior mentor. We also
intend to tighten our job candidate screening process to ensure that significant questions make
their way to the newsroom leadership for full discussion — which did not happen in this case.
We hold our journalists and their work to the highest standards. We are giving Ali an opportunity
to show that she can live up to them. I believe she can. I also believe that The Times must be a
humane place that can allow for second chances when there are mitigating circumstances.

— Dean

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