More Fraud at the New York Times.

The New York Times and the White House website ^ | 5-14-03

[TomB]

As if the Times doesn't have enough trouble right about now, their resident grouchy spinster, Maureen Dowd, has pulled a "jayson". For all of you who don't know what that is, it is the newspeak for willfully making up facts to fit a news story. Apparently the elderly Ms. Dowd is not happy with all the attention the higher-ups at the Times have been lavishing on their former employee, and current disgrace, Jayson Blair.

So, in a last-ditch attempt to get her name back in the limelight, Mo has done some of her own quote-doctoring. Here is a few lines from her latest screed:

Busy chasing off Saddam, the president and vice president had told us that Al Qaeda was spent. "Al Qaeda is on the run," President Bush said last week. "That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated. . . . They're not a problem anymore."

Well, that sounds like a pretty stupid thing for the President to say. So, looking it up on the White House website, we find the actual quote

"Al Qaeda is on the run. That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly, but surely being decimated. Right now, about half of all the top al Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they're not a problem anymore. (Applause.) And we'll stay on the hunt. To make sure America is a secure country, the al Qaeda terrorists have got to understand it doesn't matter how long it's going to take, they will be brought to justice. (Applause.)"

Well, quite a difference, no?

I wonder if anything will come of this? I'm not holding my breath.

[William McKinley]

"Sadly, nothing will.", said Freeper Timesink. "she did quote him accurately..."

Somehow, I doubt it is an acceptable standard to merely show (to those paying careful attention) where some words were omitted when clearly the entire tone of a comment can be turned on its head by the omission.

[Cicero]

As you say, it's a selective quote, including the suspension points where she left something out. It's questionably honest, but it's not an outright lie. And it doesn't actually misrepresent what Bush said, it just badly distorts it. But she can claim it's a fair quote, and many would jump to her defense.

What A. M. Rosenthal objected to before he was fired was treating senior officials of the United States with contempt. For instance, NYTimesstyle is "Secretary Rumsfeld or Mr. Rumseld," not "Rummy." And the President's name is not "Dubya" or "Shrub" in formal commentary. Nicknames are for use of your personal friends, not for OpEd attack pieces.

I object to Dowd's intolerable style, of which these are minor instances, more than her political stupidity.

[george wythe]

This woman has either no shame or no brain.

I watched the Bush's speech clip on TV, and it was clear that the dead/captive al-Qaida were the ones who are not a problem any more.

Otherwise, hunting for the other half will be meaningless.

[VOA]

bump

[Enterprise]

So far so good, no hand slap. And it is a damned good post!

[Enterprise]

Andrew Sullivan is pretty astute. And so are FReepers!

[Ironword]

But she didn't quote Bush accurately. Capitalizing the "T" of "They're" (as opposed to the original, lowercase "t") and not denoting such by brackets --- as in [T] --- to show that a change has been made is not simply unacceptable when quoting in professional publishing, but is integral to Dowd's intent to attempt to change the meaning of what was said. Dowd could not have used the ellipses and lowercase "t" and developed the inference she sought; hence, the unmarked capitalization, making the phrase appear to be a stand-alone or complete sentence.

[TomB]

There's no time stamp on Sullivan's post on his website, so I can't tell if the Freepers or Sullivan got the scoop. But now NewsMax has it and things look like they are starting to roll.

The rest of the evening should be interesting. God I love the internet!

[Mo1]

Why would she use that one, when it is easy to catch her spin?

Because liberals don't think they will be called to the mat for their lies

What is happening at the NYT is nothing new .. except this time they were called to the mat for their lying

[longshadow]

Pretty stunning.... well done.

[Enterprise]

"God I love the internet!"

And this is definitely one of those times!

LET'S ROLL!

(I was curious about who posted what first also.)

[mewzilla]

Well done. Perhaps we send Ms. Dowd a complementary copy of The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law (ISBN: 0-7382-0740-3).

Note to Ms. Dowd: The info you so desperately need is found on pages 211-212.

[ninenot]

How should unethical journalists be punished? By firing 95% 77796 votes Jail time 5% 3681 votes No punishment 0% 0 votes Total: 81477 votes

No category "execution"?

[TomB]

Well done. Perhaps we send Ms. Dowd a complementary copy of The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law (ISBN: 0-7382-0740-3).

Come now mew, you should realize by now that those rules are only meant for the little people, not an international, jet-setting old maid like Mo.

[zook]

There is no question that Dowd lied about what Bush said.

[AmericanVictory]

"I don't think you understand, Admiral, we're not interested in the truth. We just want an end to this war!"

--- Arthur Ochs Sulzberger

[GOPJ]

What a burn:

..."pulled a "jayson". For all of you who don't know what that is, it is the newspeak for willfully making up facts to fit a news story."

[GOPJ]

You are so right. Thanks for a great comment:

Why would she use that one, when it is easy to catch her spin?

Because liberals don't think they will be called to the mat for their lies

What is happening at the NYT is nothing new .. except this time they were called to the mat for their lying

[tvn]

The List continues to grow:

All are invited to join the search for new NY Times slogan-

The top 30 Proposed so far:

1) ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT--NOT

2) LOTS OF NEWS THAT'S NOT FIT TO PRINT

3) ALL THE NEWS WE PRINT ISN'T FIT

4) All the Fits That's News to Print

5) All the News That We See Fit to Print

6) All the News As We See It

7) All the News, Fact or Better, Fiction

8) All the News, Well At Least Close

9) All the News That We Can Dream Up

10) All The News We Can Crib From Others

11) Some News, Some Fiction, You Figure It Out

12) All The News We Can Dream Up or Steal

13) All the News That's Fit to Print and Is Cleared by Our Lawyers

14) Lots of News We've Stolen From Other Papers

15) All the News Fit for a Plagiarist

16) All News Only a Plagiarist Can Love

17) All The News, Just Don't Check the Sources

18) All the News, Trust Us--Honest

19) All the News Bringing Fiction to Life

20) All News, No Credibility

21) All the lies we'll fit to print.

22) Face it, We Just Like to Print!

23) Aside from the pervasive Marxist bias, multitudinous errors and mis-information, and Anti-capitalist/anti-American posturing, we ain’t that bad!"

24) "All The News That Fits Our Views."

25) All The News That’s Fit to Print, Except For the Stuff We Make Up

26) All the News And Then the Part We Make Up

27) We’re Singin’, Dancin’ and Lieing ’ For Howell Raines

28) Reporting Fiction Stranger than Fact

29) Reporting Facts And Stranger Fiction

30) Some Facts, the Rest Fiction

[aruanan]

I sent this on to the Don Wade and Roma show on WLSAM in Chicago. He likes to ream out such bias. He read the Neil Cavuto piece today. That was great.