Adam Liptak And The NY Times: Journalism Gerrymandering

Adam Liptak and/or his New York Times editor did some interesting journalism gerrymandering on Sunday, February 19th.

Liptak's Samuel A. Alito, Jr. article stated that Justice Alito has hired, "...Adam G. Ciongoli, a former top aide to Attorney General John Ashcroft and an architect of the Bush administration's legal strategy after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to be one of his law clerks."

Liptak calls this a "startling development" and quotes several legal experts. The sixth graph quotes a Stanford professor who calls the appointment, "...a lapse in judgment."

The message we readers infer is that the once-docile Alito has loosed the dogs of Ashcroft.

But wait! Look way down in the article, at the 10th paragraph.

My gosh, Ciongoli clerked for Alito on the Third Circuit in 1995 and 1996. They know each other. He once worked for Alito and will be working for him again.

This is a fact-critical piece of the story that should have been placed in the lead or the second graph where it belonged.

So, who at the Times decided not to let the facts stand in the way of a good story?