Alternate headline: NYT Issues Correction After Taking Word of Domestic Terrorist Over FBI Informant

Second alternate headline: How to Get NYT to Correct a Provably False Smear Against an American Patriot: 1) Sue Them…

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Recently Big Journalism called for the New York Times to issue a correction after falsely accusing Brandon Darby of encouraging a leftist terror plot to bomb the 2008 RNC:

Last month, New York Times reporter James C. McKinley Jr. falsely reported that an FBI informant who helped to thwart a left-wing terrorist plot had actually encouraged the conspiracy.  In the article “Anarchist Ties Seen in ’08 Bombing of Texas Governor’s Mansion” published February 22, 2011 online and in the print edition a day later, the Times indicated that former left-wing activist and BigGovernment.com contributor Brandon Darby urged two anarchists to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota [emphasis added]:

Yet federal agents accused two men from these circles of plotting to make firebombs and hurl them at police cars during the convention. An F.B.I informant from Austin, Brandon Darby, was traveling with the group and told the authorities of the plot, which he had encouraged.

We brought this to your attention on February 24th when we asked the Times to correct the record.  We noted that according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, the assertion Darby “encouraged” the plot was patently false.  On February 27th, we brought in Matthew Vadum, an expert on the circumstances surrounding the plot, to provide broader context to the Times’s smear.

Still, the error remained uncorrected.

Then, last week, a source informed BigJournalism.com that the New York Times reporter acknowledged the charge they published against Darby was in fact bogus, but still, the Times did not correct the article.

As of this writing, the false charge against Darby remains in tact.

Today, Brandon Darby filed a lawsuit against New York Times for libel and defamation.

Today the NYT finally issued that correction, perhaps too little too late as Darby already filed suit:

Corrections

Published: March 15, 2011

NATIONAL

An article on Feb. 23 about developments in the investigation of a 2008 arson fire at the Texas governor’s mansion misstated the role played by an F.B.I. informer, Brandon Darby, in an earlier case in Minnesota. In that case, two men were accused of making and possessing gasoline bombs at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in 2008. Both men eventually pleaded guilty. Initially, however, one of them implicated Mr. Darby, saying Mr. Darby had persuaded him to make the bombs. He later conceded that Mr. Darby had not entrapped him.  (Go to Article)

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Earlier this week, in a segment on his NPR video exposé, PBS’s NewsHour aired the false claim James O Keefe pleaded guilty to attempting to bug the offices of Sen. Mary Landrieu:

And last year [O'Keefe] was arrested and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempting to bug the offices of Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu.

O’Keefe and company pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of entering federal property under false pretenses.  There were never any allegations of a plot to bug or wiretap Sen. Landrieu in the FBI affidavit and a law enforcement official conceded over a year ago that the four men were not attempting to wiretap or intercept calls.  Despite all that, the reporter from PBS makes a definitive and erroneous claim that the activists pleaded guilty to attempting to bug Landrieu’s phones.  What’s more, legal representation for the accused went on record in January of last year, almost immediately after the arrest, stating there were no intentions to tap phones in the Senator’s office.

The bogus media meme that O’Keefe was trying to bug or wiretap a U.S. Senator was proven false a year ago.  We advise PBS and its reporters bring themselves up to speed on this story before they report on it further. (more…)

Last month, New York Times reporter James C. McKinley Jr. falsely reported that an FBI informant who helped to thwart a left-wing terrorist plot had actually encouraged the conspiracy. In the article “Anarchist Ties Seen in ’08 Bombing of Texas Governor’s Mansion” published February 22, 2011 online and in the print edition a day later, the Times indicated that former left-wing activist and BigGovernment.com contributor Brandon Darby urged two anarchists to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota [emphasis added]:

Yet federal agents accused two men from these circles of plotting to make firebombs and hurl them at police cars during the convention. An F.B.I informant from Austin, Brandon Darby, was traveling with the group and told the authorities of the plot, which he had encouraged.

We brought this to your attention on February 24th when we asked the Times to correct the record. We noted that according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, the assertion Darby “encouraged” the plot was patently false. On February 27th, we brought in Matthew Vadum, an expert on the circumstances surrounding the plot, to provide broader context to the Times’s smear.

Still, the error remained uncorrected.

Then, last week, a source informed BigJournalism.com that the New York Times reporter acknowledged the charge they published against Darby was in fact bogus, but still, the Times did not correct the article.

As of this writing, the false charge against Darby remains in tact.

Today, Brandon Darby filed a lawsuit against New York Times for libel and defamation. An official letter from Mr. Darby:

We’ll be following the story as it develops on BigJournalism.com and BigGovernment.com.

Last week, we asked the New York Times to correct an article by James C. McKinley Jr. that falsely claimed FBI informant and BigGovernment contributor Brandon Darby “encouraged” the left-wing terrorist plot to firebomb the 2008 RNC convention on which he blew the proverbial whistle.  First, we pointed out that this assertion had been debunked by both the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota and one of the convicted plotters.  We then brought in journalist Matthew Vadum, an expert on Darby’s incredible story, to write up a more comprehensive article to provide broader context to the Times’s smear.  But the record went uncorrected.

So we pressed the Times even more, this time getting another expert on this case, James Walsh of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, to reach out to Mr. McKinley and point out the egregious error in the NYT piece.  We were forwarded the following email written by Mr. Walsh (emphasis added):

I sent an email to the NYT reporter this morning. In it, I said that I covered the case and that Darby was never proven to have encourage or participated in any violence. I told the reporter that [David McKay] made that assertion and won a hung jury, but later admitted that he lied when it became apparent that [Neil] Crowder would testify against him.

I got this response:

“Thank you for you letter and for straightening us out on that point.  Yours. Jim”

For what it’s worth….

James Walsh
Staff Writer
Federal Courts and Federal Agencies
Star Tribune

According to Walsh’s email, Times reporter James C. McKinley Jr. is now crystal-clear that there was never any evidence to suggest Mr. Darby did anything to encourage the plot to murder Republicans, yet his article remains uncorrected. (more…)

In the Wednesday edition of the New York Times, James C. McKinley Jr. falsely reported that an FBI informant who helped to thwart a left-wing terrorist plot had actually encouraged the conspiracy.

In the article Anarchist Ties Seen in ’08 Bombing of Texas Governor’s Mansion published February 22, 2011, the newspaper indicated that former left-wing activist Brandon Darby urged two anarchists to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota:

Yet federal agents accused two men from these circles of plotting to make firebombs and hurl them at police cars during the convention. An F.B.I informant from Austin, Brandon Darby, was traveling with the group and told the authorities of the plot, which he had encouraged.

According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, this is a false assertion.

That office stated the following in a May 21, 2009 press release titled Texas Man Sentenced on Firearms Charges Connected to the Republican National Convention:

A 23-year-old man from Austin, Texas, who was connected to a group that planned to disrupt the Republican National Convention in September 2008, was sentenced today in federal court on three firearms charges.

On May 21 in Minneapolis, United States District Court Chief Judge Michael Davis sentenced David Guy McKay to 48 months in prison and three years of supervised release on one count of possession of an unregistered firearm, one count of illegal manufacture of a firearm and one count of possession of a firearm with no serial number. McKay pleaded guilty on March 17.

Today’s sentence included a finding by Judge Davis that McKay obstructed justice at his January trial by falsely accusing a government informant, Brandon Darby, of inducing him to manufacture the Molotov cocktails.

David McKay admitted he lied to suggest the Darby had induced the crime on which he was blowing the whistle:  (more…)

Earlier this evening several different sources reported that Wisconsin doctors had set up camp at today’s Wisconsin/Scott Walker rally/protest to issue sick notes to union teachers.

Karoli, blogging at Crooks and Liars, incorrectly identified the story as being false and perpetrated by Andrew Breitbart, despite multiple, firsthand accounts proving otherwise.

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UPDATE 2/15 1:32 PM PST: The post has been stealth-corrected.

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UPDATE 11:16 PM PST: Remarkably, this post is still not corrected.

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Earlier today, Philadelphia magazine published an article by Natalie Hope McDonald titled “Coulter Wants to Woo the Gays” in their “Best of the Gayborhood” section.  The article included the following passage:

Andrew Breitbart, however, seems to side with Coulter. As a member of GOProud’s advisory council, Breitbart attended the conference as an openly gay conservative. “The truth is that it is liberals in America who are bent on dividing people, on forcing people into ideological boxes based merely on their race, religion, sex or sexual orientation,” said Breitbart in a press statement. “I applaud GOProud’s strong, principled conservatism and admire their courage to defy the left’s stifling demand for group conformity.”

The article is largely a fair assessment of the circumstances surrounding GOProud’s involvement in CPAC, but it’s inaccurate to say that Andrew Breitbart is “gay,” much less “openly gay.”  While there certainly wouldn’t be anything wrong with that if he were gay, Mr. Breitbart has a wife and four children.

We kindly request they correct the record.

In today’s article “Planned Parenthood Video Fuels Abortion Debate,” CBS News incorrectly reports, “[Lila] Rose has worked with the organization whose undercover videos helped bring down the community organizing group Acorn.”

Veritas Visuals compiled the ACORN video exposé; Ms. Rose have never worked with Veritas Visuals.

We kindly request they correct the record.

UPDATE: NPR published the following correction:

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Yesterday, NPR’s Ombudsman released a column entitled “NPR Blog on Planned Parenthood Sting Earns Critics,” where the author’s critique of her own organization quickly devolves into a two-minute hate against Andrew Breitbart.  Alicia C. Shepard took the opportunity to trot out some of the left’s favorite anti-Breitbart talking points.  A highlight:

Breitbart posted the [ACORN] videos at biggovernment.com. ACORN, a left-leaning community services organization, subsequently was forced out of business, even though it had become clear that the videos had been heavily edited to make the actions of ACORN employees appear worse than they were.

Shepard is intentionally cryptic when she writes the “ACORN employees appear worse than they were,” but she’s presumably referring to the fact that the ACORN employees, who appeared to be engaging in illegal activities, were “cleared legally.”  It is a huge misconception that the ACORN employees were cleared because of malicious editing; they were not in violation of the law because the undercover actors didn’t have criminal intent.  This is all explained on page 16 in Jerry Brown’s ACORN California report: (more…)

Earlier today BigGovernment.com, BigJournalism.com, and Breitbart.TV published a shocking video investigation from Lila Rose’s pro-life organization, Live Action, showing a Planned Parenthood employee advising a “pimp” on underage sex trafficking and secret abortions for minors  The post had only been live for a few hours when NPR began to run interference for Planned Parenthood, the government-supported clinics widely known for counseling women on abortions.  There are factual errors in the piece that NPR ought to address.

First, note the original headline of the NPR article:

The article by Eyder Peralta was originally given the title “Group Behind ACORN Undercover Videos, Sets Up Planned Parenthood ‘Sting.’”  The ACORN investigation was conducted by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles for O’Keefe’s Veritas Visuals organization, while the Planned Parenthood investigation released today was conducted by Lila Rose and her team at Live Action.  Ms. Rose was not involved in the ACORN videos.  NPR has since corrected the headline, which is especially convenient because we also take issue with their comma usage as well as their decision to use scare quotes around the word “sting.”  The URL slug of the updated version of the post still contains the original headline:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/02/01/133403770/group-behind-acorn-undercover-videos-sets-up-planned-parenthood-sting

The folks at Live Action discreetly let NPR know they had mischaracterized the organization, and NPR obliged with a correction, but the fact that this error was made at all is extremely revealing.  Live Action’s investigation clearly demonstrates a manager of a government-funded organization, trusted to abide by the law, advising young people to perform illegal (and immoral) activities, even offering tips to not get caught, yet NPR ran the story with the aforementioned headline.  Their editorial staff used a false fact as an attempt to diminish Live Action’s findings, portraying the investigation in a controversial light instead of letting their audience simply see and hear the facts for themselves.  While we appreciate the correction, this was a mistake that diligent and honest journalists never would have made.

But wait, there’s more.

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Publisher David Frum’s pettiness knows no bounds.  Earlier today he falsely accused Andrew Breitbart of having sought out an invitation to a party at his house:

Breitbart emphatically denied having “sought” an invitation to the party, which was for Roger L. Simon’s book,  Blacklisting Myself. Over at Simon’s Pajamas Media, Simon went on record supporting Breitbart:

So, according to the guest of honor of the aforementioned party, Breitbart was invited not once, but twice.  Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence, Frum has yet to formerly retract the bogus (and alarmingly trivial) charge against Breitbart.  We respectfully ask that he do so post haste.

Additionally, it should be noted that Frum’s wife, Danielle Crittenden, is piling on Breitbart, first by calling him a sinner and then by chastising the BigJournalism publisher, who is Jewish, by saying “I bet you’re super tight with Mel Gibson”: (more…)

The February edition of Vanity Fair contains an article by William D. Cohan entitled, “Huffing And Puffing,” which extensively discusses the lawsuit brought against Arianna Huffington and The Huffington Post by Peter Daou and James Boyce.  Daou and Boyce claim that they played a critical role in helping Huffington create her popular website but have not been credited or compensated; they are demanding monetary damages.

There are multiple factual errors in the article that Vanity Fair ought to correct.

In the article, Vanity Fair claims, “in January 2005, Huffington and Lerer hired Breitbart….” This assertion is incorrect; Breitbart was not hired in January 2005.

Elsewhere in the article, Vanity Fair claims that, “for his part, Breitbart said the fighting among the four protagonists amuses him, especially since Huffington fired him after six months.” The assertion that Breitbart was fired after six months is also incorrect; Breitbart was never fired. (more…)

As noted earlier from Big Journalism’s Ben Evans, AlterNet blogger Chris Hedges used a video still of a tea party crasher to prop up his narrative of fascism within the tea party.

The video still originated from a video shot by Adam Sharp, a well-known citizen journalist and videographer, during a spring tea party rally against the health control legislation pending in congress. Days earlier a school teacher created a tea party crasher website encouraging leftists to falsely represent themselves (or maybe not falsely) as racists, Nazis, et al. and infiltrate tea party events to get in media and make the tea party look bad. The stunt failed and the instigators were quickly identified at rallies across the country and driven out of the events.

(more…)

Read the original correction request here.

In the New Jersey Star-Ledger editorial “Gov. Christie shouldn’t cozy up to muckraker of ‘Teachers Union Gone Wild’” published today, October 29, 2010, the editorial board falsely reported that James O’Keefe plead guilty to “tampering” with phones in the offices of Sen. Mary Landrieu:

James O’Keefe was back in the news this week when his “Teachers Union Gone Wild” investigation of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) went viral and was even praised by Governor Chris Christie.  But not everyone was convinced O’Keefe had hit paydirt; consider the Fox 29 Philadelphia news team among the skeptics.  According to the station, their own Bruce Gordon spent the day in Trenton getting the “context” of the video, and he enthusiastically reported that Mr. O’Keefe and his team may have selectively and maliciously edited the tape to take one particular teacher, Alissa Ploshnick, out of context:

But yesterday, “Teachers Union Gone Wild” director and Big Journalism contributor Christian Hartsock cleared up the discrepancy when he released the full, unedited audio of the sequence.  From Hartsock’s explanation:

NJEA Communications Director Steve Wollmer has come forward on behalf of the “sheltered” Ploshnick, insisting that the recorded talking points of hers we have — including her emphasis on how “hard” it is to fire a tenured teacher, as well as her sharing of an anecdote in which a tenured teacher called a student the “N” word only to be slapped on the wrist with a demotion — were manipulatively tossed into the same context when they were uttered in totally separate contexts.

Wollmer explains that Ploshnick was recounting an episode from her own high school days in Clifton High twenty years ago, in which a mere student called another student the “N” word in the hallway, insinuating it was shared in a totally separate context from her emphasis on how hard it is to fire tenured teachers.

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Did I separate the two soundbites to accommodate a voice-over punctuation in between? Yes I did. But now, I will present to you the monolithic clip incorporating both soundbites side-by-side which she has since claimed to be uttered on separate terms:

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In his piece today entitled “Sarah Palin is wreaking havoc on the campaign trail, GOP sources say,” Politico’s Jonathan Martin (who was tasked with the Republican Party beat for the website for the 2008 elections) falsely claims Sarah Palin backed out of a scheduled interview with talk-radio host Mark Levin:

According to a source familiar with the situation, she backed out of planned interviews with conservative talk-show hosts Sean Hannity and Mark Levin the morning she was scheduled to talk to them.

In the article “Andrew Breitbart’s Video ‘Evidence’ Of Lying Congressmen Is Anything But” published August 6th at Mediaite, author Tommy Christopher makes a number of factual errors and unverifiable claims that ought to be corrected or clarified.  The problematic sentences are identified in block quotes with explanations of the errors beneath each quote:

Earlier this week, conservative media figure Andrew Breitbart seized upon a New York Times story correction as proof that Civil Rights hero John Lewis (D-Ga) and others were “lying” when they claimed that a crowd of protesters had hurled the “n-word” at them as they walked to the Capitol to vote on health care reform.

Breitbart did not accuse John Lewis of lying in his Big Journalism post; in fact, the only reference to Lewis at all comes by way of a quote from the New York Times correction. Breitbart did, however, accuse Rep. Andre Carson of lying: “Which [media outlet] will be the first to admit that Congressman Carson lied about the events of that day?”

…its important to go over the other evidence that the incident did occur, at least as told by the corroborating testimony of three credible eyewitnesses. In a court of law, that’s called evidence.

There is only one corroborating witness, not three.  Rep. John Lewis has never gone on record saying he heard the n-word used at this event.  Rep. Emanuel Cleaver said he heard racial slurs like “a chorus” as he walked a “few yards behind” Rep. Lewis, but video evidence proves Cleaver was not walking to the Capitol with Lewis and Carson when the events in question occurred. (more…)

This last Sunday on ABC’s This Week, round-table contributor Cokie Roberts said the following:

There was racism that came up during the health care debate with the vilification of John Lewis at the Capitol.

BigGovernment.com has posted numerous videos proving that no racial vilification of Rep. John Lewis occurred at the Capitol during the health care debate.

We kindly request that Cokie Roberts correct the record.

In the Associated Press article “GOP invites blogger Breitbart to fundraiser” published yesterday, the AP states:

Breitbart was behind an edited video clip of a former Department of Agriculture official that suggested Shirley Sherrod, who is black, denied a white farmer aid. The speech, when viewed in full, shows the opposite.

The written report authored by Breitbart that accompanied the aforementioned video acknowledges that her “humanity” did compel her to help the white farmer:

Eventually, her basic humanity informs that this white man is poor and needs help. But she decides that he should get help from “one of his own kind.” She refers him to a white lawyer.

The AP claims Breitbart suggested that Sherrod “denied a white farmer aid.”  His multimedia presentation, when viewed in full, shows the exact opposite. (more…)