Last Friday June 24th, under pressure from New York Times reporter Jennifer Preston, the CEO of BlogTalkRadio Alan Levy was directly involved in taking one of my BlogTalkRadio shows offline, removing 20 seconds from the show and then putting the edited show back online. The section removed dealt with the mental state of Jenny George, the woman that has been confirmed to have called me on June 19th. The removal of this material was done with some of my assistance but not at my request and the specific material that was edited out was picked by Ms. Preston.
I remain a fan and customer of BlogTalkRadio and don’t hold them responsible for succumbing to pressure from a reporter with one of the largest and most influential newspapers in the world. Nobody asked me not to reveal this information and I hope that my doing so will have no effect on my current or future relationship with BlogTalkRadio or Mr. Levy.
I also have no reason to believe that anyone else at The New York was involved in this decision.
Should any of these facts be called into question, I have some written correspondence and an eyewitness who can confirm this story.
Why is it Preston’s business? This is one thing you should be hopping mad about.
Ditto? On koam’s question.
Why on earth would this be even considered for a moment as something that ought to have been done?
Care to make a transcript of the removed 20 seconds. I’m surprised that BTR went alomg with this - and surprised you assisted and kept quiet till now. What does JP not want us to know?
You get pissed at a bunch of stuff. But this is something you SHOULD be pissed about and it should be covered by the MSM.
I think this statement may add to the explanation of some of the terse, partial responses we’ve been receiving in recent days. Glad that it’s out.
The thing is, Lee never directly heard any remark from the UCLA writing professor or his wife regarding his former pupil/client’s mental stability or lack of it.
He characterized Jen’s statements to him about it. She might think he did not describe what she said to him accurately or in context. She might worry about her source facing exposure to embarrassment or even legal liability about something mentioned in confidence or something she misunderstood or overstated or Lee misunderstood or overstated. The NYT has deep pockets and always concerns about liability and protecting sources.
I also think Preston was trending away from Lee’s solutions and did not want to have any aspersions cast on an uninvolved character. Lees caller is involved, but who IS Lee’s caller?
Lee’s caller might only have been pretending to be the student.
Why is Jennifer Preston protecting Jenny George? Reporters go to such lengths primarily to protect sources. What’s the line that Jennifer Preston wanted to push? -That there were a hoard of right-wing trolls out to entrap Weiner. What does Jenny George have, if Lee is right? -Conversations through her sock puppets with various right-leaning people involved in #Weinergate.
Cha-ching. Oh, Pat, don’t say anything compromising, you’re at risk of being stung.
It’s coming together.
JG MA calls Lee. He describes the call as panicked, teary, scared, worried, perhaps troubled?. I forget what else but it’s on radio podcast.
Lee sets up call between JG MA and Preston right away.
Maybe Preston also gets the panicky vibe from JG MA too? dunno. my conjecture. seems possible.
Preston gets name of Prof from JG MA.
Both Preston & Lee talk to Prof/Prof Wife to confirm JG MA is real person who exists & they’ve met.
My conjecture: Perhaps Preston intimates to Prof that on phone JG MA might be a little troubled (a term Lee uses with some compassion)? (conjecture). Asks Prof if he wants to refute that. Prof doesn’t refute…count to 10, no objection. (remember how they did it in “All The President’s Men?”) (or maybe prof says more) (conjecture)
Prof does not talk to Lee about JG MA’s mental issues.
Preston discusses this topic of Prof opinion of troubled JG MA to Lee after. Preston assumes Lee won’t repeat that. (conjecture)
Lee says it on the Radio show.
Preston calls Lee and asks for it to be removed from radio. Lee says I dunno how that can be done. Preston says easy, I know the CEO.
CEO makes it happen. Preston chooses the 20 seconds to remove without Lee’s objection.
It’s gone now. Lee issues statement.