Posted on 04/30/2015 10:46:32 AM PDT by kristinn
Two leading newspapers have posted incorrect reports regarding the role of Free Republic in the dissemination of a bogus story about an alleged pre-existing spinal injury to Freddie Gray that contributed to his death in Baltimore police custody.
Those incorrect reports are being repeated by blogs.
The Baltimore Sun falsely reported:
"The Free Republic website said Wednesday that Gray's "life-ending injuries to his spine may have possibly been the result of spinal and neck surgery that he allegedly received a week before he was arrested." The article also said the injury was the result of a car accident and cited thefourthestate.records.om as the source of the information. The story did not cite any court records.
"Free Republic has since removed the story from its website and could not be reached for comment."
What actually occurred was a poster at Free Republic posted the TheFourthEstate.co article to the news discussion forum at Free Republic. Free Republic did not report on the story.
As happens when something relating to a story of intense public interest breaks multiple versions of the story are posted by posters to Free Republic. Those duplicates are either deleted or locked from receiving further comments.
During the discussion thread based on the article FReepers commented on and analyzed the report. Some took the story at face value and others questioned its veracity. Eventually one poster, Conscience of a Conservative, posted the results of online court documents about Gray's civil actions and pronounced about the TheFourthEstate.co article, " This article is nonsense.
Contrary to the Sun, the article in question is still available as is one locked duplicate.
The Sun article by Mark Puente and Doug Donovan claims Free Republic could not be reached for comment.
I was not contacted by the Sun for this story. I am listed on the Free Republic home page as media contact.
Free Republic owner Jim Robinson told me he was not contacted by the Sun.
The Sun updated its article Thursday morning. All mentions of Free Republic were deleted without notation or explanation.
The Washington Post article published Thursday also incorrectly states Free Republic pulled the TheFourthEstate.co article.
The Post also paints Free Republic as a rumor-mongering site for linking to a report on the injuries of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson that was later proven to be inaccurate.
The Post article by Michael E. Miller said:
..."Yet that was the story circulating on a handful of conservative Web sites Tuesday. In an “exclusive” that quoted anonymous sources, the Web site the Fourth Estate reported that “Freddie Gray’s life-ending injuries to his spine may have possibly been the result of spinal and neck surgery that he allegedly received a week before he was arrested, not from rough [sic] excessively rough treatment or abuse from police.” The site claimed his injury was from a car accident."
..."And yet that rumor might have caused real damage in a country already polarized on the subject of race and the police. The story quickly spread to several other Web sites, such as Free Republic and the Conservative Tree House, which called Gray’s supposedly preexisting injury “a potential game changing discovery.” A site called New York City Guns ran the headline “Dead Baltimore Drug Dealer Had Spinal Surgery DAYS Before He Collapsed in Police Van (Rioters Say ‘OOPS’).”
"“Boom! Seems legit,” a commenter wrote on the Conservative Tree House.
After the Sun and others debunked the story, Free Republic apparently took it down. (Free Republic was criticized previously for linking to a bogus story about Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson suffering a facial fracture in his struggle with Michael Brown.) The Conservative Tree House updated its post by quoting and linking to the Sun but also tried to throw doubt onto the Gray family’s denial of a preexisting injury by calling the attorney’s statement “a little weird.”
Again, Free Republic did not pull the story. Also, again, FReepers post articles like the Darren Wilson story to discuss and analyze.
The irony in all this is that in the course of allegedly stopping rumors in the conservative blogosphere the media has started rumors of their own.
The conservative site Hot Air reiterated the bogus reporting by the Sun and Post about Free Republic in a posting by Jazz shaw.
...The story first showed up at Free Republic and it looks like they jumped the gun on that one because they’ve since pulled the article.
The liberal site Gawker used the Sun article to bash Free Republic.
This report, which includes screenshots of a settlement listed on the Howard County Circuit Court Records, apparently has just enough detail to ring true and was quickly picked up by rabid conservatives at the Free Republic in a now-deleted post cited by the Baltimore Sun.
Likewise the liberal site Wonkette used the Sun article to bash Free Republic.
A poster at the Daily Kos used the Sun article to attack Free Republic.
More excellent coverage from the Baltimore SUN, sticking a thumb in the eye of the F--- Rep----c website and its vicious rumors.
The Columbus Dispatch reprinted the original unedited version of the Sun article on Thursday.
NOW PAY ATTENTION MEDIA AND BLOGGERS. Below is a copy of the source for the Freddie Gray rumors. I saw copies of this being retweeted on Twitter shortly before the TheFourthEstate.co article was posted. This is a text version found in the comment section of the blog NeoNeoCon. It is posted to Free Republic for the record. Understand media and bloggers? Good. Here it is:
This was found in the CITY PAPER in the comments section: Freddy Gray had a pre-existing spinal and neck injury and had severe damage and scar tissue from an accident that Allstate Insurance was paying him a large structured settlement. Freddy had several unsuccessful spinal fusion surgeries, he most recent spinal/cervical operation was a week and a half before he was arrested. Freddy should have been at home in bed resting and recovering from recent major operation instead of manufacturing and distributing drugs on the streets and resisting arrest. Freddy has a criminal record pages long for manufacturing and distributing controlled dangerous drugs that were cocaine crack heroine etc. along with many assault charges, gun charges, breaking and entering and the list goes on since he was 18 years old. (Juvenile records are sealed.) Look at some of this on http://www.mdjudiciarycasesearch. You will also see where he was trying to cash in his monthly structured settlement for his spinal injury payments to one lump sum through Peachtree Funding, He could have easily fallen in the paddy wagon from the slippery bench to the floor or twisted his fused spine to reopen his recently fused damaged spine. Also, the police that arrested him were also black, not white. Why are people destroying their own homes and revenue when they don’t know the whole story? Mostly because it’s a good reason and timing to loot and get new shoes and stolen goods? You got it! None of the police officers that arrested Freddy had a history of police brutality. Freddy was a dangerous career felon with a damaged spine and neck that was supposed to be healing a week and a half after surgery, not running the streets committing felonies and resisting arrest.
Court System: Circuit Court for Howard County – Civil System Case Number: 13C14101574
I do not know if this comment was actually found in the Baltimore City Paper comments section. But it was making the rounds in the hours before the TheFourthEstate.co article was posted. But no media reporter or blogger seems to have reported this. How about that?
Note: Blogger (and retired cop) John Cardillo took apart the TheFourthEstate.co article in detail the night it was posted.
Not likely.
HG is a background program always running to vet blog pimps.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.