Patterico's Pontifications

2/28/2012

David Shuster Apologizes for Calling James O’Keefe a “Convicted Felon” — And Blocks Patterico on Twitter

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:03 pm



I tried to grab the tweet where he apologizes, and found I’d been blocked:

Not sure whether this is enough to save his hide legally. Time will tell.

Thanks to Auntie Fraud.

UPDATE: I am having this strong premonition that Shuster’s half-assed “apology” is not going to save him from a lawsuit. Given his total distortion of the facts regarding O’Keefe, it shouldn’t. Again, time will tell.

34 Responses to “David Shuster Apologizes for Calling James O’Keefe a “Convicted Felon” — And Blocks Patterico on Twitter”

  1. Shouldn’t he be retracting on the show — where the error happened?

    And where’s Olby’s apology?

    Patterico (feda6b)

  2. cowardly twitter blocker

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  3. That’s not the only “error”, so doesn’t he need to do a more “complete” retraction if he wants to avoid court?

    Sue (40062f)

  4. Not sure whether this is enough to save his hide legally.

    Making the apology, or blocking you?

    Daryl Herbert (e3159e)

  5. I would like to issue a correction for the outright lies that I told about David Shuster.

    I said he was the most honest man in journalism and the epitome of journalistic standards.

    He’s not. I apologize for the error.

    Noodles (3681c4)

  6. Interestingly, Shuster admits that he knew all along O’Keefe was not a convicted felon (that’s implied by his use of the word “misspoke,” which is to say that he intended at the time to speak different words to convey a different idea)

    Daryl Herbert (e3159e)

  7. Shuster did way more than just call O’Keefe a convicted felon. And, on top of that, he did that and lots more on a much bigger medium, TV, than this token Twitter CYA.

    This doesn’t even begin to save his hide. But it does show that he’s feeling the heat from his dishonest ways. As my mom used to say, a guilty conscience needs no accuser.

    Ed Bettencourt (b26ebb)

  8. Watching the video report, it seems clear that Shuster’s only source is the transcript. His description of the transcript is indeed misleading.

    I’m not sure a correction would protect him at this point. If he acted with malice when he misreported the transcript in the first place, a correction isn’t going to be sufficient.

    I would not expect a correction. The question is whether O’Keefe wants to see this through.

    Daryl Herbert (e3159e)

  9. Shuster’s correction is also dishonest, in that he claims the misstatement was made “when reporting on James O’Keefe’s arrest”

    Of course, he made the misstatement when he was distorting facts to make it sound like O’Keefe was accused of attempting a rape.

    I didn’t see any news item showing that O’Keefe was arrested in conjunction with the harassment charge. I imagine he got something in the mail, or was personally served with papers, and chose to show up at the hearing.

    Daryl Herbert (e3159e)

  10. Is it true that in a civil suit there is no restriction on compelled testimony against oneself?

    Wouldn’t it be grand to see Shuster and Olberman grilled under oath?

    Brad (07a560)

  11. Shuster: Correction; when reporting on James okeefe’s arrest, I misspoke and said OKeefe is a convicted felon.

    — What Daryl Herbert pointed out is HUGE! Shuster has lied (sorry, I mean he “misspoke”) AGAIN! When was O’Keefe ever arrested for this alleged assault?

    How will Shuster’s next retraction/correction/apology play out?
    “Uh, I was referring to his 2010 arrest; you know, the one that led to his non-felony conviction.”
    ‘But, Mr Shuster, you said that you were “reporting” on O’Keefe’s arrest. Did it take you two years to catch up with this story?’
    “Okay, so when I wrote “O’Keefe’s arrest” I really meant “Naffe’s allegations.” Satisfied?”
    ‘Mr Shuster, do you fact check or hack check?

    Icy (57df98)

  12. I apologize for the shoddy nature of my previous apology. Those responsible for the previous apology has been sacked.

    Pious Agnostic (7c3d5b)

  13. Blocked you say?

    Karma

    GWBpresnit (44abf8)

  14. Wonder which one this troll is?

    JD (d05df3)

  15. It is dead easy to subvert twitter blocking. In Chrome for instance, to bring up a blocked tweet just right-click a link to the tweet and choose “Open link in incognito window”.

    melanerpes (3201b0)

  16. I know who she is.

    Patterico (b2ce82)

  17. If the troll is who I think it is, that is . . . I know who she is.

    Patterico (b2ce82)

  18. Trolls are nothing if not predictable. And mendoucheous.

    JD (d05df3)

  19. Here’s what sucks about Twitter: someone as stupid and obnoxious as Shuster has 38,000+ followers. I wish that 37,990 of them were conservatives monitoring and documenting his scatter-brained proclamations, but I doubt if that is true.

    JVW (4d72aa)

  20. You can tell he’s a good faith journalist by how he goes out of his way to erect barriers to learning things… particularly things that prove him wrong.

    He took an awfully long time to get around to correcting this, did so on twitter instead of where he made the error, and at the time, O’Keefe was being smeared… by Shuster.

    I think Shuster knew he was going to correct like this when he told the lie, too.

    Dustin (401f3a)

  21. Isn’t he making another knowingly false accusation, itself potentially malicious, when he says O’Keefe was arrested? Especially since, having read the report, he would know that it didn’t happen?

    Rob (1858aa)

  22. So is this all that a journalist has to do to get away with libel?

    It reminds me of being a child on a playground. Tell a kid he’s got dirt on his face and then yell “PSYCH!” when he finds out he’s been lied to. Does the “psych” still work with adults?

    Book (672658)

  23. I hope not, Book. I guess we’ll find out. O’Keefe did file the lawsuit, btw. Check big government.

    Dustin (401f3a)

  24. If I said I had pictures of David Brock and David Shitster having gay sex.

    Could I make that go away by saying that “I mis-spoke”.

    Gus (36e9a7)

  25. complaint has been filed against shuster — http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/02/29/james_o_keefe_libel_hunter.html

    you gotta read the transcript attached to the complaint (linked to from weigel post), this lawsuit is going to be hilarious.

    milowent (1b563e)

  26. (note – this is same transcript patterico posted yesterday, though.)

    milowent (1b563e)

  27. Bravo to O’Keefe for pursuing this and to you for pushing the idea.

    I would love to read about Shuster being forced to provide an on air explanation and retraction of his many lies.

    Pigilito (9208f3)

  28. Good eye, Dustin.

    Book (672658)

  29. Obviously not spoken with malice. O’keefe, while not a felon, is very much a douchebag.

    jpe (4bd6af)

  30. O’Keefe will forever be a hero for exposing the multi-million dollar ACORN scam! the rest is gravy.

    Colonel Haiku (8cf52c)

  31. jpe, I think it’s the other way around. He has been doing this to the same guys (Breitbart and O’Keefe) for years, and the falsehoods have been repeatedly pointed out. His handling is to obnoxiously ignore that he’s wrong about such a serious claim… as he’s warned he could be sued even, and trumpet distortions of a subsequent story… then offer a very weak correction the day he’s sued.

    Pretend O’Keefe was doing this to Michelle Obama… claiming she was a convicted felon because she got a parking ticket, and for months as he’s told that’s untrue, repeating the claim and ultimately adding on further distortions.

    That pattern is not how good faith journalists operate. Even if you agree with Shuster’s politics, you get treated as poorly as you allow yourself to be and you should demand more accuracy from those who want to present news.

    Dustin (401f3a)

  32. This correction is also a lie. He’s saying he made a minor error.

    He included an apology to give his story credibility and the apology is really to his audience, and specifically to his followers on Twitter. He’s only mentioning the most hard fact. He knows his followers will hear something about it.

    He wants to make it sound like this:

    http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/23/gallup-shows-romney-santorum-within-moe-of-obama/

    Update: I misread the Gallup results of the head-to-head between Romney and Obama. Romney’s ahead by 4 (still within the MOE). I’ve corrected the opening paragraph and apologize for the error. Thanks to Jon A for pointing it out to me.

    Or like this:

    http://govwin.com/govwin-news_blog/govwin-recon-feb-28-new/403574

    [Editor’s note: Yesterday’s GovWin Recon incorrectly referred to the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA). The web version has been corrected. We apologize for the error.]

    Or like this:

    http://paidcontent.org/article/419-cord-cutting-can-wait-subscription-tv-added-343-million-subs-in-q4/

    Correction: A previous version of this story reported an increase of 343 million subs. We apologize for the error.

    (A sentence should have read: The nation’s top cable, satellite and telco TV service providers collectively added nearly 343,000 new video subscribers in the fourth quarter of last year. )

    Thousand, not million.

    Similarly, misdemeanor not felony. He’s implying, it’s like getting the capital of a state wrong.

    The apology is not to James O’Keefe – it’s to his fans.

    Sammy Finkelman (f59e9e)

  33. The apology is not to James O’Keefe – it’s to his fans.

    Great point, and you’re also right that he’s pretending that he’s pretending calling a O’Keefe a felon is a trivial error.

    And this is a guy who screamed about the coverage of his softball uniform.

    And it is a very serious thing to assert, repeatedly, that someone is a convicted felon. I think Shuster was practically daring O’Keefe to sue him.

    Dustin (401f3a)


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