Patterico's Pontifications

2/9/2010

CJR Whacks Blumenthal, Postures

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:48 pm



The Columbia Journalism Review mildly slams Max Blumenthal’s crap piece on James O’Keefe, in a piece called Unforced Error at Salon:

But as a journalist, it’s incumbent upon Blumenthal—and any outlet that publishes his work—to distinguish between what his sources actually observed and what they believe to be true. A journalist’s claim to an audience’s trust is based on the implicit promise that he will take that step. And that responsibility, obviously, doesn’t go away just because you’ve got a good story or a worthy target.

. . . .

. . . an error of this sort does more than provide O’Keefe with a defense, by allowing him to shift the focus to a point that was not proven. It also, for every minute that it’s out there, provides ready-made ammunition for that broader campaign—and for the idea that the media is motivated by ideological biases and personal vendettas, unconstrained by norms that ensure fairness and accuracy.

Yeah. Because it is.

As is typical of this liberal outlet, it bends over backwards to excuse Salon. That much is evident from the last handwringing paragraph of the above quote.

Author Greg Marx claims that that O’Keefe’s mere presence at this debate was a REAL STORY!!!!1!!!!1!

Also, he absolves Salon of its responsibility for slipshod reporting by noting that Salon issued a correction. Left unsaid: the inadequacy of the correction.

I already pointed out some uncorrected errors here. In addition, Frank Ross notes that Salon is still running the Photoshopped picture of O’Keefe, and continues to inaccurately refer to the debate as “white-nationalist confab.”

So, pretty shitty job by CJR. But, you know: better than usual.

38 Responses to “CJR Whacks Blumenthal, Postures”

  1. Will the last person leaving the CJR turn the lights out?

    Dmac (799abd)

  2. Has that dude with the funny name from the SadlyNo Research Labs apologized yet?

    daleyrocks (718861)

  3. May the CJR go the way of Editor and Publisher.

    Good Lt. (e6fa48)

  4. If being there makes O’Keefe a white supremacist, why not Isis? Doesn’t that give even more weight to the Rev Hatey Wright issues?

    JD (b1f7fc)

  5. JD

    Isis is a her and she is now claiming that yes indeed Okeefe planned the event with Epstein who later that day assaulted a black female – like I said its a he said she said kind of thing and yes attending a racist event does tend to paint someone a racist who later is fired for making racist phone calls from another job and has an online diary.

    Again – are we actually reading this stuff before jumping into bed with a confirmed racist who has online diaries, Acorn tapes, directors of respectful organizations whose been caught planning and executing KKK events on campus?

    Are we going to stop now? Me I would.

    EricPWJohnson (cff86d)

  6. Has that dude with the funny name from the SadlyNo Research Labs apologized yet?

    D. Aristophanes? No . . . you know, he was popping in and out of the comments here right up to the time when it was revealed that he had written an erroneous — er, “eroneous” post.

    Then, he disk-appeared.

    As he would say:

    Odd.

    Patterico (c218bd)

  7. yes attending a racist event does tend to paint someone a racist

    No, it does not. Even if it did, what’s the evidence that this was a “racist event”?

    are we actually reading this stuff before jumping into bed with a confirmed racist

    Oh, now he’s a “confimed racist”? Is your real last name “Blumenthal” by any chance?

    (I believe that “Blumenthal” is an old Jewish word meaning “lying hack”.)

    Subotai (68de0f)

  8. “Again – are we actually reading this stuff before jumping into bed with a confirmed racist”

    EricPW – Who is the confirmed racist? If you are speaking about O’Keefe, can you please try to get your facts in order?

    “Epstein who later that day assaulted a black female” – EricPW this happened the following year. That’s why it helps to actually read some of the material instead of just hyperventilating.

    “caught planning and executing KKK events on campus?” – Which events are these EricPW? Please be specific.

    “later is fired for making racist phone calls” – Was he fired for his activism or racist phone calls? What’s your citation EricPW?

    “online diaries” – Are these racist EricPW?

    “Acorn tapes” – Were these racist?

    Take a breath!!!!!!!!

    daleyrocks (718861)

  9. “yes attending a racist event does tend to paint someone a racist”

    Breaking news – Obama is a terrorist supporting marxist radical.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  10. And a racist.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  11. (I believe that “Blumenthal” is an old Jewish word meaning “lying hack”.)

    Well, that’s what Babblefish is giving me, anyways…

    Scott Jacobs (d027b8)

  12. Daley

    do your homework – actually read what people are saying

    All this fact checkingt is actually confirming Blumys piece not debunking it…

    EricPWJohnson (cff86d)

  13. I’m not sure why EPWJ isn’t stumping around PA right now in an effort to hold onto his Senate seat.

    John Hitchcock (9859e6)

  14. All this fact checkingt is actually confirming Blumys piece not debunking it…

    Which “fact checkingt” did you have in mind when you wrote that?

    Subotai (68de0f)

  15. “do your homework – actually read what people are saying

    All this fact checkingt is actually confirming Blumys piece not debunking it…”

    Beautiful, from the man who can’t get the fact right:

    #

    EricPW – Read the stories before going off the deep end this time. It’ll save everybody some headaches.

    Comment by daleyrocks — 2/8/2010 @ 7:19 pm

    Daley

    I dont need to, I dont want to, I know what Okeefe did long before he did the Acorn thingy…..

    Comment by EricPWJohnson — 2/8/2010 @ 7:54 pm

    _______________________________________________

    Proceed!

    daleyrocks (718861)

  16. Yesterday’s EPWJ “Check out all these detailed summaries of Dede Scozzafava legislation I just happened to type up to prove to you that she’s a loyal conservative Republican.” And those of you who are suspicious of her are traitors to the right!!!! AARRGGHH!! Do your homework!!!!

    Todays EPWJ “We must not get in bed with confirmed racist O’Keefe! He did all this stuff I can’t prove but look at all these allegations!” And those of you who are suspicious of the charges are betraying the right’s efforts when O’Keefe/Breitbart are finally outed! Do your homework!!!!

    Tomorrow’s EPWJ: Lies promoting the left and diminishing the right. Perhaps a token generalized insult of Pelosi or something. And if you disagree, you are the traitor to your cause.

    Of course, it’s not really EPWJ, it’s the entire moby movement. Just learn to identify it.

    I asked him to explain himself and he swore I was a liberal and said he’d never reply to me again. Classic moby moves. If someone seems irrationally opposed to the good guys, swearing that they can prove the direct opposite of what’s apparent (that O’Keefe is being setup by liars as some kind of klansman), and making ridiculous declarations that they are the true conservative, just know that you are the mark, and know the con.

    This kind of thing will only get worse, and it will never go away. Nicer folks will want to see him as an earnest yet consistently confused person who venomously attacks the right’s most vulnerable while defending its banal. Oh, I meant naive folks, not nicer folks.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  17. Am I the only one tired of EricPWJohnson’s act?

    SPQR (26be8b)

  18. Not this nonsense again.

    JD (d6df01)

  19. Eric – not to pick nits, but I did not reference the gender of this Isis person, so I really don’t understand why that got you all frothy. Is she not a racist since she was at the event as well?

    JD (d6df01)

  20. ” … or a worthy target.”

    What. A. Telling. Comment.

    Christian Toto (4f860b)

  21. Once again, SPQR, we agree completely.

    Official Internet Data Office (dc2fe1)

  22. yes attending a racist event does tend to paint someone a racist

    Like attending Reverend Damn Whitey! Wright’s racist sermons?

    Topsecretk9 (ab69ad)

  23. @23: that’s completely different….

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  24. And that responsibility, obviously, doesn’t go away just because you’ve got a good story or a worthy target.

    The story was not good and the target was only worthy to a far left lunatic.

    East Coast Chris (ded5f2)

  25. About a year ago Blumenthal attacked Toby Keith for a “racist” song he recorded in 2003. Bloomy’s campaign fizzled when it was discovered that the song was a duet sung by Keith and the universally beloved left-wing Democrat Willy Nelson.

    icr (304f90)

  26. yes attending a racist event does tend to paint someone a racist

    How about attending twenty years worth of racist events?

    icr (304f90)

  27. Maybe EPWJ needs to read this post of Patterico’s where a black conservative was speaking at EPWJ’s imaginary KKK meeting. Damn those black conservatives are racist KKK members, I guess.

    Dave Weigel Destroys Salon Hit Piece on O’Keefe’s Alleged Racism

    peedoffamerican (cadcec)

  28. Again – are we actually reading this stuff before jumping into bed with a confirmed racist who has online diaries, Acorn tapes, directors of respectful organizations whose been caught planning and executing KKK events on campus?

    Your act is tired, you’ve been exposed countless numbers of times for your mendacity and guilt – by – association memes, and yet you still come on here in the deluded sense that anyone here takes your inanities seriously anymore. Go kick your poor dog, choke your chicken, give yourself a slurpee, whatever it takes to fill your empty days, just get the hell off this blog, and stop wasting everyone’s time. F-cking Moby.

    Dmac (799abd)

  29. SPQR @ #17: No you are not the only one.

    Old Coot (ddf8be)

  30. So now Eric makes a sensible comment on the later thread, so I have no idea where he’s coming from on any given day. Somebody help me out here, because I really don’t get it.

    Dmac (799abd)

  31. the idea that the media is motivated by ideological biases and personal vendettas, unconstrained by norms that ensure fairness and accuracy.
    I wonder what gave them this idea ? .. reality perhaps ?

    Neo (7830e6)

  32. Here’s the part of Greg Marx’s essay that leapt out at me and said, “WHOA! You don’t want to elaborate on that?”:

    But the key bit of news was O’Keefe’s attendance at—and his alleged involvement with—a 2006 panel discussion in Washington, D.C., that featured as a speaker Jared Taylor of the white nationalist organization American Renaissance, along with National Review writer John Derbyshire and Kevin Martin of the black conservative group Project 21.

    The precise tenor of the event, which Salon’s editors described in a sub-headline as a “white-nationalist confab,” is a matter of some dispute. (Readers who are inclined to make their own determination can listen to the audio recordings at the American Renaissance Web site.) At issue here is a more specific point: Blumenthal’s claim in the original story that, “Together, O’Keefe and [fellow conservative activist Marcus] Epstein planned an event in August 2006 that would wed their extreme views on race with their ambitions.”

    OK, so let me get this straight: Blumenthal and Salon are sliming O’Keefe as being an organizer of an event they describe as a “white-nationalist confab … that would wed their extreme views on race with their ambitions.” Except for the part where a Jew and an African-American were part of it. Now, I haven’t known a lot of white nationalists, but I tend to think they don’t hang out with N- and K-word people in public when they don’t have to (see Poplawski, Richard).

    Does Mr. Marx care to explain how that makes a lick of sense? Apparently, he doesn’t — he’s just directing all of us to the website of what he describes as a “white nationalist organization” to wade our way through recordings he doesn’t want to describe because either (a) they’re vile, (b) he hasn’t even listened to them, or (c) they are exculpatory of O’Keefe’s motives and activities at the conference, and he doesn’t want to admit it.

    L.N. Smithee (a0b21b)

  33. SPQR @ #17: No you are not the only one.
    DITTO!
    I tired of his commentary long ago when it seemed that he was experiencing very wide mood swings…
    which to me indicate a serious chemical dependency, on which I remarked.

    AD - RtR/OS! (1ab06c)

  34. Poor Eric….another conservative is expelled from the shrinking tent for shocking disobedience to the Breitbart script.

    Dammit, Eric, it’s not racist to attend an event where a handful of white kids turn out to hear the genetic superiority of whites trumpeted by by fools like Taylor and Derbyshire.

    No, it IS racist to go to one of the most respected churches in America because you disagree with the Marine/scholar/preacher’s view that the old Testament says that nations that sin will be damned by God.

    To recap for jd, who’s not too smart, racist = attending church with a minister whose politics are not approved by tea partiers.

    Maybe not racist == belonging to an organization who leader schedules a program where a known racist is going to “debate” conservatives and race, attending the event, getting kicked out of your dorm because you call your dorm mates n****ers, etc.

    The first is guilt by association and palling around with terrorists. The second is….well just guilt by association and certainly can;y be shown to be true just because his best pal karate chopped a random woman while screaming racist epithets. That’s just good clean college fun.

    Keep yoking that cart to Breitbart’s cart, Patterico.

    timb (449046)

  35. Yeah, that tent is pretty damn tiny! Out with Scozzafava supporters… all 8 of them.

    that punch kinda lost its sting when Massachusetts sent a ‘teabagger’ to Capitol Hill. We don’t need the support of mobies, the AFL-CIO, or people who have fainting spells over Breitbart’s crushing victory over lefty media on this O’Keefe issue. Those people are in our tent because they want to burn it down.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  36. Keep yoking that cart to Breitbart’s cart, Patterico.

    Tim, I find it hilarious that your preening narcissism allows you to think that you can conduct a private discussion with the host of this site. None of the regulars here take that attitude, nor display that kind of overweening navel – gazing. If you really are so sure of your awesome bona fides, why not just send him an e – mail message, then get back to us with your exchange?

    Dmac (799abd)

  37. Truth to CJR is a lie undiscovered.

    GeneralMalaise (235aba)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.1002 secs.