Matt Drudge's misleading news report
Posted on Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 10:29 AM
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Obama, a headlined article on Drudge's website claimed, had called Abraham Lincoln the founder of the Republican party. But guess what, said the link on drudge's site, that claim wasn't in PBS's official transcript.
'So PBS has purposely altered a transcript containing a major gaffe by the President,' claimed the report.
Naughty PBS, no funding should go to those pinkos, and no rice pudding neither.
But don't reach for the smelling salts just yet. It isn't true. The story that ran on Matt Drudge's report isn't true. At all.
That, of course, hasn't prevented Fox News from running it on their website right now. Because for conservatives, the desire to give PBS a black eye overrides other pesky considerations like professional standards and ethical journalism.
PBS published Obama's prepared remarks (the written ones) as opposed to his actual speech, where he introduced the part about Abraham Lincoln founding the GOP.
PBS is not responsible for Obama, or anyone, going off script. This was not a conspiracy or a coverup, and it's really just a new marker of hoe desperate the right have become to find some scandal - any scandal - with which to bring down Obama's presidency.
Frankly, in their enthusiasm for a victory - any victory - it was surprising to see them throw Lincoln under the bus too. But I don't know why I should be surprised by that, at this point.
By yesterday evening Drudge quietly pulled the report without issuing an apology, a correction or even an explanation.
I suppose we shouldn't expect clarity or an explanation if it's already tacitly understood what a website stands for.
21 Comments
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DannyMcGinn | Sep 12, 2011, 10:23 AM EDT
@ hollabackgurl: Wow. Way to take a comment on an issue and make it personal. Typical lefty tactic...I don't want to research, or gather facts, or engage in honest debate. Thanks for the illuminating "You're a tool/dummyhead" argument once again. I am proud of you looking up oligarch in the dictionary. Since your a mouth piece for the real oligarchy in power now...Obama/reid/pelosi.
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hollabackgurl | Sep 11, 2011, 10:53 PM EDT
Hey Oldmxr49 do you even try to not be the whore of some oligarch?
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oldmxr49 | Sep 11, 2011, 09:22 PM EDT
PBS is in trouble, the Republicans are on the way. I also hate the fact my tax dollars go to support PBS.
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Pittsburghkid | Sep 11, 2011, 08:14 PM EDT
PBS is in trouble. We have a Republican House, and in 2012 will have a Republican Senate. Obama is looking bad, and Rick might beat him. Conservatives hate the fact the my tax dollars got to PBS. One of the first bones the Republicans through the Tea Party is PBS.
Personnelly I will feel no syspathy for PBS, after being call a Gringo by an hispanic reporter, repeatedly.
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eiriamach | Sep 11, 2011, 07:18 PM EDT
I'm going to say nothing more here for now except that I'm grateful that IC is still on line. Looking for a news item, I visited an Irish website (Sept. 11, 6:57 EST) and found the following notice: "You. Got. Taken. Site off-line. The Irish Catholic - Ireland's biggest and best-selling Catholic newspaper since 1888 is currently hacked. We should be back shortly. Thank you for your patience. And wish you to continue beliveing in your false religion. NoNameHere. Gotta love false hope." Some people can get really annoyed with journalists, and just posting a dissenting comment, apparently, is not enough for them. I've always been fond of freedom of the press, especially the freedom of the press of those I vehemently disagree with. As John Peter Zenger said about censorship: "No nation, ancient or modern, ever lost the liberty of speaking freely, writing, or publishing their sentiments, but forthwith lost their liberty in general and became slaves."
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seanomelbourne | Sep 11, 2011, 07:13 PM EDT
"The sludge from Drudge" typical right wing muck raking and the dicredited newscorp/fox channel follow the lies,"get Obama by hook or by crook" is the GOP mantra the economy can go down drain as long as we get Obama.
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peterson | Sep 11, 2011, 06:53 PM EDT
Drudge was not the blame,,,--- get it ???
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eiriamach | Sep 11, 2011, 06:32 PM EDT
Though he did not write it, he did promote it. Editors who do not author articles of their own but simply edit others' work or arrange it on pages are also subject to journalism's professional ethics. In retrospect, he should consider his promotion of the piece a mistake and say so.
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wjb1tex | Sep 11, 2011, 04:58 PM EDT
" It's standard procedure for journalists who are both professional and ethical to give a statement about why they retract a statement or pull an article------------- But Drudge is not the journalist who wrote the article. It's not up to him to retract it. Only to stop providing a link to it which he did.
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eiriamach | Sep 11, 2011, 03:47 PM EDT
It's standard procedure for journalists who are both professional and ethical to give a statement about why they retract a statement or pull an article. The point here is that as far as Drudge is concerned (and others whose names are too well known to us), ethics takes a flying leap whenever he spies an opportunity to do some Obama bashing. "Professional Ethics"? What's that? They don't teach that course at FOX academy for the close-minded.
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Porickseantuny | Sep 11, 2011, 03:31 PM EDT
So the conclusion is that Obama can't even read the teleprompter properly?
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wjb1tex | Sep 11, 2011, 01:38 PM EDT
The propaganda that Drudge is all about are links to stories from AP and Reuters and other respectable sources. Why blame Drudge. Sure he is looking for right wing slants but he is not the one writing them.
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mayoman | Sep 11, 2011, 12:32 PM EDT
Drudge is all about petty right-wing propaganda and provocation. Not objective journalism.
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wjb1tex | Sep 11, 2011, 11:35 AM EDT
"Posted by hollabackgurl on Sep 11, 2011, 11:02 AM EDT
"The story stayed on Drudge's site all day, long after it had been established it was misleading. He printed no retraction or apology. That's how we know."---Established by whom and where?
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