Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

New York Times Hires Ex-Editor Accused Of Whitewashing Disgraced ABC Producer’s Child Porn Scandal

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The New York Times hired the former editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone who was accused of whitewashing the child porn scandal surrounding former ABC News producer James Gordon Meek.

Noah Shachtman, who served as Rolling Stone’s editor-in-chief from 2021 to 2024, will be a contributing writer for the Times’ opinion section. While top editor of Rolling Stone, the outlet published a story in October 2022 suggesting the raid of Meek’s home involved his work as a national security investigative producer and classified information found on his laptop, even though it was tied to child pornography, NPR reported in March 2023.

NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik reported that Shachtman removed any mention of child pornography from the draft written by Tatiana Siegel, the Rolling Stone reporter who broke the story on the raid, after she originally included that detail in her story.

Shachtman reportedly viewed Meek as a friendly peer prior to his arrest, according to NPR. Meek was sentenced to six years in prison in September 2023 for transportation and possession of child pornography.

“In September, Siegel learned details of the raid from Meek’s neighbors, yet she felt the story was languishing. At a staff meeting late that month, Shachtman asked her what she was working on. She reminded him,” Folkenflik wrote. “The next week, Shachtman stepped in to edit Siegel’s story. It was rare for him to do so for her work.”

Shachtman allegedly changed Siegel’s draft “to remove all suggestions that the investigation was not related to Meek’s reporting,” NPR reported. He also instructed that the article’s featured image not include a photograph of Meek.

The Times stated that Shachtman is a “skilled and experienced reporter and editor” and they look forward to his contributions, according to Fox News Digital. The Times did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.