Genuinely Good News!
From Ryan Tate:
Pitchman Ben Stein Gets "Economist" Ben Stein Fired at the New York Times: Ben Stein's TV ads for a scuzzy "free" credit product have finally caught up to him: The New York Times has fired Stein as a Sunday business columnist for violating ethics guidelines. Stein was pilloried online for his endorsement of the bait-and-switch operation, which offers a free credit score but charges an outrageous $30 per month to see the credit report behind the score. As Reuters blogger Felix Salmon pointed out, consumers can get a free online report under federal law.
The Times' issue, though, is that Stein has violated its ethics policy, which states "it is an inherent conflict for a journalist to perform public relations work, paid or unpaid."... It's surprising that it hasn't come up until now; Stein has been a regular contributor to the Times for four years.... A tipster informed us this morning that Stein had been given the boot, and Times spokesperson Catherin Mathis has confirmed.... Stein retains his career as a sometime TV pundit (Fox News, CBS Sunday Morning, CNBC), his column on Yahoo! Finance and his "diary" at American Spectator, the once-fearsome conservative journal. He also has any residuals from his reviled anti-evolution movie.
