NYT suspends Crouse for failing to disclose Michael Phelps book deal

Wondering if she already has an exit strategy and doesn't care? Because this is a staggering breach of ethics.

 

I don't know if my perspective has changed since I'm no longer in journalism, or because I've been out of it for a while. There was a time when alarm bells would have rung loudly for me about this, and I might have been up in arms. But, for some reason, now, I'm not.

I'm tending to want more information from Crouse, regarding what the book is to include, how the deal came about, if/how it might impact her availability for work for the NYT, and her reasons for wanting to do the book, and if she was fully aware of NYT policy regarding writers and co-writing/ghostwriting, why did she agree to do it, and, in her mind, what did it mean for her future?

Because when I saw this thread, my very first thought was that, "She was probably planning to leave the NYT once the Olympics were over, anyway."

I also don't see as much of a problem with this as I once might have perhaps just because it is Karen Crouse. As ChrisLong mentioned, she is among the most decent people in the industry. She may have broken NYT rules/guidelines. But whether that was done knowingly or unknowingly, it, for some reason, doesn't make me question her integrity. From what I know of her, I would still think she could and would write the difficult, less-positive things about Phelps when/where appropriate.

And beyond any integrity issues (or lack thereof), as the link that Alma posted referenced, Crouse also is one the premier swimming reporters/writers not just in this country, but in the world, and she has great knowledge and experience of Phelps, and a long history with him already, whether there was a book connecting them, or not.

That's part and parcel of being close to the national/international swimming scene, and a significant part of why she was on the NYT's Olympics coverage team. If she's going to write a book, it actually makes sense for her to do one about and/or with Phelps.

 

Then it would have helped her to inform her bosses instead of them finding out in a Sports Illustrated article.

 

-- Karen was a competitive swimmer at USC.
-- Knowing her, I seriously doubt she would orchestrate her own ouster if she was planning to leave the NYT. She would have been above board and done it properly.
-- I am surprised this went down the way it did. But on a similar vein, wasn't Woodward saving stuff for his Trump book that could have been considered news to the WaPo?

 

I can agree with that.

Would they have let her do it, and keep her job, though? And go to the Olympics, and cover Phelps there?

That's why I think maybe she was planning to leave the NYT after the Olympics (as Mngwa also suggested).

And perhaps not just for the NYT but for her book, Crouse wanted to go to the Olympics for the coverage of Phelps there -- kind of the closing chapter(s) for the book...

 

I don't think she was orchestrating anything with this. I don't think she'd want to be ousted/fired.

I could see her thinking of leaving the NYT after the Olympics, though, especially if she's got a solid major project in the works to focus on instead -- something that would be right in her wheelhouse, both in terms of her knowledge and experience, and the kind of personal/human-interest portrait type stuff in which she has always excelled.

 

The Times' code of ethics is pretty clear in what it expects of its reporters who write books.

Ethical Journalism

 

What do Judith Miller and Karen Crouse have in common?

My sense is the NYT is so horny for revenue that it wants a cut of what its help generates.

 

Had she been transparent about all of this, maybe that could have still happened.

She informs the NYT about the deal. She's prohibited from writing about Phelps for the paper, but maybe they allow her to cover women's swimming in Tokyo (which may have some of the better stories, anyway). And they allow her to use her time there to do anything she wants on Phelps for her book, so long as it doesn't conflict with her daily reporting.

In other words, there are a couple scenarios where this works out for her if she simply tells the NYT. She didn't, and now she's paying for it.

 

As Phelps is retired, it would have been easy to tell the NYT you had the book deal and removed from daily stories ABOUT HIM. Would not impact her ability to cover the Olympics, where Phelps is not swimming, at all.