NYT dismisses Ben Stein as Sunday biz section columnist

Ryan Tate of Gawker reports Thursday that the New York Times has dismissed Sunday business section columnist Ben Stein for violating its ethics policy.

Tate writes, “A tipster informed us this morning that Stein had been given the boot, and Times spokesperson Catherine Mathis has confirmed, writing:

‘Ben Stein‘s fine work for us as a columnist for Sunday Business had to end, we told him, after we learned that he had become a commercial spokesman for FreeScore, a financial services company. Ben didn’t understand when he signed on with FreeScore that this might pose a potential conflict for him as a contributing columnist for the Times, because he hadn’t written about credit scores or this company. But, we decided that being a commercial spokesman for FreeScore while writing his column wouldn’t be appropriate.

‘We are sorry to lose him as a columnist, and appreciate his work for the Times over the years.'”

Read more here.