I'm not sure “standards” means what the NYT thinks it does
Written by Eric Boehlert
Published
Go read the BradBlog for a truly eye-opneing encounter the blogger had with a Times standards editor after the blogger pressed for an ACORN/O'Keefe-related correction. Specifically, Brad Friedman urged the paper to correct its erroneous reports that suggested O'Keefe, when making his undercover ACORN clips, entered the ACORN offices dressed outlandishly as a pimp.
According to an independent investigation into the ACORN matter, that claim is not true. (i.e. “He was dressed like a college student - in slacks and a button down shirt.”) But the Times, like lots of news outlets, has made that dressed-as-a-pimp assertion again and again.
Not only did the Times inform Friedman that no correction would be forthcoming, but a newspaper “Standards” editor, Greg Brock, explained it was because the newspaper believed O'Keefe's claim that he was dressed up as a pimp inside the all ACORN offices he visited. (Good luck finding the video to back up that claim.)
Writes Friedman:
Incredibly, Brock originally cited claims by Fox News and O'Keefe himself as sources for why the New York Times stood by their apparently unverified and apparently incorrect report. “We believe him,” Brock wrote, because he said as much on Fox News, apparently.