By John Haskins

The Boston Globe's suspension of Jeff Jacoby, its lone conservative columnist on an ultraliberal staff, has brought cries of "foul play" from observers in the news business who see the move as an attempt to control the free expression of ideas. 

"Jeff's enemies are trying to destroy his ability to practice his craft as a journalist," observed Binyamin Jolkovsky, editor of the Jewish World Review. "They are attempting to destroy him professionally." 

- Carlos Ball of the Agencia Interamericana de Prensa Economica

Chip Ford of Citizens for Limited Taxation said, "Isn't it 'ironic' that the Globe's only conservative columnist has been 'taken out' until the November election. What a coincidence." Ford said that some activists intend to halt their newspaper subscriptions for four months ... or until Jeff Jacoby is reinstated. "I wonder if the liberals will love this boycott as much as they embrace their own," he said.

In what some see as a cynical use of a thinly veiled pretext, the Globe cited Jacoby's failure to mention, in a recent column about the signers of the Declaration of Independence, that his material was not based on original historical research. 

But Jacoby maintains that the information is within the public domain - in effect, "American legend" - and so obviously a subject of two centuries of writing that it seemed to him unnecessary to consume valuable space identifying specific sources from a potentially endless list. Nevertheless, in retrospect, Jacoby says, he wishes he had protected himself by doing just that. 

Richard Gilman, the Globe's publisher, and editorial-page editor Renee Loth accused Jacoby of "serious journalistic misconduct." Yet, the Globe's editors, who presumably read the article before it went to press, could have averted the entire situation by simply asking Jacoby to identify sources for any facts they felt required citations. 

"This suspension is poisoning the good name I have spent 13 years in journalism building up," Jacoby told Massachusetts News. Nor is it only conservatives who are coming to his support. Dan Kennedy, media critic for the far-left Boston Phoenix, wrote that "Jacoby made a small, mindless mistake," yet "is being punished out of all proportion to his offence." The Washington Times quoted Constantine Von Hoffman, son of the liberal Nicholas Von Hoffman and a former co-worker of Jacoby's at the Boston Herald, who called the Globe's move as "the worst kind of stupid, knee-jerk reaction."

Jacoby, an observant Jew, has previously taken blows for falling out-of-step with the Globe's ideological drummer. In 1997, Jacoby was condemned for pointing out in a column that Christians who believe that homosexuality is immoral and/or unhealthy do not deserve to be compared to Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members. Two of Jacoby's editors, both homosexuals, attempted to block publication of the column and Jacoby was publicly labeled "homophobic" by the Globe's ombudsman, Jack Thomas. In a column featured prominently on the op-ed page, Thomas said that Jacoby's column was "offensive" and "a high price to pay for freedom of the press." Inevitably, Jacoby wrote at the time, such an attack had a "chilling" effect on him. 

Such bizarre incidents cause many to feel that New England's most powerful newspaper is trying to drag the public toward a suffocating and sometimes intolerant political correctness. On the recent suspension of Jacoby, the National Review On-Line wrote, "It would be easier to take the Globe's action against Jacoby at face value if a) the paper were not hyper-liberal and (partisan) and b) Jacoby had not previously come under fire there for his conservative views."

Adds Binyamin Jolkovsky, editor of the Jewish World Review.com, "It is no secret that some of his co-workers at the Globe wanted him purged....And as Rod Dreher recently illustrated in the Weekly Standard, the Globe has clearly chosen sides in this culture war."

This time the Globe's strong medicine for free thinking journalists has even raised eyebrows internationally. "I was mistaken in thinking that what often takes place in banana republics could never happen to a U.S. journalist working for the mainstream American press," said Carlos Ball of the Agencia Interamericana de Prensa Economica web site, also quoted in the Times. "I'm afraid that his real sin is not being a socialist at the Kremlin-on-the-Charles." 
Jacoby and his family face four months without his salary and, it would seem, an uncertain future as a conservative writer at a powerful newspaper. Radical editors at the Globe seem more intent than ever on using their clout to remake the New England public in their own image. Yet Jacoby hasn't given up hope of a reconciliation.

"The Globe is big enough to admit when it makes a mistake," he told Massachusetts News. "After all, it runs corrections on page two every day. This harsh punishment of me for what was at worst an unintentional oversight ought to be corrected.

"I miss my readers and I have heard from many, many people who miss my column. It's time for the Globe, on reflection, to do the right thing and let me get back to work."

Jacoby received over 1500 email messages of support on the Monday after his suspension was announced until his Internet site finally had to shut down the overcrowded mailbox.
 

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