News outlets ID'ed Giuliani ally as "former firefighter"; no mention of business partnership with Giuliani
In reports on the release of an online video critical of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's [R] 9-11 record, The New York Times, the Associated Press, and the New York Daily News reported former New York City firefighter Richard Sheirer's criticism of the video without noting that Sheirer is a senior vice president at Giuliani Partners LLC, a consulting firm established by Giuliani, who is still listed as the firm's chairman and chief executive officer.
The online video -- produced by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) -- features criticism of Giuliani's handling of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks from former firefighters, as well as family members of firefighters who died that day. A July 12 Times article on the video reported that the Giuliani campaign "turn[ed] to two loyalists with long ties to the New York City Fire Department to rebut the accusations" -- Sheirer and retired firefighter Lee Ielpi. The Times identified Sheirer as "a former firefighter who was commissioner of the city's Office of Emergency Management on Sept. 11." The article did not report Sheirer's business partnership with Giuliani.
A July 12 Daily News article similarly reported: "Defending Giuliani at an afternoon news conference were former Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Richard Sheirer and Lee Ielpi, a former city firefighter whose son died on Sept. 11." The article did not note that Sheirer is a member of Giuliani Partners.
Additionally, a July 11 AP article cited "former Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Richard Sheirer" as having rebutted a claim made in the IAFF video. The article did not report Sheirer's business partnership with Giuliani.
As Media Matters for America has noted, in the book Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 (HarperCollins, 2006), Village Voice senior editor Wayne Barrett and CBSNews.com senior producer Dan Collins described Sheirer as a "Giuliani loyalist who had spent most of his career as a fire alarm dispatcher and a leader of one of the few unions to endorse Giuliani's 1993 candidacy, the dispatchers' union" (Page 31).
CNN reported:
Giuliani's campaign responded by accusing the union of being a partisan group, with a history of supporting Democrats. The campaign released a statement from a retired firefighter, Lee Ielpi, who accused IAFF leaders of being "clearly out of step with their membership."
"In 2008, I expect these same union bosses to endorse Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John Edwards, so today's comments are just a first step in that process," Ielpi said. "Fortunately, rank-and-file firefighters know the difference between politics and leadership."
They failed to report that this Union endorsed Bush in 2004.
<!--startclickprintexclude-->I'm sure it just slipped the editors minds...
More like, thats what my masters want pushed. Giuliani's still a contender from the right school in many cataract ridden eyes.
Terry Prachett has many unusual characters in his work. One communal group is known as auditors of reality. Powerful idiots, constrained by their own rules. When ever one of them becomes selfconscious it would disappear with an attendent cloud of smoke. This is what most of the GOP front runners seem like to me. I just hope the smoke isn't toxic.
Whats up with AP? When news outlets pick up these stories and then get burned by subsequent facts, is anyone at AP listening? Is the News Business finall reached such levels of willfull deception?
Celeste Katz from the NY Daily News played dumb and ignored Sheirer obvious conflict of interest. She also was too lazy to do the research necessary to find out that the IFFA has endorsed several Republicans in the past.
Why is Julie-Annie so darned determined to spin this so hard. It doesn't seem like all that big a deal really. It just looks like he is desperately determined to keep his "King of the 9-11 tragedy" title intact as the biggest strength of his campaign platform.