AOL Owned Daily Finance Retracts Passage That Libeled Free Republic Over Child Pornography

Thursday, September 23, 2010 | Kristinn

[kristinn]

The AOL-owned site Daily Finance this morning retracted a passage in an article that falsely stated Free Republic hosted child pornography.

The article was about reporter John Cook leaving Yahoo News to return to Gawker. Included in Cook's reasons for leaving, according to Daily Finance reporter Jeff Bercovici, was that Yahoo would not allow him to write about Free Republic "hosting child pornography." The Salon.com article that was linked to support that claim actually stated that Free Republic did not host child pornography.

The offending Daily Finance passage now reads:

"... On similar grounds, he was prohibited from writing about the conservative website Free Republic being used to promote child pornography*..."

A correction added to the end of the article states:

CORRECTION: Originally, this story said Free Republic was hosting child pornography. According to the Salon article that I linked to, Free Republic was not hosting it but being used to direct readers to an outside site that hosted it."

Link to article exposing AOL's libel of FR posted last night.

Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post, who picked up the Daily Finance story last night, posted a clarification this morning. A request for a correction has been made to Nicholas Carlson at the Business Insider who also repeated the false statement by the AOL's Daily Finance.

[rlmorel]

I spend a fair amount of time on FR (almost to exclusion of other sites), but I as Tjeras_Slim suggested, it is not a bad idea to post a vanity if you see it going up.

One of the reasons I enjoy FR is that even though discourse can become quite heated and acrimonious, I don’t see it descend into full profanity.

At least not like that “other site”, which reflects the potty-mouthed, idea-devoid childish liberals that they are. I certainly don’t want that repuation by association.

[Diogenesis]

URLs corrected and expanded:

"Cook tells Bercovici that he was censored by Yahoo,
having to kill both language in stories and stories themselves
because Yahoo didn't find them suitable for their readers.
The first stripe of killed story was a reference to masturbating"

---

"Who would've thought that the guy who'd rescue John Cook
from the "maw of Yahoo" would be Nick Denton himself?
This is obviously a huge loss for Yahoo, and a massive gain for Gawker
...his isn't the first return Gawker's had: Richard Lawson
came back to the site after leaving for a stint with TV Guide."

---

"John Cook is a national reporter/blogger for Yahoo! News."

---

"Last week we waxed misty on the departure of Alex Balk from Gawker,
and speculated on how Nick Denton might fill that gaping void,
in his blog and in all of our hearts. .... Editor John Clarke, Jr. (formerly of Variety)
worked with Mitt Romney on the Salt Lake City Olympics"

---

[?different J. Cook? ???] "JOHN COOK Job: Finance director
Cook has keyed fundraising efforts for several big-name Republicans,
including 2008 presidential candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney,"

[a fool in paradise]

What was his Journolist name?

[a fool in paradise]

Needz more GREEN porn.

[bIlluminati]

I never see the words explicitly spelled out, especially not the “F” word and “C” word.

Dunno. I've seen both Barney "Banking Queen" Frank, and Hitlery Clinton.

[Right Wing Assault]

CORRECTION: Originally, this story said Free Republic was hosting child pornography. According to the Salon article that I linked to, Free Republic was not hosting it but being used to direct readers to an outside site that hosted it."

While technically correct, this is an artfully sleazy retraction.

WHO was using it? WHAT was their true motive for posting links? HOW MANY people were using it to post links? HOW MANY people even saw the links? Etc.

Typical scumball reaction to being caught.

[rabidralph]

That’s Jim Thompson, to you!

[lonevoice]

It’s about time for another one. Some of the photos are also, imho, crossing or close to crossing the line.

I agree with this. As a conservative woman, some of the photos are close enough to the line to make some threads uncomfortable to read at times.

[Right Wing Assault]

From Kurtz:

says the links to what was billed as naked pictures of preteens were posted by a user under the site's free registration policy

I didn't think they were posted. Weren't they in the user's profile? Not the most frequented part of the site.

[Right Wing Assault]

what they owe each of us associated with this site as they are accusing/associating us individually with child pornography as well

Yes, people know I visit FR and now they have valid reasons to believe I and others do so to secretly find links to child porn or at least that I continue to associate with people who do so.

What if I were a teacher or worked with kids and someone found out about this?

Class action suit?

[trisham]

Yes. There’s currently a thread about Sesame Street, where some of us expressed concern about the decision to have a provocatively dressed singer as part of the show, which is intended for very young children. A number of people posted photos and made comments which, imho, were intended to taunt and insult us. This type of poster tends to jeer at any kind of attempt to discuss morality, and while we are fortunate that there aren’t a large number of them, it can be discouraging.

[trisham]

I see that so often lately that I don’t even bother to comment or hit the abuse button.

[mojitojoe]

I agree. That’s not much of a retraction. We knew this was coming. Anyone that exposes them will be in their cross hairs.

[Oratam]

When did John Cook stop beating his wife?

[rlmorel]

Well, I guess the one I see most often is Fk’n...not the other ones.

Explicitly? Well...not explicitly...they could be Tuck, funk and fuch...:)

But I know what you mean.

[Right Wing Assault]

When did John Cook stop beating his wife?

Does he even HAVE a wife, you know?

[rlmorel]

I stand corrected...:)

[ExSoldier]

punitive damages.

"Punies" should be trebled, for true punishing effect.

[Oratam]

Does he even HAVE a wife, you know?

Now that Cook's picture's been posted that 'slur' won't have its intended effect.