WP's Anne Applebaum writes sympathetically about Polanski and doesn't tell that her husband worked

[Captain Hilts]

to protect Polanski from being tried.

AA never mentioned this and neither did the Washington Post.

http://pajamasmedia.com/eddriscoll/2009/09/28/polanski-to-applebaum-to-kurtz/

Curiously involved in this story is Anne Applebaum, the author of the justly celebrated Gulag and many fine op-ed columns. Mark Hemingway writes:

Anne Applebaum’s invaluable contributions to the anti-communist canon give her a free pass on a lot of things as far as I’m concerned. But her item over at the Washington Post blog, “The Outrageous Arrest of Roman Polanski,” is really beyond the pale. Objectionable content aside, her failure to disclose an obvious conflict of interest makes it particularly egregious.

What conflict of interest? The one that Patterico describes thusly:

In an earlier post I noted substantial inaccuracies and omissions in a post by Washington Post pundit Anne Applebaum in support of Roman Polanski. (For example, she said Polanski fled during his trial; in fact, he pled guilty and fled before his sentencing.) But I think this is worth its own post: Applebaum failed to mention that her husband is a Polish foreign minister who is lobbying for Polanski’s case to be dismissed:

In Polanski’s native Poland, President Lech Kaczynski and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said they would appeal to US authorities to drop proceedings against Polanski. The PAP news agency said Sikorski was consideri a direct appeal to US President Barack Obama to end ‘once and for all’ the proceedings against the filmmaker.

Radoslaw Sikorski is married to Anne Applebaum:

Anne Applebaum is a columnist for the Washington Post and Slate. . . . Her husband, Radoslaw Sikorski, is a Polish politician and writer.

Applebaum failed to mention this little fact.

So at the same time that she was giving readers a fact-challenged screed in support of Polanski, she was failing to disclose that her husband was a Polish official who was lobbying for Polanski’s freedom.

Here's a weblog that mentions it:

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2009/09/anne-applebaum-says-roman-polanski-did.html

A lot of Google references to this:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=applebaum+polanski&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images

[Ramulux]

1. Bullshit

The dudes a pedophile and a rapist, I don't really understand how you can support defend someone like that.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Who's supporting Polanski? AA is and isn't being honest that her husband is working for him. nt

[Jim Sagle]

3. Captain Hilts is NOT defending Polanski.

Either learn to read for comprehension or stfu.

[Name removed]

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