Climbing the corporate ladder

Oddly, on a day I have written about NYT foreign correspondents using relatively short-term postings as rungs on the corporate ladder, this story from New York City.

As it turns out the man who climbed the NYT HQ today was not a foreign correspondent, but an author, David Malone, who had a book published in November 2005 called 'Bin Laden's Plan'.

It was apparently a publicity stunt.

To see if it works I'll be keeping an eye on his Amazon ranking which currently stands at: Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,579,173

Obviously no one wants to give fuel to this guy's fire, so I obviously will:

Here's a product description of 'Bin Laden's Plan' from Amazon.com:

Since the 9/11 attack, Al Qaeda has chosen to not attack the vulnerable American homeland in order to cement the transfer of war guilt to the United States. This strategic decision was a product of the marriage between Osama bin Laden's terrorist group and an American neo-conservative group, The Project for the New American Century, both of whose leaders had been attempting, covertly and separately, to provoke a unilateral American invasion of Iraq since the end of the Cold War as a first step to world domination. In pursuit of this shared objective, Bin Laden christened the marriage with an October surprise that facilitated the closely contested millennial election of the hawkish American group's foremost representatives, the Bush Administration. After nine months of Bush's presidency, Al Qaeda and an immaculately impregnated American administration gave birth to the march to war against Iraq when Bin Laden intentionally unleashed the Bush Administration's crusade in the Middle East on 9/11. The American occupation of Iraq would prove to be the greatest boon to Bin Laden's most vital war objective, the global recruitment coup of transferring guilt for the war to the United States. Al Qaeda supported President Bush's reelection in 2004 with another October surprise so that his administration would complete the global vilification of America that is intended to be the foundation of Bin Laden's messianic bid for world domination by nuclear terrorism.

Now AP, from whom the below article on www.iht.com was taken, spells AQ as 'al-Qaida'.

David Malone spells it as Al Qaeda.

The NYT spells it as: Al Qaeda.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaeda/index.html?8qa&scp=1-spot&sq=Al+Qaeda&st=nyt

Reuters spells it as Al Qaeda.

So who's on the job banging up these 'al-Qaida' AP stories on www.iht.com?

How does Robert Fisk spell it?

Here's the thing, on the subject of journalists' credibility: if I had to choose between the spelling of AP, Reuters, the NYT, the IHT or Robert Fisk, I'd go with the one used by Fisk. I don't need to check how Fisk spells it, that's not the point. The point is that on this important subject I have more faith in the reporting of Robert Fisk than I do that of David Malone or the NYT.

That can't be a good thing for the NYT can it?



Man arrested after climbing part of The New York Times' 52-story headquarters
NEW YORK: A man climbed part-way up The New York Times' 52-story headquarters, becoming the third person to scale the skyscraper in less than five weeks. Within hours, crews were working to remove dozens of ladder-like white ceramic rods from the building's lower facade to deter further stunts.
The climber, identified by police as David Malone, made it to the 11th floor of the Manhattan building before descending to a lower level where he spent hours making cell phone calls and talking to police. He was arrested about 5:30 a.m. (0930 GMT) Wednesday, police said.
At one point, the climber unfurled a banner on the "T" of the Times' sign that referred to Osama bin Laden, police said. Malone is the author of a book, "Bin Laden's Plan," that argues that Sept. 11 was part of a plot by al-Qaida to provoke the U.S. into invading Iraq, according to a book summary at Amazon.com.
Malone, 29, said news reports about the earlier climbs had inspired him to get publicity for his crusade against al-Qaida, and said those reports also provided him with a roadmap on how to do it, according to police.
On June 5, Renaldo Clarke and French daredevil Alain Robert separately climbed the Times building, which the newspaper company moved into last year. It is covered with slats that the men used to climb the tower like a ladder.
Modifications were made to the building and security was added after the other stunts. Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said the company was investigating how Wednesday's climber was able to overcome the additional obstacles, but she refused to discuss whether other measures were being put into place.
Dozens of police and firefighters responded about 1:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) Wednesday after the new climber was spotted, police said. Streets were closed off and an inflatable cushion was placed in front of the main entrance.
One of the calls the climber made was to a night editor at the Daily News, telling the editor he was trying to bring al-Qaida to the public's attention because Americans do not think the terrorist group is enough of a threat to national security, authorities said.
Police brought the Daily News editor to the scene, and hostage negotiators worked to get the climber down to the fifth floor so he could speak to the editor in person, said Police Department spokesman Paul Browne.
Malone was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center for evaluation and arrested on charges of reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. He was awaiting arraignment.
On June 5, both Robert and Clarke made it to the top and were charged with reckless endangerment, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.
The criminal case against Robert evaporated when grand jurors refused to indict him after hearing about his climbing experience and safeguards. He still faced a disorderly conduct citation, a far less serious charge.
After the grand jury refused to indict Robert, prosecutors said they were weighing how to proceed against Clarke.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/09/america/NA-US-Skyscraper-Climber.php








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