Loren Thompson's "ill-mannered rant":

by Craig Hooper on April 10, 2010

The Lexington Institute’s tired and overused “source”, Loren Thompson, might find that the following paragraph sounds awfully familiar:order cialis

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“…We all recognize what the main problem is with blogs. The barriers to entry are so low that almost anyone with a laptop can start one, and it’s hard to sort out the good ones from the tendentious nonsense. For every interesting, competent [editors note: and I might add, profitable] one like [insidedefense.com], there are dozens of ill-mannered rants masquerading as insight…”

That was Dr. Loren, Ph.D, announcing his entry into the blogging world.

Dr. Loren said he was “trying a different approach” that was “long on facts — especially little known, useful facts — and short on opinions,”–used his blog to go after Insidedefense.com this week…and, well, let’s just say Dr. Loren does a pretty good ill-mannered rant. (Ares’ Bill Sweetman sums up the flame war here.)

In short, Dr. Loren attacked Insidedefense.com’s JSF reporting by Jason Sherman. Loren thought Jason–who was reporting from his “distant listening post in New York City” didn’t have enough access to discover the real (pro-JSF, pro-Lockheed) truth, saying:

Reporters often get

into such situations when they are covering beats remotely and only have a handful of useful sources. There’s a tendency to write the story the way the source wants to see it, for fear that the source might go away if you don’t. But at some point, the one-sidedness of the reporting that results begins to raise questions about journalistic ethics, and now other reporters are starting to raise red flags. This is a sore point with me because for years people have been casting aspersions at whatever I write about the F-35 simply because I am a consultant to Lockheed. However, I also advise many of Lockheed’s competitors, and it’s ridiculous to believe that the New York Times or Reuters would keep calling me if I was producing biased, misleading material.

Gosh.

I wonder what Christopher Drew, a New York Times Reporter who seems to love using Dr. Loren as a JSF source (five times since June 2009), might think about this? Drew being a reporter “covering beats remotely” at that “distant listening post” in New York City and all…

Let’s help Drew find new “go-to” sources– Email Drew at the link!

Look…Any reporter who uses Dr. Loren Thompson, Ph.D., as a source contributes directly to Dr. Loren’s bottom line. Stop using Loren Thompson as a source and Loren will have very little value as a defense consultant.

Without access to media little ‘ole Dr. Loren had best just go to the beach and, um, blog.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

David June 15, 2011 at 3:43 pm

Also, please read the comments to his latest rant; they confirm my previous comment.

http://blogs.forbes.com/beltway/2011/05/31/the-case-against-spacex-part-ii/

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David June 15, 2011 at 3:20 pm

Hi,

I met Dr. Thompson at a party a few years ago and at the time he struck me as an opportunist; a recent article in Forbes in which he attempted to discredit the SpaceX – a commercial launch provider provide a critical step towards the development of an American alternative to the Russian Soyuz, confirms my suspensions. Please read the SpaceX response to his latest rant:

http://blogs.forbes.com/bruceupbin/2011/05/24/spacex-responds-to-forbes-contributor-loren-thompson/

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