Randall Murphree
AFA Journal editor
September 2000 – The July suspension of Jeff Jacoby, the Boston Globe’s lone conservative columnist, has created no minor firestorm in the media. The move, in effect, banishes any semblance of journalistic and ideological balance from the Globe. Jacoby the token conservative, has now become Jacoby the token sacrifice.
Jacoby’s problem is that he’s too PC (Patriotic/Conservative). He doesn’t care much for the National Endowment for the Arts. He was not offended when Southern Baptists announced they would be praying for him and other Jews. He’s pro-life and anti-ACLU. He writes with passion about the freedom he enjoys in his father’s adopted homeland, the good ol’ U.S.A.
Jacoby has great reason to appreciate America. His father survived Nazi death camps and his mother grew up in a Cleveland, Ohio, orphanage. They met and married in Cleveland, and Jeff was born there.
Jacoby was suspended for four months without pay after his July 3 column extolled the virtues of sacrifice and patriotism as illustrated in the lives of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence. An editor’s note in the July 6 Globe said, “Jacoby should have alerted readers that the concept and structure for his column were not entirely original.” He was charged with “serious journalistic misconduct” and not allowed to explain, clarify or apologize in a follow-up column. On July 7, he was abruptly suspended and invited to resign.
The other PC crowd (yes, the Politically Correct) among Jacoby’s peers at the Globe decided in their PC wisdom that his column should have warned readers that others have written about these same men and these same facts. Because other writers (for more than 200 years) have written on the same subject, Jacoby now finds himself without a paycheck.
Jacoby says Globe editorial director Renee Loth, who said the final call for suspension was hers, told him if he returns after his suspension, there will have to be a “serious rethink” about the direction of his columns.
The Globe is probably still reeling from the controversy their act created. The question that won’t go away is, why so severely punish a writer who has distinguished himself for ethical standards? His “offense” is called by other journalists at best “no offense” and at worst a minor incident or oversight. Liberal and conservative journalists alike have expressed dismay and shock at the paper’s treatment of Jacoby.
“...Jacoby is being punished out of all proportion to his offense,” wrote Dan Kennedy of the liberal Boston Phoenix. He characterized the suspension as a clear attempt to ruin Jacoby.
“The Globe is still in shock over the loss in 1998 of two high-profile columnists after allegations of sustained prevarication in print,” wrote John Leo in his July 17 U. S. News & World Report column. Leo says, “[Loth] told me that the issue in Jacoby’s suspension was ‘sloppiness,’ not ideology.” But he goes on to say her plan to “rethink” Jacoby’s column sounds more like ideology.
Joe Farah of Western Journalism Center and Brent Bozell of Media Research Center both see the Boston Globe action as a purge. “Such outrageous behavior can only be the result of some internal political purge,” wrote Farah. “I believe the Globe intentionally and with malice defamed Jacoby.…”
Bozell questioned whether or not Jacoby would be replaced temporarily during these months leading up to the fall presidential election. Loth has said that Jacoby will, indeed, be replaced during his absence. If he is not, the conservative viewpoint is effectively removed from the Boston Globe during the months of campaign coverage.
Evangelical Christians can do our nation a favor by voicing their opinions regarding this travesty. Jacoby wrote to American Family Association on July 20, “There has been relatively little heard from the evangelical world, and it would be wonderful if they would add their voices to the chorus. For years I have gotten nice letters and e-mails from Christians everywhere. I’ve gone on Christian radio talk shows and been quoted in sermons, etc. But I have never been a good networker, and don’t really know whom to turn to now that I actually need some help.
“What is needed is for some of the Christian leaders to encourage their followers to express dismay to the Globe over my suspension. I am the only columnist at the Boston Globe, as you well know, who has made clear his friendship for Christian evangelicals, written about the plight of persecuted Christians around the world –even come to the defense of the Baptists when they were praying for the conversion of the Jews! If the Globe were to hear, loudly and clearly, that many American Christians are shocked by what has been done to me and are urging it not to let my voice disappear from the op-ed roster, perhaps it would help.”
Readers may make their opinions known to the Boston Globe. Telephone 617-929-2000; Fax 617-929-2098; E-mail [email protected]. AFA urges readers to use restraint and civility. 
