Live links first article for verification.
__________________
"What's wrong with this correction?
September 29, 2009 Posted by Scott at 6:08 AMSource Powerlineblog.com
"In their September 18 story on the exposure of ACORN by James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, Washington Post reporters Darryl Fears and Carol Leonnig fabricated the existence of a quote indicating the existence of a racial animus behind O'Keefe's work. When called on to supply the quote, the Post instead ran this correction:
Th[e] article about the community organizing group ACORN incorrectly said that a conservative journalist targeted the organization for hidden-camera videos partly because its voter-registration drives bring Latinos and African Americans to the polls. Although ACORN registers people mostly from those groups, the maker of the videos, James E. O'Keefe, did not specifically mention them.
What's wrong with this correction (and the related AP correction)? Gary Larson (not the cartoonist) explicates the text in "Washington Post admits to bogus quote." Larson's column provides a disgusting footnote to a disgusting story."
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/09/024610.php
___________
Gary Larson
Source Human Events
"Veteran Washington Post reporter Daryl Fears, part of a two-person writer team, unmistakably wrote that filmmaker John O'Keefe had “said” he “targeted” ACORN, the advocacy group, for his candid-camera expose, because it registered voters to defeat Republicans.
O'Keefe said no such thing. It was a non-quote made out of whole cloth by reporter Fears, and published as fact on Sept. 17. Making the falsehood exponentially worse, the Post story then was retailed worldwide by the Associated Press.
Post's goof took dead aim at someone called a “conservative activist.” That label then finds its way into left-wing blogs, too. But is it true? O'Keefe claims he's “radical progressive.” But Post's label sticks, tossed into a pigeon hole, a box, into which enemies of the Left are frequently cast.
The quote that never was -- “he said” -- caused Post editors to issue a correction, one that turned out to have a few slants of its own. Judge for yourself. Here it is en toto:
Th[e] article about the community organizing group ACORN incorrectly said that a conservative journalist targeted the organization for hidden-camera videos partly because its voter-registration drives bring Latinos and African Americans to the polls. Although ACORN registers people mostly from those groups, the maker of the videos, James E. O'Keefe, did not specifically [sic] mention them.
Specifically, did you catch that “specifically?” It is an adverb with a purpose. Call it a “Dan Ratherism,” an unproven fact that lives only in the eyes of the out-to-prove-something Left. Like CBS-TV's Rather relying on bogus documents to hang President George W. Bush, it is designed to indict, not to enlighten.
Note the transformation of O'Keefe from “conservative activist” to “conservative journalist” in the tricky correction. At least the Post did not label O'Keefe “an operative,” another handy twist of political skulduggery.
Scott Johnson of the influential weblog Power Line fears that Fears, a longtime Post man, “fabricated the existence of an O'Keefe quote indicating a racial animus for his [ACORN] reportage. The race angle existed only the minds of the Washington Post.” Amen to that.
The race card is played a lot nowadays, cheapening the very term, racism. Methinks the gratuitous slap, used against filmmaker O'Keefe, is no mere slip-up, no innocent goof. It is an attempt to take down the “conservative” filmmaker, to devalue him, somehow to marginalize his product, the videotape evidence of quite obvious ACORN wrongdoings.
(Aside: Now is time for journalists to come to the aid of their party?)
Such are the ways of today's news media. Cast aspersions. Use labels. Slay those who do not share your beliefs. Dishonor them. Label them racists. And Walter Mondale talks about the “coarseness” of debate? In spades.
Upon the heels of Post's slanted correction comes the Associated Press's. It's as minimal and self-serving as the Post's. (Birds of a feather?) AP had moved the story to thousands of its wire service clients worldwide, mainly newspapers, spreading the non-quote from O'Keefe far and wide.
Note AP picks up on Post's applied label of O'Keefe indisputably as a “conservative” but now, he's no longer an “activist,” rather a “journalist.” AP repeats the skeptical notion of “specifically” and dutifully recites the “targeting-of-ACORN” line:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a Sept. 19 story about the community organizing group ACORN, The Associated Press, based on an account in The Washington Post, erroneously quoted a conservative [sic] journalist [sic] saying he targeted [sic] the organization for hidden-camera videos because its voter-registration drives bring minority voters to the polls. The Washington Post on Tuesday printed a correction about the quote. Although ACORN registers people mostly from those groups, the maker of the videos, James E. O'Keefe, did not specifically [sic] mention minorities, the newspaper said.
Power Line contributor Joel Mowbray thinks “ascribing to O'Keefe unsavory racial motives is no ordinary mistake.” Spot on. Fabrication of the quote is designed I think to inject racism into the ACORN expose. It is done with a purpose, a dubious one, based on a premise, a prejudice, in an effort to “put down” the independent filmmaker.
Put simply, reporter Fear's goofs were conscious errors, expressing the reporter's own take on the ACORN “flap” and his dislike, in general, of all conservatives. Maybe, they can all go to hell?
Did the AP's correction, repeating Post's sins of presumption, get special attention at news outlets that carried it? No way. As expected, AP's answer to that question was: “Obviously, we don't control the content management systems of all our [AP] members, subscribers and other customers.” Thus preserved for all time is a media mistake, a slanting of an important story, now “history.”
Gives rise to that old saw about lies flying halfway around the globe while truth pulls it britches on. Journalist Mowbray comments: “Even granting normal allowances, it's hard to see how this error was simply accidental.” Agree. It's too monumental to be dismissed as a slip-up.
The attack on O'Keefe cannot be brushed off as an innocent goof up, a slip of the pen, even slipshod journalism. Purposes are met in partisan reporting. It reminds one of the dishonesty of “Rathergate,” with falsified documents designed to score political pointts, not to serve truth. There is method to this madness, folks.
No wonder that 60% of public, by a respected survey by the Pew Institute, distrusts mainstream media, calling them inaccurate. Such a perception, if not reality, only hastens the mainstream's constant spiral downward, a death spiral, lowering public respect for the less esteemed Fourth Estate and now, its circulation too. Will they ever learn?
Bottom line: Democracy itself suffers from use of news as political weapon."
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33734
April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 January 2013 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 March 2011 January 2011 December 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 March 2005 November 2004 October 2004