Corrections

LA Times ^ | December 13, 2003 | Staff

[kennedy]

Activist — An article in Monday's Section A included incorrect information about animal rights activist Virgil Butler. It said that Butler took part in the U.S. invasion of Panama, where he recalled killing enemy soldiers, but the Army has no record of his service. The article stated that Butler shot a man to death in the parking lot of a bar and went to prison for manslaughter. In fact, he was convicted of felony burglary, and the shooting could not be confirmed. The article said Butler killed 80,000 birds a shift at a Tyson poultry plant. He did not slaughter every chicken personally but was part of a nine-person team.

[kennedy]

An "animal rights activist" lied? GASP! Tell me it isn't so!

[snopercod]

ROFL! You can't make this stuff up.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

An lib'ral lies? Gasp!
Stop the presses, We have news.
sarcasm now off.;-)

[hellinahandcart]

"Competing with the NY Times" ping.

[witnesstothefall]

The LA Times should publish a daily Corrections Item stating simply:

Yesterday, we were wrong.

[dighton]

Hellinahandcart, someday I'll forgive you for not pinging me to this one. Maybe.

;-)

[kennedy]

They could simply save time by ending every article with the phrase, "or not."

[hellinahandcart]

So what was the spin of the original article, eh? Anyone know?

"I was a bad man. I killed men in battle and liked it so much I later killed a man in a parking lot, just to watch him die." (cue "Folsom Prison") "But none of that compares with the slaughter I personally wreaked at the Tyson chicken plant. Now that I am a vegetarian, I can see the error of my ways."

[hellinahandcart]

I was going to get around to it. :P

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Does no one fact check anymore?

[IronJack]

Does no one fact check anymore?

Not journalists, certainly. Facts could interfere with the propaganda. Besides, who has the time? They're too busy attending "Ethics in Journalism" seminars.

[IronJack]

Yesterday, we were wrong.

HAHAHA! Or how about "Never mind."

[11th Earl of Mar]

An article from the LA Times claiming they made a mistake is like a weatherman stating the obvious: "Yesterday, it was light. Last evening it was dark."

[skinkinthegrass]

"But none of that compares with the slaughter I personally wreaked at the Tyson chicken plant. Now that I am a vegetarian, I can see the error of my ways."

The Shame...The Shame :weep:

Of course, Your correct...Ya just can't make this up! Hmm..Time for lunch, Lee's Famous Fried Chicken or KFC :))

[kennedy]

The original article is still posted on the LA Times website HERE. It begins:

In his dim trailer in the pines, Virgil Butler writes of killing.

He once shot a man to death in the parking lot of a bar. He served in the American invasion of Panama and recalled killing enemy soldiers at close range. That is not the violence that drives him to his keyboard.

He is haunted, instead, by the nine years he made his way in the world by slaughtering chickens.

In the chilled dark of a Tyson processing plant, Butler killed 80,000 birds a shift.

[snip]

The man he shot at the bar — that was self-defense. The soldiers he killed — that was war. It's the birds that shadow his sleep.

There are some hillarious letters to the editor written about the article too.

[Enterprise]

How about:" We're probably wrong, but this is what some guy told us."

[hellinahandcart]

Wow. I am, like, psychic. I oughta open up a storefront or something.

[Doctor Raoul]

I see a little light and feel a little heat here.

The LA Times Editor did send a message to his staff to be careful NOT to let your own views effect the outcome of their reporting.

More recently, he directed them to not refer to the Baath Party/Feddeyeen/Republican Guard types as "resistance".

Now they publish this. I'd rather see it as a STORY about a person who lied to the press, so it would get as much notice as his claims in the original article, but this is a start.

When I'm in LA, I might just pick up an occasional LA Times along with my daily Orange County Register.

[hellinahandcart]

So he not only lied about his service record, but his prison record. LOL. That's just amazing.

He's a self-aggrandizing thief.

[kennedy]

Maybe you could get a job as a reporter for the LA Times. You could make up stories -- oops, I meant write articles -- without ever leaving your house. Of course, that's what most of their reporters do, but you articles would probably be more accurrate.