Posted on 11/11/2015 2:57:38 AM PST by Another Post-American
Politicoâs Kyle Cheney admitted that he fabricated a negative story about Ben Carson. At least, according to his own standards, he admitted the grievous journalistic sin.
In a story published early on Friday, Politicoâs Kyle Cheney authored a piece headlined âBen Carson admits fabricating West Point scholarshipâ with a subhed âCarsonâs campaign on Friday conceded that a central point in his inspirational personal story did not occur as he previously described.â
There were at least five major problems with the story:
The headline was completely false The subhed was also completely false The opening paragraph was false false false The substance of the piece was missing key exonerating information The article demonstrated confusion about service academy admissions and benefits But other than that, A+++ work, Kyle Cheney and Politico.
It could take all day to parse the problems with Kyle Cheneyâs now-somewhat-cleaned-up hit piece on Carson, but letâs just look at his original introductory claims:
Ben Carsonâs campaign on Friday admitted, in a response to an inquiry from POLITICO, that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated: his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The academy has occupied a central place in Carsonâs tale for years. According to a story told in Carsonâs book, âGifted Hands,â the then-17 year old was introduced in 1969 to Gen. William Westmoreland, who had just ended his command of U.S. forces in Vietnam, and the two dined together. That meeting, according to Carsonâs telling, was followed by a âfull scholarshipâ to the military academy. West Point, however, has no record of Carson applying, much less being extended admissionâ¦When presented with this evidence, Carsonâs campaign conceded the story was false. Roughly none of this is true. Ben Carsonâs campaign did not âadmitâ that a central point in his story âwas fabricated.â Quite the opposite. The central point of the story is falsely described by Cheney/Politico as being that he applied and was accepted at West Point. Carson, in fact, has repeatedly claimed not to have applied. So any claim regarding the absence of West Point records of such an application would not debunk Carsonâs point. And, again, Carsonâs campaign never âconcededâ the story was false at least in part because the story, as characterized by Politico, is not one he told. Further, Cheney is unable to substantiate his claim that Carson told this story. Nowhere in the article does he even explain, with facts, where he came up with the idea that Carson has ever made this claim.
Politico stealthily edited the inflammatory headline and lede, after the damage was done. They made changes without adding a note about what was corrected. They didnât update the piece or add an editorâs note. The new headline is very much toned down to âExclusive: Carson claimed West Point âscholarshipâ but never applied.â This is a claim not exclusive to Politico and not newsworthy in the least. Carson himself broke this news 23 years ago when he said he was offered a scholarship to West Point but never applied. The cleaned-up story still says that Carson âconceded that he never applied nor was granted admission to West Point.â To concede is to admit that something is true. But, again, Carson himself made this claim more than two decades ago, so heâs not conceding the point to Kyle Cheney or Politico simply because Kyle Cheney and Politico misread him.
The Washington Postâs Dave Weigel, who immediately expressed skepticism about the significance of the Politico hit that was taking everybody by storm, has a balanced take on the kerfuffle here. He also noted:
One other quick point to make about Politico and Kyle Cheneyâs piece. The original story claimed that Carson also lied by claiming he was offered a full scholarship to West Point since the service academy is entirely taxpayer funded. Or, as Politico put it: âindeed there are no âfull scholarships,â per se.â The only problem with this is that the academy itself describes this benefit as a âfull scholarship.â
Ben Carson was a brilliant student who had already shown an interest in the military and had demonstrated leadership skills. It would be weirder if West Point hadnât tried to recruit him than tried to recruit him. This doesnât happen to us journalists, for obvious reasons, but exceptional students are recruited by top colleges and universities all the time.
Now, as for Kyle Cheneyâs concession that he fabricated his piece on Carson. He didnât. Thatâs how Iâm interpreting his decision to stealthily edit his piece to remove much of the error. But Ben Carson didnât âadmitâ or âconcedeâ to fabrication and heâs been tarred by Cheney as if he had. So Iâll keep the headline.
Other critiques of Cheney and Politico are available from across the political and media spectrum here, here, here, here, here, and here.
At a time when the media need to demonstrate good faith efforts to cover Republicans and conservatives with even a modicum of fairness, Kyle Cheney and Politico have done a tremendous disservice to their brands.
About time.....
If they had done this within 24 hours it might have meant something...but at this late date it’s a worthless apology.
Case study?
What the hell was Rathergate? They’re still insisting “Fake, but accurate!”
Fauxpas.....I see this story originally posted on November 6th.
I had not seen it..
Presence of Malice, a film to be made.
As bad as the original hit-piece was, it does no good to reciprocate when refuting it. It amazes me that I’ve seen now at least two articles that say something to the effect that “Politico admits it fabricated.....”
It did no such thing in the context about which the two articles are complaining. What Politico did was to edit (subtly or not) the original story. That’s it. No ‘admission’ ‘mea culpa’ or ‘my bad.’
Of course they lied, by omission, interpretation or by word play. Doing the same thing in reponse serves nothing. It’s all water off a duck’s back with Democrats.
That’s fine but their original story got what seemed an incredible amount of mainstream coverage, it was mentioned almost every half hour on the local radio news that day.
Not a single mention of this yet.
Exactly... this will slide down the memory-hole and “Politico” will write many more hit-pieces before this campaign is over.
Now, as for Kyle Cheneyââ¬â¢s concession that he fabricated his piece on Carson. He didnââ¬â¢t. Thatââ¬â¢s how Iââ¬â¢m interpreting his decision to stealthily edit his piece to remove much of the error. But Ben Carson didnââ¬â¢t ââ¬Åadmitââ¬Â or ââ¬Åconcedeââ¬Â to fabrication and heââ¬â¢s been tarred by Cheney as if he had. So Iââ¬â¢ll keep the headline.
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What is with the formatting on FR? The above is almost totally unreadable. Is there any way this can be corrected?
Standard procedure for leftist operatives.
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