'New Republic' Scribe Not Sure His Story Prompted 'NY Times' To Run McCain Piece

By: Joe Strupp Gabriel Sherman of The New Republic, whose online piece today detailed months of backroom maneuvers that led to the bombshell New York Times story on John McCain, does not believe his piece prompted the Times to run its story early.

"That is the McCain campaign spin and we never set out to force the Times' hand or preempt the Times' piece," Sherman, a former New York Observer scribe, told E&P. "We were curious why the Times came close to publishing it and sat on it. We didn't try to force anything."

Sherman's story, which was posted just hours after the Times' story broke, offered a lengthy tale of the Times' efforts dating back to November 2007 to report on McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman.

Sherman's piece contends that the Times had several internal battles over publishing the piece, which has been criticized for its use of anonymous sources and weeks of delays following a report in December that the story was in the works.

Sherman reported today that he began looking into the back story on Feb. 4. Some have speculated that the Times posted its piece online Wednesday evening in anticipation of the New Republic story.

"They are The New York Times, they make decisions on when they are going to publish," Sherman said. "I have no way of knowing other than that we did experience some [Times] push back. We have no way of knowing if that pushed them to run their piece or not. We thought it was a compelling media story."

Sherman's piece also claimed that Marilyn Thompson, one of the four Times reporters on the story, left the paper recently for The Washington Post in part over frustration with the delays. "According to sources, Thompson became increasingly dispirited with the delays, and worked around the clock through the Christmas vacation on the piece, only to see the investigation sputter," he wrote.

Thompson today denied that the McCain story was the cause. In an e-mail to Radar Online, she stated: "I consider that assertion to be incorrect. The Post offer allowed me a chance to return to management and guide stories and reporting that I care about. If anything, this story made me realize I need to return to management."

Asked about Thompson's denial, Sherman said: "I'm sure that The Post wooed her with the opportunity to tackle some projects. It is also clear there were some serious frustrations that came out of this piece."

Times editors have not responded directly to E&P inquiries for comment. In a statement today, Times Executive Editor Bill Keller said, "On the timing, our policy is, we publish stories when they are ready. 'Ready' means the facts have been nailed down to our satisfaction, the subjects have all been given a full and fair chance to respond, and the reporting has been written up with all the proper context and caveats. This story was no exception. It was a long time in the works. It reached my desk late Tuesday afternoon. After a final edit and a routine check by our lawyers, we published it."

Sherman declined to comment on the Times' decision to publish the story, saying: "I don?t want to pass judgment on their decision. Only the editor and reporters know why. They are all professionals and immensely talented."