The Case of the Missing Mayor: Journalists Falter When the Word 'Privacy' Is Invoked

Wolper, Allan, Editor & Publisher

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SNOW SWEPT THROUGH NEW YORK'S NEIGHBORHOODS, stranding emergency vehicles on unplowed streets. People were trapped in their homes. Garbage piled up on sidewalks, an invitation to the city s rat population. It was Mayor Michael Bloomberg's worst political moment. He blew it. All because he wouldn't say where he was when one of the worst storms in New York history began strangling his city the day after Christmas.

Bloomberg didn't even waver after The New York Times published a story with overwhelming circumstantial evidence that he had been in Bermuda at his warm-weather retreat when the flakes started falling.

The mayor did what high-profile politicians always seem to do when they're asked to be accountable: invoke their right to privacy. Since the public is unsure about how much of a public official's life should be off limits, …

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Publication information: Article title: The Case of the Missing Mayor: Journalists Falter When the Word 'Privacy' Is Invoked. Contributors: Wolper, Allan - Author. Magazine title: Editor & Publisher. Volume: 144. Issue: 3 Publication date: March 2011. Page number: 24+. © 2002 Editor & Publisher. COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale Group.

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