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.

[airborne]

Looks like they replaced one lie with another.

Sue the bastards!

[subterfuge]

You’re right. Lets up that to $200 million.

[potlatch]

*

[NonValueAdded]

What, they finally exhausted their quota of the word “allegedly”? IMHO their retraction is not good enough. Using their standard, all of the commentary on AOL must surely put them in the same status of temporarily having a message point at something illegal, immoral, or fattening for the brief period of time it takes for a moderator to moderate.

[American Constitutionalist]

$ 300 Million

[Demian]

Somebody wrote this comment on the Business Insider story:

“This guy [John Cook] is pretty slimy. He admitted in his Daily KOS journal he added kiddie porn links to profile pages on the website ‘Free Republic’ to play a game and test how long they would last. He then wrote an article accusing the site of hosting those links.. Real slimy fella.”

[Kartographer]

"Twenty Mil is about what they owe each of us associated with this site as they are accusing/associating us individually with child pornography as well"

GOOD POINT! I never thought of that. What if any one of you decide or is running for public office and you opponent printed a story that you are a member of an on line group with reported ties to child porn, what would be a serious and potentially candidate killing situation!

[Kartographer]

“subterfuge ~ Someone owes Jim Robinson about $20 million.
MichaelCorleone ~ Plus expenses.
Plus exemplary and punitive damages.”

And about a pound of live flesh!!

[Brett66]

A troll could certainly do this, I remember the “tub girl” troll a few years ago that posted porn pics all over the site.

However, the story makes it sound like that link stood there permanently.

If they had the server logs of this posting they could show where the porno links were removed shortly after they were posted.

Perhaps this is enough of shading of the truth that could be disproved by the server logs that it would have a chance of standing up in court?

[rlmorel]

This, about a website that has a well deserved reputation for avoiding profanity.

[Nickname]

The “correction” suggests that FR and its participants condone and willingly facilitate access to child pornography.

I’m so disgusted.

These are the same people who tell us we need journalism degrees to have credibility in reporting.

[Viking2002]

'New redundant Mega-Super Servers for FR and No more Freepathons... YEA!!!'

You're the 'long lost' relative who shows up at the door when someone wins the lottery. LOL

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away, for his name is Obama."

[Marty62]

First step in cleaning their clock, to the tune of minimum 25 mil. What a pathetic and well concealed non-correction.

[airborne]

Whatever the amount, they should be made to pay!

BIG TIME!

[reasonisfaith]

By all means sue them for hundreds of millions.

But if you really want to punish them, let them in on the fact that their entire ideology is so worthless it can only be perpetrated through fraud and deceit such as this.

[trisham]

Not good enough, imho. The harm has already been done.

[alancarp]

Free Republic could end up owning everybody repeating this bald-faced lie.

[Artemis Webb]

Sue em Jim.
They would do the same for us.

[dforest]

That is still a smear.

[null and void]

These days a mere unsubstantiated rumor of child porn or sexual impropriety is more than enough to forever besmirch a person's reputation.

Look for a lot of the enemies of the state to go through this.

I'd venture that a sufficiently motivated persecutor prosecutor can "find" child porn on any computer ever used anywhere.

Even if they can't prove it to a jury, they can tar and feather on the front page, and retract on page B-22, below the fold, inside edge, left hand side six months later.