Posted on 12/05/2016 1:49:26 PM PST by grundle
One of the websites The Washington Post labeled “fake news” in a November story demanded a retraction and threatened the paper with a defamation lawsuit in a demand letter Sunday.
A lawyer for Naked Capitalism accuses WaPo of running a debunked list of “fake news” sites in the “sensational” story compiled by a dubious team of researchers, without substantiating their claims or giving Naked Capitalism a chance to respond to the allegation. The Washington Post’s actions constitute defamation, the lawyer writes in the letter published Monday.
“You did not provide even a single example of ‘fake news’ allegedly distributed or promoted by Naked Capitalism or indeed any of the 200 sites on the PropOrNot blacklist,” James A. Moody writes. “You provided no discussion or assessment of the credentials or backgrounds of these so-called ‘researchers’ (Clint Watts, Andrew Weisburd, and J.M. Berger and the ‘team’ at PropOrNot), and no discussion or analysis of the methodology, protocol or algorithms such ‘researchers’ may or may not have followed.”
Naked Capitalism is a finance and economics blog started in December 2006, with a stated goal of “shedding light on the dark and seamy corners of finance.”
Moody demands a retraction of the story and a public apology from WaPo in the letter, threatening a suit if the paper does not comply. He lists a series of damages to the site itself, as well as the writers and editors associated with the site; these include “ridicule, emotional distress, loss of reputation, and risk to future career advancement” for writers and editors.
Other mainstream news outlets criticize The Washington Post for running the story.
“The organization’s anonymity, which a spokesperson maintained was due to fear of Russian hackers, added a cybersexy mystique,” Adrian Chen wrote in The New Yorker regarding the WaPo story. “But a close look at the report showed that it was a mess.”
And Patrick Maines criticized the story in The Hill, calling it “perhaps the shoddiest piece of feature writing since Rolling Stone published its blatantly false story about a campus rape at the University of Virginia.”
“You have made damaging false accusations against Naked Capitalism,” Moody concludes in the letter. “Please immediately remove these from the web and provide an equivalent opportunity to respond. Please see the attached concerning your obligation to retain documents and electronically stored information relating to Fake News. I look forward to hearing from you within three business days.”
Perhaps the handkerchief with a “pizza-related map” might offer some clues (and you did see the drawing showing how handkerchiefs are used under the child being ritually abused, right?). Maybe the place in Mogadishu where Podesta had pizza, or finding out when and where the “hour of pizza” happened would offer clues, and eventually names, dates, and places... You know, the kind of details that nobody knew about Jerry Sandusky’s victims for a long, long time, until they had counseling and found the strength to come forward, like many adults who were abused by priests as children also had to go through before they were able to come forward...
Of course, if the abused child is an “undocumented” person left for dead somewhere, they can’t come forward.
Bear in mind that the guy who produced a film to expose the pedophilia in Hollywood ended up dead and nobody would air his film afterwards. We STILL don’t know the specific people involved, when, or where, even though the broad claim is widely known.
By your standards that is proof that anybody who thinks an investigation (in pursuit of details) is in order is so CRAZY that they EMBARRASS all the other upstanding moral people here. All the smart people are leaving here in droves because of the stupid rubes who make everybody else look stupid just by being in the same place. You can’t even “just lurk” here without being tainted by the rampant stupidity with which your anonymous name is associated...
We’ve heard these “concerns” before. Usually in the cover-up of something that is eventually exposed.
That picture of the bloody tranny that you posted, is actually James Alefantis himself, the owner of Comet Pizza, and former sex partner of David Brock, the founder of Media Matters.
By constantly repeating the same points, over and over again, you become a hectoring, mean-spirited bully. You have nothing to add to the conversation but you keep butting in anyway. And when you don’t get your way, you start the personal insults. I don’t even read half of your messages, they just bore me.
Again, if FR is being destroyed why are you still here?
God. I hate to think what’s in their tomato sauce...
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.