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Jason Leopold Caught Sourceless Again
CJR Daily ^ | 6/19/06 | Paul McLeary

Posted on 06/19/2006 7:48:09 PM PDT by LdSentinal

We wonder if the folks over at Truthout.org are rethinking their affiliation with reporter and serial fabulist Jason Leopold. Leopold, you may recall, is the freelance reporter who was caught making stuff up in a 2002 Salon.com article, self-admittedly "getting it completely wrong" in pieces for Dow Jones, and had his own memoir cancelled because of concerns over the accuracy of quotations.

Leopold's latest addition to his application for membership in the Stephen Glass school of journalism came on May 12 of this year, when he got what appeared to be the scoop of a lifetime. Now writing for Truthout.org, Leopold reported that Karl Rove "told President Bush and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, as well as a few other high level administration officials," that he was about to be indicted in the Valerie Plame CIA leak case, "according to people knowledgeable about these discussions."

Leopold claimed that multiple sources "confirmed Rove's indictment is imminent. These individuals requested anonymity saying they were not authorized to speak publicly about Rove's situation."

Well, today we learned that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said he would not seek charges against Rove.

Oops.

Truthout's executive director Marc Ash originally stood by Leopold's story -- even as no other news organization could confirm it, and Rove's attorney vociferously denied it. On May 18, Ash wrote that the site had "additional, independent sources," and that "additional sources have now come forward and offered corroboration to us." But just a day later, Ash issued an odd "partial apology" for "getting too far out in front of the news-cycle," on the story -- a note which smelled a bit like a preemptive backtrack.

But Ash again changed course on May 25, when he wrote for Truthout that he now had "three independent sources confirming that attorneys for Karl Rove were handed an indictment either late in the night of May 12 or early in the morning of May 13. We know that each source was in a position to know what they were talking about."

After all this certainty comes Leopold's latest version of the story, published yesterday, where he writes that he based his original article "on single source information and general background information obtained from experts. The conclusions we arrive at should be considered carefully, but not taken as statements of fact, per se." He makes no mention of those "three independent sources" who were "in a position to know" that Ash trumpeted less than three weeks ago.

Now that we finally have a look at what Leopold and Ash have been working from, it looks pretty thin. Leopold says that he knows "for certain" that there exists a federal indictment called "06 cr 128" which he refers to as "(Sealed vs. Sealed)" since neither party's name is on the document. He also knows that this indictment "was returned by the same grand jury that has been hearing matters related to the Fitzgerald/Plame investigation."

So much for what Leopold knows. Apparently, Leopold is a very religious man, because he "believes" quite a bit about the alleged indictment. He believes that it "is directly related to the Fitzgerald/Plame investigation. That's based on a single credible source." He goes on to list several other things he "believes" to be true, all fed to him by, in his words, the "same single credible source." (Once again, Ash's "three independent sources" are nowhere to be found.)

As for what you should believe about Leopold's story, it's worth looking at his background in more detail.

When Leopold's story was first called into question a few weeks ago, Salon's Tim Grieve reminded readers of Leopold's checkered history with the publication. Salon removed Leopold's August 29, 2002 story about Enron from its site after it was discovered that he plagiarized parts from the Financial Times and was unable to provide a copy of an email that was critical to the piece. Leopold's response? A hysterical rant (linked above) which claimed that Salon's version of events was "nothing but lies," and that "At this point, I wonder why Salon would go to great lengths to further twist the knife into my back. I suppose the New York Times will now release their version of the events. I can see the headline now 'Jason Leopold Must Die.'" In other words, people are out to get him, and it's not his fault.

Fast forward to March 2005, when Leopold's memoir, Off the Record, was set to be released. In the book, according to Howard Kurtz, Leopold says that he details his own "lying, cheating and backstabbing," and comes clean about how he got fired from the Los Angeles Times and quit Dow Jones just before they fired him because, as he said, it "Seems I got all of the facts wrong" on a story about Enron.

But the book was not to be. Rowman & Littlefield, the book's publisher, cancelled production just before it went to press after one of the book's sources threatened to sue. That source, Steven Maviglio, who was a spokesman for California Governor Gray Davis, said that Leopold "just got it completely wrong" when recounting how he allegedly told Leopold that he "might have broken the law by investing in energy companies using inside information."

True to form, Leopold blamed his publisher for the controversy, claiming the allegations about Maviglio were not in his book, and, as Kurtz summarized it, "the company's publicist took that and other material from his book proposal, not the finished manuscript."

If there is one common theme that emerges from all of Leopold's journalistic snafus, it's that none of it seems to be his fault. We probably won't have to wait long before we hear the same tired refrain from him about the Rove story.

But we wonder when editors will finally figure out his game, save themselves the trouble, and just stop publishing him.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ccrm; cialeak; hoaxmas; indictment; jasonleopold; leopold; mediabias; plame; rove; source
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1 posted on 06/19/2006 7:48:11 PM PDT by LdSentinal
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To: LdSentinal

I am so surprised... again /sarc


2 posted on 06/19/2006 7:54:14 PM PDT by TexasTransplant (NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSET)
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To: LdSentinal
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Image hosted by Photobucket.com
What We Are About To Do Here Is What The Good Lord Would Call A Cleansing of the Wicked. I Call It A Good Old Fashioned Texas Ass Kicking.
3 posted on 06/19/2006 7:54:20 PM PDT by speed_addiction (And the Lord said, "Who shall I send? Who will stand for us?" Said I, "Here I am...Send me.")
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To: LdSentinal
But Ash again changed course on May 25, when he wrote for Truthout that he now had "three independent sources confirming that attorneys for Karl Rove were handed an indictment either late in the night of May 12 or early in the morning of May 13. We know that each source was in a position to know what they were talking about."

Whoa, this could be up to, like, six extra business hours. There's still time, DUmmies and KOmmies!

4 posted on 06/19/2006 7:55:37 PM PDT by Gordongekko909 (I know. Let's cut his WHOLE BODY off.)
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To: LdSentinal
TruthOut = NutsIn

Kook, kook a chew...

5 posted on 06/19/2006 8:02:07 PM PDT by Doctor Raoul (Liberals saying "We Support The Troops" is like OJ looking for the real killers.)
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To: LdSentinal
Jayson Blair wants to have Leopold's baby...
6 posted on 06/19/2006 8:03:09 PM PDT by Doctor Raoul (Liberals saying "We Support The Troops" is like OJ looking for the real killers.)
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To: LdSentinal

Leopold would make a good regular contributor to that Daily Koz site.


7 posted on 06/19/2006 8:11:12 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: LdSentinal

Here's my opinion. I support freedom of the Press, but I also thought we had some kind of law against journalists writing fiction as fact. If we don't we need one.


8 posted on 06/19/2006 8:19:01 PM PDT by phoenix0468 (http://www.mylocalforum.com -- Go Speak Your Mind.)
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To: LdSentinal

I'm sure he could find work at CNN or CBS. "Yellow Journalism" is their middle names.


9 posted on 06/19/2006 8:22:02 PM PDT by phoenix0468 (http://www.mylocalforum.com -- Go Speak Your Mind.)
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To: phoenix0468

I sent him an email originally on the Rove indictment. He sent an email probably to everyone that it was still happening shortly.

I recently sent him another email scathing in content and humor.
Not a word since.

The website makes no more mention of our friend Rove.


10 posted on 06/19/2006 8:25:50 PM PDT by romanesq (.)
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To: romanesq
Yes, his head is still buried in the sand apparently.
11 posted on 06/19/2006 8:35:53 PM PDT by phoenix0468 (http://www.mylocalforum.com -- Go Speak Your Mind.)
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To: LdSentinal

He tried to get ahead of the curve, but jumped the shark instead.


12 posted on 06/19/2006 8:41:04 PM PDT by Rocky (Air America: Robbing the poor to feed the Left)
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To: PJ-Comix

Ping.


13 posted on 06/19/2006 8:41:37 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson (t r u t h o u t i n t h e A s h P i t t . o r g)
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To: LdSentinal

More proof that liberalism is a disease, not an ideology.


14 posted on 06/19/2006 8:43:50 PM PDT by NewLand (Posting against liberalism since the 20th century!)
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To: LdSentinal
"It's beginning to look a lot like Fitzmas,
Eeeeeeverywhere I go..."
15 posted on 06/19/2006 8:49:29 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: LdSentinal
"...serial fabulist Jason Leopold."


16 posted on 06/19/2006 9:01:19 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life)
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To: romanesq
I sent him an email originally on the Rove indictment.

So, it's your fault and he's just a misunderstood journalist who's only flaw is a touch of naivite. Figures.

/sarc

17 posted on 06/19/2006 9:22:01 PM PDT by lafroste (gravity is not a force. See my profile to read my novel absolutely free (I know, beyond shameless))
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To: phoenix0468

Or more likely, "Weekly World News" . . . .

Have you heard the latest about Batboy???


18 posted on 06/19/2006 9:24:07 PM PDT by Solemar ("Frognostication": The science of predicting the exact date and time that France will surrender.)
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To: Liberty Valance
No, that's Josh the Leopard man!! LOL!!
19 posted on 06/19/2006 9:28:33 PM PDT by phoenix0468 (http://www.mylocalforum.com -- Go Speak Your Mind.)
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To: Solemar

Yes, he found a nice cave in Southern New Mexico and is raising a family of pups now. HEHE.


20 posted on 06/19/2006 9:29:44 PM PDT by phoenix0468 (http://www.mylocalforum.com -- Go Speak Your Mind.)
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