JOHN RAY SAYS HE HAS CORROBORATION of the story about thuggish behavior by the New York Times’ “security” people in Baghdad.

In response to an earlier post on this topic, a journalist asked me if I thought the NYT shouldn’t have bodyguards. No, I just think that they shouldn’t act as thugs, as it seems they have. I also think it’s funny that stories like this get no attention, except from bloggers. Journalists deal with a lot of unsavory characters in situations like this, where it’s not unusual to hire local gunmen as “security,” and they distance themselves from their behavior in ways that they would never allow government or military officials to do. Then they black out reporting on these stories, because it’s in their professional interest to do so. I don’t think that will work as well now that there are alternative channels of communication to the outside world.