Flash in the Pan

Journalist and blogger Kevin Allman is questioning some work of New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov and whether he's making a full enough disclosure.Asimov has made a couple of mentions of a Portland, Ore. restaurant called Paley's Place. Apparently the restaurant has an excellent reputation, and yet there are close relationships between the Asimov and Paley families:

Restaurateur Vitaly Paley's mother, Genya Paley, is an instructor at the Mannes College of Music, where she instructs Asimov's 15-year-old son Peter Asimov, an honors student at the school. As the younger Asimov's official biography states, "He has been a private piano pupil of Genya Paley since 2000."

When Eric Asimov was in Portland researching his article, the Paleys made him the centerpiece of one of their popular "Wine Wednesdays" dinners, sending out a press release titled "NEW YORK TIMES WINE CRITIC ERIC ASIMOV JOINS WINE WEDNESDAY AT PALEY'S PLACE" and inviting the public to meet "their good friend, Eric Asimov."

Allman questions whether - by the Times's own standards and by those of journalism in general - Asimov is too close to the Paleys to be writing about any business they own. As Allman writes:

I wondered: Does Asimov think his coverage of Paley's Place violates these rules, and did he provide full disclosure to his editor? Is the fact that he's the paper's wine critic, not its food critic, germane at all in this case?

Some excellent questions. He emailed Asimov who is traveling and said he'd respond when he had a few minutes.

Labels: Eric Asimov, Kevin Allman, Paley's Place, Portland