Jeff Gerth Blames <em>NYTimes</em> Editors For Whitewater "Mistakes"

Responding grudgingly to critics of his Whitewater reporting, Gerth in Her Way points his finger at Times editors and blames them for nearly ruining his Clinton exposé. Fifteen years after it was published, Gerth now acknowledges that much to his "dismay," the Whitewater article was riddled with "a number of mistakes" caused by editors who had "rewritten" his article. The unsettling revelation, buried in a Her Way endnote, raises even more questions about Gerth, the Times, and their Whitewater misadventure.

Why fret about articles printed 15 years ago? Because it's impossible to understand the Clinton presidency without understanding Whitewater, as well as the skewed media environment that spawned the phony scandal. The context also helps in terms of judging Gerth's current reporting on Hillary Clinton.

Read the full Media Matters column here.