Petrelis Files

Dear Friends,

On March 3 I posted a letter to the New York Times' public editor, Daniel Okrent, about concerns I have regarding what I believe are conflicts of interests for the paper's medical reporter, Lawrence K. Altman, on the forums section of the paper's web site.

As you can see below, the transcript of a voice mail message left on my telephone this morning, the editor for the Times' web site has removed my letter because the paper is conducting an investigation into the important issues I have raised. Of course, I eagerly await a further response from the paper, which will be posted on http://www.mpetrelis.blogspot.com/, once I receive it.

Also, below is a copy of a post I received from Daniel Okrent.

Regards,
Michael Petrelis
San Francisco, CA
Ph: 415-621-6267
Email: mpetrelis@aol.com


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Subj: Re: NYT's Altman's many conflicts of interest
Date: 3/3/2004 1:03:36 PM Central Standard Time
From: public@nytimes.com
To: MPetrelis@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)



Dear Mr. Petrelis,

For at least three good reasons, I'm not involved in personnel issues at The Times: personnel matters should remain private; staff members shouldn't have to worry about my opinions; my concern is what I read in the paper, and not who puts it there. As a result, I've forwarded messages concerning the recent termination of a part-time correspondent in upstate New York to newsroom management. I am told by the editors that clarification will be sent to anyone who requests it from executive-editor@nytimes.com.

Yours sincerely,
Daniel Okrent
Public Editor



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Transcript of voice mail message for Michael Petrelis
Thursday, March 4, 2004 8:52 AM (Pacific time)

"Mr. Petrelis, my name is Len Apcar, A-P-C-A-R, I'm the editor-in-chief the New York Times on the web. I have noticed your posting at the public editor's forum about Larry Altman and we have taken note of it, and it has been referred to the standards editor at the New York Times, who is looking into it and investigating it.

"While that is going on, until we determine what exactly Larry's standing in these various groups is and what this amounts to, I would, I'm going to remove the posting from the forum until we can respond to it as an institution, as a paper and a web site.

"So I would appreciate it, I wanted to tell you that, I would appreciate your patience while we look into these questions and points that you've raised. They're very valid and I appreciate that, but I would like you not to repost the letter until this matter is, is settled by the Times.

"If you have any questions or comments, please call me at 646-698-8132. You can also reach me through an 800 number, at 1-800-698-8009, and then dial in my extension, which is 8132.

"Thank you, very much. Bye, bye."