David Letterman smears 14-year-old girl; *CBS*, New York Times cover for him

This site tries to avoid the Outrage du Jour, preferring instead to concentrate on topics that are actually important.

However, this one is pretty outrageous. On last night's David Letterman show, he "joked" about Alex Rodriguez "knocking up" Sarah Palin's daughter during a Yankees game that Palin had attended. That's bad, but what's worse is that the daughter who was at the game was the 14-year-old Willow.

And, via this, the New York Times is doing their part. Their "Laugh Lines" blog, "from the editors of the Week in Review", reprints the Palin segment of Letterman's bit (link). However, they leave off the Willow bit.

UPDATE: Earlier, this post blamed the censoring of the Willow comments on the NYT. However, from this:

CBS removed it from the transcript it makes available to media, including the New York Times, which publishes Letterman’s opening monologue on its blog site.

And, in comments at the NYT link above, an editor has included the following note:

From the editors: The transcript we received omitted the joke referred to in the comments below, presumably for reasons of taste. Had the transcript included the joke, we would not have run it for reasons of taste. Monologue jokes are routinely edited for taste and brevity.

They admit that the transcripts they receive are reviewed. While there certainly is the possibility that those who reviewed it weren't aware of what was left it, it doesn't seem highly likely. They also admit that they can choose not to print something. While CBS share the brunt of responsibility for trying to hide what Letterman says, it's also fair to attribute a smaller share to the NYT.

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 20:59 · · Importance: 1