Unassigned

From Rolling Stone to NYT: Editor Accused of Shielding Friend in Child Porn Raid Story Lands Opinion Gig

justmindy
justmindy  |  4:00 PM on March 17, 2026

This story is really disturbing, but probably shouldn't be surprising considering it is the New York Times. 

Advertisement

The NYT just hired an editor who allegedly covered up a despicable scandal for his friend.

Noah Shachtman, the former editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone and The Daily Beast, has been hired by The New York Times as a contributing writer to its opinion section despite his well-documented effort to cover up a pal’s child porn scandal.

In October 2022, Rolling Stone was the first to report that ABC News national security producer James Gordon Meek’s home had been raided by the FBI that April. But its story about the matter bore little resemblance to reality.

That wasn’t the fault of reporter Tatiana Siegel, who had learned and wished to note that the raid was in connection with a federal investigation into images depicting child sex abuse. Shachtman, then serving as the top editor at the publication, reportedly instructed Siegel not to turn in a story with the words “child pornography” in it; and then took advantage of Siegel leaving work to tend to her dying mother by going back on an agreement to note that the FBI raid pertained to “possible criminal behavior outside the scope of Meek’s work” in her article, according to an NPR investigation. 

Instead, as The Daily Beast put it at the time, “Rolling Stone’s big scoop last week, headlined ‘FBI Raids Star ABC News Producer’s Home,’ read like a Tom Clancy thriller and raised serious concerns that the feds raided a journalist over his work.”

“As published, the Rolling Stone article’s first two paragraphs lionized Meek’s record and swashbuckling style. ‘Meek appears to be on the wrong side of the national-security apparatus,’ it stated,” noted NPR. “In the hours leading up to publication, Shachtman changed Siegel’s draft to remove all suggestions that the investigation was not related to Meek’s reporting. He left in the finding that federal agents had allegedly found ‘classified information’ on Meek’s devices.”

Recommended

Governor Newsom's Press Office Gets Ratioed INTO THE SUN by Nick Shirley (and Many Others)
Grateful Calvin
Advertisement

The depths of their depravity is bottomless.

Both terrible people, as well.

It's called projection.

Advertisement

Birds of a feather ...