The New York Times has issued one correction to Jeremy W. Peters’ error-ridden weekend puff-profile on Rightwing scam-artist Andrew Breitbart.
They corrected the error where Peters reported, just as Breitbart lied to him, that members of the NAACP applauded when they heard now-former USDA official Shirley Sherrod discuss her initial reticence at helping a white farmer decades ago. As Media Matters pointed out on Sunday, and as the Times now concedes, members of the audience didn’t applaud, as Peters might have discovered simply by reviewing the video in question (otherwise known as fact-checking or reporting).
On that error, at least, the Times has now issued a correction. No correction has been issued yet, however, in response to our article on Monday detailing other errors in Peters’ story, which inaccurately reported that the phony and “severely edited” “pimp” videos published by Breitbart, as created by business-partner James O’Keefe, showed “Acorn workers offering advice on how to evade taxes and conceal child prostitution.”
As we pointed out on Monday (and in much greater detail long ago, in March of 2010), the ACORN workers did no such thing, in fact all of the workers secretly video-taped by O’Keefe instructed him and his partner Hannah Giles that they must pay their taxes, even on money illegally obtained through prostitution. None advised them to “evade taxes” as the Times has now defamed.
Peters says in report that “The stories and videos Mr. Breitbart plays up on his Web sites…tend to act as political Rorschach tests. If you agree with him, you think what he does is citizen journalism. If you don’t, his work is little more than crowd-sourced political sabotage that freely distorts the facts.”
This is not a matter of a “Rorschach test”, Mr. Peters. These are simple, independently verifiable errors of fact. ACORN workers either “offer[ed] advice on how to evade taxes” or they didn’t. If you have evidence that ACORN workers did so, we’d be happy to review it. We are aware of none. Are you?
Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert picked up on our Monday article, after we highlighted, once again, what the transcripts of the unedited tapes reveal actually happened in those ACORN meetings, versus the way liars like Breitbart, O’Keefe, Giles, and their minions at Fox “News” and, apparently, the New York Times have repeatedly spun it in order to fool the public. Again.
It’s hardly the first time the NYTimes has flagrantly mis-reported the ACORN “pimp” hoax story, though we hope it doesn’t take us six months, like last time, before we they finally issue even a partial correction. Haven’t they done enough damage already?
For the record, at least five separate independent investigations (see here, here, here, here and, just last week again, here) have all concluded there was no criminality seen in any of the ACORN videos, other than by O’Keefe and Giles who are now in court defending themselves against CA Invasion of Privacy Act violations.
NYTimes Public Editor, Arthur S. Brisbane, can be politely emailed at the following address if you’d like to help encourage the “Paper of Record” to correct the record: Public@NYTimes.com.
UPDATE 7/1/11: While Jeremy W. Peters has refused to respond to several inquiries concerning his errors, the office of the NYTimes Public Editor has note replied to thank us for our email notifying them about the errors, and to say…
So that’s good. At least the Times finally appears to be looking into it. It’s unfortunate that Peters, a media reporter for the paper who has a frequently used Twitter account, has declined to respond publicly to at least our queries on this matter. We will update, of course, when there is more.
UPDATE 7/4/11: The NYT correction for the Sherrod part of the story is even worse than we had realized, as the paper appears to be trying to protect Breitbart by re-writing history, even though their own correction undermines them. Full details now here…
I like the stuff Andrew puts out. After I read your blurbs on O’keefe, I did sme research and donated $ to project verities. I believe in opposing forces forcing truth to emerge. Any way, O’keefe is an Eagle Scout and that earns points with me.
Brisbane is, unfortunately, a member of the club, not an independent voice for the public.
There seems to be another NYT reporter following the Weinergate saga who is communicating in the comments section of blogs with Breitbart pals. A strange way to do research.
Wow! So our Davey Crocket thinks of convicted federal criminal James O’Keefe as an “Eagle Scout” and believes that by having a serial liar and shameless propagandist like Andrew Breitbart as an “opposing force” to someone like Brad Friedman who tirelessly strives to speak truth to power will somehow “force the truth to emerge.”
It appears that Davey has been so taken in by the Fox “News” dissembling that he actually buys into what Bill Moyers refers to in Moyers on America as the charade of “fair and balanced.”
Talk about being Blinded by the Right.
There are some background pressures that are being put on the NYT so we should probably take those into consideration.
Remember that the government has an interest from time to time that the truth not be revealed.
everything breitbart “reports” is just to harm and distract
todays real headlines should be…
ohio police beat,pepper spray and repeatedly taser a handicapped teen for not being polite enough to them
doj announces that while they believe prosecuting medical mj is a waste of money,they will do it anyway
omaha nuc plant has a fire from refueling accident because they dont have a back up windmill for cooling power
wisconsin sc justice grabs a reporters mic because their are no womens necks close by
minnosota govt shuts down and some peops might die so peops making ovr a mill a year are not inconveinced with a tax raise
and finally the big one
eric cantor has bet against the us goverment and stands to profit from a goverment shut down
Breitbart is a lying, manipulative, narcissistic jackass. O’Keefe isn’t much better, considering his sex-toy love-boat sting failure. Eagle scout? Give me a break.
Ernest, Chris,
Desperate times call for desperate measures. In the battle of good vs. evil…my money is on O’Keefe et al.
🙂
Ernie Canning said @4:
I’ll simply take this opportunity to amend that statement by adding “…someone like Brad Friedman who tirelessly strives to speak [INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIABLE] truth to power…”
In other words, as I have always told folks who question why they should believe me, “just a blogger”, about anything that, in fact, they shouldn’t! They should make me prove my case. But they should also make the NYTimes, AP, WaPo, and everyone else — including liars like Breitbart and O’Keefe — prove their cases as well.
We strive to report only information that is independently verifiable here, since I don’t think anybody should have to simply choose sides in a he-said/she-said debate, or just “believe” me because I reported something.
As usual, in the matter reported above concerning the NYTimes inaccurate reporting on ACORN, the issue of who has the story right is independently verifiable. Nobody has to simply believe me.
That some would choose to simply believe in verifiably repeated liars — who can and have been independently verified as such again and again — speaks a great deal to the credibility and character, or lack thereof, of our courageously pseudonymous friend, Davey.
His future comments should and will be viewed in this light.
I know I shouldn’t be amazed, but I am! A reporter and his editors at the New York Times, who know everyone in the country interested in Breitbart and his doings will read the profile, don’t even look at the notorious ACORN videos and the Sherrod material central to the piece and its thesis, nor clearly even do a basic web search on the related topics, before going to print. Peters is no independent actor, no lone wolf, like so many reporters are forced by economics to be today– made to dig up stories, report them and write them without any research team or editing. On the contrary, there are still layers of staff at the Times, and yet, this piece– an intended puff piece, perhaps, but still an undeniably and predictably politically charged piece on a deeply controversial person whose calling card has been exaggerated partisan hackery if not outright lying– this thing comes out riddled with obvious errors. Who is in charge? Someone should be fired, or at least assigned to the Queens police beat for a couple years. Hopeless.
Brad Blog, yay! NYTs, boo!
Davey Crocket – you just CROCKED yerself. You are now EXTREMELY transparent, ans you no longer have any street cred w /me after your comments in this thread. Too bad. I had hope for you…
“EAGLE SCOUT”?! Really? You have made yourself a bad joke. And I know jokes…you are the most unfunny kind, impho (= “in my humble PROFESSIONAL opinion – as I’m a PAID, PROFESSIONAL Stand-up comedian.) Thanks for doing my writing FOR me; can’t make up your kind of hysterical bullshit without your help.
Thanks for being my bread and butter, buddy!
For comics like me, you are the gift that keeps on giving! http://www.jeanniedean.com/
…GREAT post from my partner / buddy / hero-pal Karen from Illinois. I second her recommended headlines.
Check THIS one out, Davey “Crockety” – your favorite Eagle Scout not lookin’ so EAGLE SCOUT-ish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9mdGeysga8
Then again, facts don’t seem to make your radar.
You should consider another handle, maybe “DAVEY full o’ CROCK” after your posts in this thread.
We “see you”. (Hate to quote AVATAR, cuz it was a silly cartoon, but now it seems apropo – so are you, to my mind.) Good luck with your disinfo campaign! We’re onto you…
Sure, Brad: I can go along with the revised: “…someone like Brad Friedman who tirelessly strives to speak [INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIABLE] truth to power…”
But, then you, I, Bill Moyers, Amy Goodman, and countless others who strive to speak independently verifiable truth to power have to concede that we are 21st Century “revolutionaries” — at least as described by George Orwell:
Davey Crocket,
For what it’s worth you just lost me. I can no longer think of you as a credible person with a different point of view with whom I might reasonably discuss and argue various issues. If you endorse Breitbart you forfeit all credibility. He is a serial liar. You now fail to meet my required minimum standards necessary for reasoned debate.
Building bridges with people of different viewpoints is one thing. Wasting time arguing with someone who believes the earth is flat or that black is white while the world goes down the tubes is something else. No time for nonsense on stilts that high. Good luck with the guitar.
Did the New York Times Lie again with this statement?
It already is “later next week”.
You wont find this article in Google News search results. Why? Google News has de-indexed bradblog.com. I wonder who is behind this censorship. I wouldn’t be surprised if New York Times and their beloved racist cult-hero Andrew Breitbart had something to do with it.