Games People Play

7/10/03 | William McKinley

[RonDog]

ping

[Registered]

Good job.

[Support Free Republic]

Any way I can talk you into making a donation?? Thanks if you will!

[RonDog]

See also:

BREAKING: Conned big time "CIA Witness" to White House Lying about Intel story found to be FRAUD
Capitol Hill Blue ^ | July 9, 2003 | Doug Thompson
Posted on 07/09/2003 4:04 PM PDT by Doug Thompson

Damn, I hate it when I've been had and I've been had big time...

CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread

[RonDog]

See also, from the OTHER thread:

To: Pan_Yans Wife

The six stories that quoted this individual as an unnamed source have been removed from our article database. A search of other news sources through the Internet and on Nexis finds no evidence that any of those six stories were published elsewhere. If a further search uncovers evidence of those stories appearing on any web site or in any publication, we will contact that web site or publication and instruct them to remove the stories.

Why such an effort to get rid of these articles?

Seems like more effort has been put into cleaning hard drives then there was in actually verifying the information

839 posted on 07/10/2003 10:44 AM PDT by Mo1

-- snip --

To: Mo1

If nothing appears on Nexis, and the media doesn't pick up the story, then it will be left to people like Freepers, to expose the story. A year from now, when looking for the articles, they won't appear. And, no one will remember the true facts. An apparent coverup.

Are Jayson Blair's articles still available? Is it normal to erase all evidence?

If all evidence is erased, what else is hidden? That is what is bothering me. Will anyone ever get to the bottom of this, other than Mr. Thompson? Do the hard drives contain clues about who Mr. Wilkinson is or isn't?

847 posted on 07/10/2003 10:50 AM PDT by Pan_Yans Wife (Lurking since 2000.)

-- snip --

To: Pan_Yans Wife

Were the articles posted on FR?

930 posted on 07/10/2003 11:56 AM PDT by Amelia (It's better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness)

-- snip --

To: Amelia

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/849092/posts
Madman at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/851965/posts
Writer apologizes for "Madman at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave" column

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_2518.shtml
White House admits Bush wrong about Iraqi nukes

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/942488/posts
Did Captial Hill Blue Post an Article with Fabrications?

939 posted on 07/10/2003 12:13 PM PDT by Pan_Yans Wife (Lurking since 2000.)

[Sabertooth]

Great work, William. Thanks for the ping, RonDog.

((((((growl)))))

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Pinging you to this thread.

[RedWhiteBlue]

"Great job" bump.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

To: Doug Thompson

A bold and fascinating story, Mr. Thompson, but in need of some serious follow-through.

1) Using unnamed sources to discredit another previously unnamed source does nothing to establish your credibility. The way to redemption in a case like this is to lay out all the facts and figures. If you are withholding facts pending a criminal investigation, you should say so, and later disclose those details when such investigations are complete, and in a timely manner.

2) Many of the details you omit would not be prejudicial to a criminal investigation and should be disclosed publicly without delay. Particularly many more of the details regarding this "Mr. Wilkinson", whom you freely name, and specifically how you came to verify and trust him as a source. The key word to your story, in more ways than one, is corroboration, and that requires details that we and your colleagues can check for accuracy. Withholding such details would be suspicious to the point of self-condemnation.

3) Deleting those stories of yours that you claim are tainted, rather than revealing what elements they contained that you are now disavowing, is not a retraction. Having made the admission you have made, it is incumbent upon you to publicly address the validity of each and every story you have written that may have been compromised by this corrupt source. That is by means a simple or painless task, but attempting to hide these stories instead is tantamount to an ersatz coverup, and is questionable in motive.

4) In brief, if you are choosing to come clean, then there is no benefit to only coming half-clean, anymmore than there is benefit to washing only one half of a dinner plate. The veil must be lifted entirely for the truth to be revealed. You have talked the talk, now it is time to walk the walk.

An apology made in earnest is a brave and commendable act. But an apology made in dishonesty or deceit is beneath contempt.

It is now up to you to establish for your readers which type of apology this is.

We'll be watching.

Imal


996 posted on 07/10/2003 6:03 PM EDT by Imal (Worms will forever be tirelessly gnawing at the roots of Liberty.)

[Dont Mention the War]

Why not ask Aaron Brown why he said what he said when he knew it wasn't true, and refuses to retract it? Aaron.Brown@turner.com

[William McKinley]

I don't know that he didn't know. What I do know is that the story was retracted four hours earlier, so if he didn't know, he should have. Further, given that he planted the seeds in the minds of his viewers with the tidbit, he should do the honorable thing and mention that it was proven completely false, and had been being pushed by radical leftists.

[Amelia]

Fabulous job, WM, just fabulous!

Thanks for the ping, RonDog!

[RonDog]

And, see THIS thread:

Terrance J. Wilkinson?
Registered ^ | 07.10.03 | Registered

Posted on 07/10/2003 3:29 PM PDT by Registered

---

CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread

[Nick Danger]

My sense is that the Jayson Blair fiasco, the Capitol Hill Blue fiasco, and Ann Coulter's discovery of the amazing Man-On-Every-Street, one Greg Packer, might be the opening bars of a very long symphony.

Packer and Blair are instances of people who like to see their name in the paper. Blair went so far as to actually worm his way onto the staff, but when you listen to the noises he makes, his motivations are not all that different from Packer's. He just loved waking up in the morning to see those Jayson Blair bylines on the front page of the New York Times. Where Greg Packer would place himself where he knew he could get interviewed, Blair made stuff up to make sure his stories would get placed.

This "Wilkinson" character sounds to me like the same kind of guy, except he got his jollies being taken seriously by Important People. To get into the room with the Big Shots, he would make up any damned thing: CIA agent, NSA spook, former Green Beret... who knows what else he's told other people over the years.

There are thousands of such people out there. In any society with 300 million people, you're going to get some nuts of every kind.

Seymour Hersh is a guy who probably has four or five of these clowns feeding him absolute crap. He has no clue. Robert Novak probably has some. Every one of these well-known pundits and reporters is a target for this kind of nut. We may have even had our own right here on FR, the mysterious Quidam. Our media could be full of quotations from absolute frauds.

What makes Doug Thompson so special that he's the only guy who has collected one of these bogus 'experts' among his trusted sources? I'll bet journalism is full of them. Matt Drudge probably gets 50 emails a week from 'secret whistleblowers' telling him the inside scoop from deep inside the Pentagon or the White House... all of it crap. But you can bet that there are one or two that he's never published, but that have been right about a couple of things, and if they keep that up, one of these days....

One would like to think that the Jayson Blair thing scared the bejeezus out of editors across the country. If it could happen at the New York Times, they probably have one or two in their place.

And now they need to start looking for this, too. My fear is that because Capitol Hill Blue is not exactly the epitome of mainstream journalism, the story of what happened here could sink before it has a chance to do some good. Doug Thompson knows far better than I where the platforms are where he should be screaming about this, but I hope he will do so. There's no reason to believe that he's the only person in journalism that has a publicity-seeking nut in his Rolodex.

[Grampa Dave]

Admin Moderator, I think that the honoree William McKinley had changed his mind about the thread I posted to honor him. I don't believe that he now wants the thread to be pulled.

If it is all right with Mr McKinley, could we have the thread back and the links.

Thanks! If I'm wrong, I will go to the corner of my room for time out!

[LibWhacker]

Outstanding work and fascinating read, WM, thanks. Please keep pinging me to any further developments, Sabertooth.

[Neets]

You coulda pinged me to this Bill...we only went to the Vet!!!

[Copernicus]

Posted to *CCRM