My "shocked" face. 
Posted on 07/22/2012 10:37:08 AM PDT by Qbert
Journalistic mistakes are easy to make in the immediate wake of events like the horrific shootings last week in a movie theater in Colorado.
[Snip]
But the stampede to speed is only part of the problem. I believe the media malfeasance also includes a disregard for the reputations of the people on whom we report. To me, that is the mortal sin. We in the mass media have tremendous power to harm reputations if we are not careful – and we seem to be getting less and less careful until it must look to the public as if we couldn’t care less.
[Snip]
Ross, ABC News’ chief investigative reporter, told viewers that there’s “a Jim Holmes, of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado Tea Party site.” Furthermore, he added that it includes him “talking about joining the Tea Party last year.”
Ross did qualify the report saying, “Now, we don't know if this is the same Jim Holmes, but it is Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado.”
So, why put it out there in the first place, if you don’t have it nailed down? And in this case, it was indeed the wrong Jim Holmes -- and Ross and ABC had to publish a correction and apology.
[Snip]
“Several million people saw Brian’s initial statement this morning, but how many saw the retraction and apology?” he countered. “I can’t explain how outraged I am by this ‘reporting’, but what can you do? They issue a quick apology, no one in the media faces any consequences, and they go back to doing what they always do.”
[Snip]
ABC News declined comment Friday beyond the statement of correction and apology.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.baltimoresun.com ...
EXACTLY! Jim Holmes and the Tea Party should OWN NBC and Brian Ross.
you wonder how all of the other ABC employees who work hard, do the right thing (I’m sure there are some!) feel about Mr. Ross, his high salary, and his management........after this, how can anyone in their audience trust them?
Brian Ross is actually with ABC, although NBC does have a guy named Brian who was responsible for the largest libel judgment in U.S. history when he insinuated that Wayne Newton had mob connections.
Money is the only thing that talks here.
Tea Party Holmes needs to find the conservative version of Gloria Allred.
I suspect he’ll wind up with a nice settlement.
Fox news should do a report: “Brian Ross serial child molestor” Then say ooops sorry, our mistake, we retact that. Obviously it’s OK to do stuff like that because Brian Ross still has a job
Fox news should do a report: “Brian Ross serial child molestor” Then say ooops sorry, our mistake, we retact that. Obviously it’s OK to do stuff like that because Brian Ross still has a job
MY ERROR!
What I still don’t get is that, in the chaos of reporting on a still evolving story, that the Tea Party was mentioned.
Why would anyone think there’s a link between the Tea Party groups and a mass murderer, when we barely knew the identity of the shooter at that point?
Somebody, somewhere in ABC, went on the internet and found the Tea Party Jim Holmes, and thought it was something that should be reported, even though it couldn’t be confirmed at that point. What does that say about ABC and their news judgement??
After the fact during the Lewinsky scandal, we learned that Newsweek and the Washington Post had been sitting on that story for months, in part because they allegedly still were confirming information and sources and all that.
Yet in this shooting case, they couldn’t wait to get on the air to report that there’s somebody with the name of the shooter who is a Tea Party member. Go figure.
In the last 5 to 10 years the media and what they say has become nearly irrelevant....and this election will pretty much kill it.
” and we seem to be getting less and less careful “
Sorry - nothing ‘careless’ about this —
It was a “Target of Opportunity” attack, with every intention of heaping dung on the Tea Party...
Brian Ross and Penn State - both deserve the death penalty from their professions for a couple of years.
Yep. We can’t just sit back and complain about media bias and dishonesty every time things like happen. We have to make the culprits pay through the roof for their actions.
My "shocked" face.
It was likely a simple search for James Holmes of Aurora, CO. Unfortunately, there is more than one James Holmes of Aurora, and they jumped the gun because of the one's association with the Tea Party. At that point, they became more interested in giving the Tea Party a black eye than investigating further. It shows how obsessively political they are. They use journalism credentials to advance their socialist agenda. Period. Paragraph.
I call BS!
The author said: “I believe the media malfeasance also includes a disregard for the reputations of the people on whom we report.”
WRONG!
The malfeasance is purposeful and driven by reporters who place agenda over accuracy!
Just as the media attempted to paint George Zimmerman as white, despite his hispanic heritage with labels and doctored audio, so did Brian Ross deliberately conduct a search of “James Holmes and Tea Party” to fulfill his fantasy that conservatives are dangerous.
Just as the media downplayed Barack Obama’s ties to Bill Ayers and Rev Wright, there is a clear agenda here.
Make no mistake. This is a war.
The media sets the agenda first, then looks for anything to support that agenda.
But the stampede to speed is only part of the problem.
Remember Katrina? ANY rumor whatsoever was mentioned by the media. I think one was about widespread cannibalism in the Superdome.
We ARE watching and paying close attention to you, Mr. Ross.
A big downside for Brian Ross, and by extension the rat media, is that a lot of eyes are now open and he won’t be able to so easily slander in the future.
We ARE watching and paying close attention to you, Mr. Ross.
He still has a job, so I doubt he’s quaking in his shoes at the thought of that.
Ok, Brian, and ABC, so you issued a limp-wrist explanation, but no real apology to the Tea Party folks..
So, where exactly do we go to get our reputation back?
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