How Long Will Nicholas Kristof Continue to Profit From Sex Trafficking?

As I have noted a couple of times, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof holds Village Voice Media responsible for kidnapping, assault, sexual slavery, and the rape of underage prostitutes because its online classified ad service, Backpage.com, accepts "adult" ads. Last week he went even further in a column titled "Financiers and Sex Trafficking," accusing Goldman Sachs of complicity in these crimes because the investment bank held a 16 percent stake in Village Voice Media. "For more than six years Goldman has held a significant stake in a company notorious for ties to sex trafficking," Kristof wrote, "and it sat on the company's board for four of those years. There's no indication that Goldman or anyone else ever used its ownership to urge Village Voice Media to drop escort ads or verify ages." After Kristof started asking about the investment, he reported, Goldman Sachs "frantically" sold its shares in the company.

Playing off the Goldman Sachs column, Big Journalism blogger Joel Pollak applies Kristof's logic to Kristof's employer. The New York Times Company, Pollak notes, owns About.com, which carries ads for "escort services, strip clubs, and other forms of adult entertainment that Kristof has linked to the underworld of child sex trafficking." The Times "also owns a 49% stake in Metro Boston, a free daily newspaper with left-leaning coverage whose parent company also happens to make money from adult advertising."

The Times could defend the revenue from these ads by arguing that the services offered are supposed to involve consenting adults only, except that Kristof rejects that defense. "There's no doubt that many escort ads on Backpage are placed by consenting adults," he writes. "But it's equally clear that Backpage plays a major role in the trafficking of minors or women who are coerced." Because some people who advertise in Backpage.com's "adult" section commit these crimes, Kristof says, Village Voice Media will not have clean hands until it shuts the section down. By this standard, his employer is also guilty, and Kristof himself has an indirect financial stake in sex trafficking. Will he stop accepting this dirty money, or will he instead reconsider his sanctimonious, censorious crusade?

Comments

[Milquetoast Dave]

"Will he stop accepting this dirty money, or will he instead reconsider his sanctimonious, censorious crusade?"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! When is the last time someone like him backpedaled? Not only is his going to ride this gravy train to retirement, he's probably scared he'd be fired and lose all credibility if he turned around on the issue.

[Episiarch]

Yeah, he's the type that will dig in like a tick and spin, spin, spin until the pressure goes away.

[gaijin]

'Hyperbole' seems to define the chattering class' work in the early 2000's.

[Brandon]

Thank you for spelling "Backpedaled" correctly.

[Milquetoast Dave]

Ha, I originally misspelled it "backpeddled" but spellchecker caught it. I suppose you could spin backpeddle as trying to take back something illicit you've sold like, oh I don't know, false data on sex trafficking.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I bet he flagellates himself while he masturbates... to pictures of sheep.

[Pound. Head. On. Desk.]

"Sheep?" She's not just a "sheep." He named her and trained her to say it to him, "Beh-eh-eh-eh-tty."

[RedDragon6009]

Will he stop accepting this dirty money, or will he instead reconsider his sanctimonious, censorious crusade?

I'm willing to go out on a limb here and say neither.

[some guy]

It's a classic example of a false choice.

[Doctor Whom]

I think that to get a job in the mainstream media, you have to take a test on your ability to spot your own internal contradictions. If you pass, you don't get the job.

[Scotticus Finch]

Has it already been established that Kristof looks an awful lot like HRG from Heroes? Except with Richard Simmons's hair?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I wonder how many 13 year old girls Kristof has chained up in his basement? Just saying.

[sloopyinca]

I find it odd that he has yet to come out and deny that he keeps children as sex slaves.

[AnthonyD]

I always stick to outcalls over incalls. My iron maiden is too cumbersome to be transporting.

[o3]

think kristof holds pepsi responsible for the liquified babies in their soda?

[sarcasmic]

Is it possible to look at Bar Refaeli without getting an erection?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....shoot.html

I'm thinking no.

[Groovus Maximus]

Thank goodness for lab coats.

[o3]

the slut should be the new-n-exciting insurance test for viagra.

[Randian]

Somehow I managed it. It must be because I don't walk, talk, and act like a teenager whenever "BOOBIES!" show up.

[Scarcity]

You forgot "no homo"

[sarcasmic]

homo? NTTAWWT

[Randian]

Cranky. Born old. That sort of thing.

[Groovus Maximus]

I suspect it's because you're a Brit. I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.

[Randian]

A Brit?! This is projection because we have conclusive proof that that you're a Frostback, isn't it?

[Groovus Maximus]

Hardly, counselor! How long have you been a BIRFER now?

This calls for pistols at dawn. (gloveslap)

[Randian]

Do they even have guns in Canada? I expect that if we had a duel, I would first be required to show you how to take off the external safety.

[Groovus Maximus]

I would imagine moreso than in the UK, you closet limey. How could you operate the safety without exposure to firearms?

Perhaps I should have said, "Shivs at dawn."

[Res Publica Americana]

Guns?

STOP RESISTING.

[dbcooper]

You sir, have gone too far.

[sloopyinca]

That hair just looks ridiculously stupid.

Were they having fembot tryouts right after the shoot?

[Groovus Maximus]

Nicholas Kristof holds Village Voice Media responsible for kidnapping, assault, sexual slavery, and the rape of underage prostitutes because its online classified ad service,

It's nice to see Barney Frank will have something on which to fall back after he's out of office.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

In honor of the excellent alt-text, I recommend that all further comments be posted anon-bot style.

[Groovus Maximus]

It makes sense when you think about it. LOL

[NotSure]

I suspect this sanctimonious crusade has more to do with shutting down competition to the company he works for.

[Paul.]

Meh, the backpage crusade was sure to come after Craigslist. Sex trafficking is one of the current 'trend stories' in the liberal media. Backpage is at the center of that.

[Paul.]

Let me be clear...

[Paul.]

Meh, the backpage crusade was sure to come after Craigslist. Sex trafficking is one of the current 'trend stories' in the liberal media. Backpage is at the center of that.

[Mike M.]

Apparently this creep has a propensity for falsely accusing people of horrible crimes that they had nothing to do with. Like Steven Hatfill in the case of the anthrax letter mailings.

[ChicagoTom]

Maybe Kristoff is just trying to hurt the competition to his employer who are providing the same services?

[Episiarch]

Or he might just be a grandstanding asshole. Never attribute to malice, yadda yadda yadda.

[Randian]

Yes, this just assumes that Kristof is smart enough to come up with a decent nefarious plot all on his own. I am sure that the New York Times just winds him up and watches him go.

[Groovus Maximus]

Personally, I think this type of concern trolling by Kristoff dilutes the real problem of human sex trafficking, partiularly when minors are involved.

[Brandon]

I think he's just trying to drum up emotional support for keeping prostitution illegal so that his victims can't go to the police...

[Spartacus]

Will he stop accepting this dirty money, or will he instead reconsider his sanctimonious, censorious crusade?

Neither. I predict his next column will be devoted to explaining why it's totally different in his case. Totally.

[Res Publica Americana]

Because he's got the biggest cock on the block, and fuck you, that's why, you neo-Confederate rubes down in, like, Texas and stuff.

[Number 2]

"There's no indication that Goldman or anyone else ever used its ownership to urge Village Voice Media to drop escort ads or verify ages.""

What a slimy use of language. Note how the accuser slyly places the burden of proof on the accused by skillful use of the phrase, "There's no indication..." It's up to the accused to disprove the insinuated accusation, not the accuser to prove he's correct. It's especially slimy because private companies hold board meetings, etc., in private -- there is no reason why the general public should have an "indication" as to what had been discussed.

Also, by phrasing it as he does, he excuses himself from having to prove the core of his allegation -- that child sex trafficking is being supported -- by treating the allegation as a given.

[Paul.]

The only tic missing is that he doesn't begin every sentence with, "It's well known that...." or "It's well established that..."

[tallyho]

"There's no indication that Kristoff or anyone else at the NYT ever used their vast research resources to verify the consent, age, health or gender of any person, sheep or package of liver ordered by the NWT from escort service ads."