Tony Ortega’s Raw Deal

Way back when Tony Ortega’s bosses in Phoenix were dreaming about shredding and burning all the evidence implicating them in the global sex-for-profit scandal that was starting to spiral so out of control they were once again at risk of going to prison, a deal was struck.

Tony Ortega was promised that as long as he toed the party line and played nice, he’d be rewarded with an executive assignment as chief editor at a far “more lucrative and prestigious” rag than the “lowly” _Village_Voice.

Tragically for Tony, he soon discovered that this so-called “lucrative and prestigious” rag wasn’t even a_real_rag, but an online news website called_The Raw Story,_essentially the tabloid answer to something like Breitbart,

On his own blog to this very day, Tony Ortega refuses to answer any questions about his sordid and disgusting history withNew Times Media — which was laterrenamedVillage Voice Media in a vain and unsuccessful attempt to wish away the seemingly neverending story ofBackpage sex trafficking.

When that didn’t work, they renamed it again, this time toVoice Media Group, which also — big surprise — didn’t have any effect in convincing anyone that it wasn’t the same company anymore or that they had repented and changed their ways.

Will Tony Ortega ever step forward and come clean with the real raw story? Don’t hold your breath. If there’s one thing Tony Ortega has no tolerance forwhatsoever, it’s dissent in the ranks. If you want to be part of the Ortega hate movement and allowed to post comments on their blogs and forums, youabsolutely cannot, underany circumstances, question him, his motives, his actions, oranything at all that could potentially catch him up or force him to actuallytell the truth.

It simply is not done. Itcannot be done. Thus far, all who have tried have gotten themselves permanently banned from their blogs and forums. This is Ortega’s brand of journalism — shouting out carefully constructed lies; shouting down all who would disagree.