It happens. You stumble upon a juicy bit of information that can’t be confirmed. You want to post it but hesitate. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You blog it anyway, and it turns out to be wrong.
It happens to journalists, especially journalists who hate George Bush. CBS producers could not authenticate memos they said proved Bush received preferential treatment in the Texas Air National Guard. On top of that, their star witness had been caught lying to them. But they still ran with the story. Journalists were recently duped again. Back on March 20, the Washington Post made reference to “a memo distributed only to Republican senators” regarding Terri Schiavo. No one can verify where the memo came from or whether it’s authentic, but for days afterward MSM wrote about it as if it were genuine.
I wrote about the whole mess on Saturday, citing Joshua Claybourn’s efforts. Well, it turns out Joshua was duped, too. I wrote that he talked to “Senate staffers who claim that an aide to Democratic senator Harry Reid distributed to memo.” He even named the Reid staffer in his post. Joshua has retracted the post because he’s been unable to confirm the accusations, and the Senate staffers are “nowhere to be found.”
What most of us didn’t know was that the so-called staffers didn’t tell Joshua their names. Not even alias, I presume. He writes:
I’m disturbed and upset, both with those who anonymously made the accusation and myself for posting it without more judicious restraint. Inevitably someone will accuse me of hypocrisy and that’s a fair criticism. But I have retracted the sloppy reporting on my part and am willing to note the errors; that is much more than ABC or the Washington Post can say.
When things like this happen, editors are invaluable. Journalists have that advantage over bloggers. If a reporter gets wind of hot story, he has to confirm sources before the story goes to press. Sometimes the editors goof as well, but at that point the blame also falls on the editor, too. Misery (in being duped by anonymous sources) loves company.
Michelle Malkin, journalist and blogger, knows both worlds, and she offers Joshua some advice:
For obvious reasons, claims made by a completely anonymous source must be regarded as far less reliable than those made by a source who is willing to disclose his or her identity to a reporter or blogger.I often use sources who don’t want their names published, but I never publish information provided by anonymous tipsters unless I can independently verify the information.
Claybourn was careless. He had better hope that the Reid aide he accused of wrongdoing doesn’t sue him for libel.
That’s what it all comes down to. If bloggers want to be journalists, we should strive to be better than journalists. Joshua retracted, but the so-called journalists have not.
Addendum: Michelle has been all over media critic Howard Kurtz for not doing his job: criticizing the media. He finally bites (reg. req.). Michelle also does an excellent job calling out so-called journalists who have not retracted their stories about the “GOP memo.”
Ed Morrissey: “Kurtz once again acts as an apologist rather than an objective news critic, yet another disappointment he can add to his non-coverage of the Eason Jordan scandal.”
Update (2:26 p.m.): I just read Howard Kurtz’s column in its entirety. I have three words for the journalists who first reported on the so-called GOP Talking Points Memo: Sloppy, sloppy and sloppy!
A Retraction and a Warning
The story on Old Media Tricks has not been fully resolved.
Trackback by Air Force Voices — 03.30.05 @ 7:53 am
Memogate II, day 12
Today…
Joshua Claybourn retracts an earlier post, reveals that his sources work in Sen. Santorum’s office and calls on the media to take his example:
I publicly apologize for posting unfounded accusations, and I hope ABC News and the Washingto…
Trackback by Fishkite: The Blog Between Church and State — 03.30.05 @ 7:59 am
“No Hard Evidence That The Memo Is Fake”
Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post establishes a new standard for determining “news” in the old media: If a memo comes into your hands that is embarassing to the Republican Party and you have “very reliable, multiple sources who indicated…
Trackback by Stones Cry Out — 03.30.05 @ 10:13 am
I disagree (respectfully) with Michelle Malkin.
Plenty of sources who disclose their full names….and are Liars.
What then?
The truth depends on someone’s full name?
Gawker and Wonkette, each, get 23 million hits per day. Both traffic in gossip and innuendo. Can’t fault Gawker etc. for giving readers what they want.
Readers need to take responsibility for what they choose to read, and who they are going to trust.
Buyer bewhere.
Comment by Glamchild — 03.30.05 @ 12:11 pm
You have to admire the bigots in the MSM. They get knocked down but they get right back up and put out more lies as “news”. The may be crooks but they are tenacious.
Comment by Rod Stanton — 03.30.05 @ 1:02 pm
Lunch: 3/30/2005
Try one of these specials with your lunch: HundredPercenter News does some spring cleaning. Jeff Goldstein wants callers. A small victory says lunch is for lunch, so don’t read this at lunch. Ace of Spades HQ muses on the outing
Trackback by basil's blog — 03.30.05 @ 1:42 pm
I think it was typed on the same machine that the CBS memos came from. Karl Rove’s
How many times will America fall for the memo trick?
Comment by Yoursistersbrotherthomas. — 03.30.05 @ 3:21 pm
La Shawn Barber Makes CNN
The blog is something of a unique artform. On the surface it looks very much like a newspaper or magazine, and sometimes performs a similar function, but, let us face it, the ancestry of the blog passes much more closely through the barber shop and t…
Trackback by Axinar's — 03.30.05 @ 5:04 pm
It seems to me that there has been a lot of shady business going on with the Republicans, including the lead-up to the Iraq War, the deliberate misinformation of the cost of the prescription drug plan, the “outing” of the female spy, the attacks on John Kerry’s war record, among others. It immediately crossed my mind that the Dan Rather incident was a “dirty trick”. But, apparently, that never occurred to anyone, not even the Democrats. Are the Democrats, perhaps, at a disadvantage when it comes to wiles, maybe because they are not as good at it as this administration seems to be? karennkc.
Comment by karennkc — 03.31.05 @ 12:08 am
No one is perfect. Caveat emptor or maybe Caveat Blogger.
Comment by Rafael Daniel — 03.31.05 @ 5:40 am
I want everyone concerned with Terri my condolences on her passing. Now with that said, it’s time for the a rebirth in our government. Since the Republican Party became the majority they have done everything to discolor and discredit using lies and false reports to all who challanged them. I hope America will wake up before the next election and see truly what the Republican Party really stands for the party of lies and hate.
Comment by Mark Adelson — 03.31.05 @ 11:28 am
Democrats are caught again. What do they do? They blame Rove. It is classic and they will do it time and time again even though logically blaming Rove for making Republicans look bad is riduculous.
Comment by SavageNFree — 03.31.05 @ 12:00 pm
Wed Apr 6th, 2005 at 20:23:51 PDT
WASHINGTON - The legal counsel to Sen. Mel
Author of Schiavo Memo Steps Forward …..By Mike Allen, The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - The legal counsel to Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., admitted Wednesday that he was the author of a memo citing the political advantage to Republicans of intervening in the case of Terri Schiavo, the senator said in an interview Wednesday night.
Comment by frankenfriend — 04.07.05 @ 12:15 am