Facing a quarter of a billion dollar lawsuit in the case of Nick Sandmann, a Covington Catholic Schoolboy, The Washington Post has issued a correction and deleted their original tweet. They say that Nathan Phillips is not a Vietnam vet, and defended themselves — lamely.
They acknowledge it was erroneous but then they downplay it and put it behind a paywall on a Friday night. Their reporting was layered with false and defamatory information as Mollie Hemingway says, but they are shielding themselves. They do disavow the original reporting, and that should help Nick Sandmann.
They did NOT offer an apology for their egregious fake reporting and lack of journalistic ethics. They are defending their bad behavior and their racist activism in lieu of even the most minimal investigation.
The full video with the full story was online and there were red flags everywhere. But they refused to even look for the truth and conducted a cursory review of the facts and published an almost immediate reaction based on a truncated clip by some anonymous Twitter user.
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The WaPo rag chose to incite hate. The Covington boys, at age 15 and 16, who came to D.C. to stand for life, left vilified and the victims of endless death threats.
Every time someone googles the names of several of these students, they will be vilified once again.
In WaPo’s latest statement, they also made sure to point the finger at another boy and the Covington Diocese in way of defense. The Diocese deserves to be lambasted, but not by them.
Their only correction is that Nathan Phillips is not a Vietnam vet? Seriously? Get your checkbook out WaPo.
THE ATTORNEYS RESPOND
Nick Sandmann’s attorney — Richard Jewell’s attorney — Lin Wood will issue a statement on Monday.
On behalf of Nicholas Sandmann & his family, Todd McMurtry @FitLwyr and I will issue a formal statement on Monday responding to the actions taken today by The Washington Post & a letter received late this evening from its general counsel. https://t.co/ArsYDalAms
— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) March 2, 2019
His co-counsel said the same:
What Lin Said. 😉 https://t.co/ajminHFwnA
— Todd V. McMurtry (@FitLwyr) March 2, 2019
REACTIONS
Other reactions are milder than ours and see it as a big win.
Better late than never, but this is pretty late. It has been clear for more than a month that the Post’s original reporting on this incident was wildly off base. https://t.co/Dr7BXtZgTW
— Brit Hume (@brithume) March 1, 2019
In a huge win for the Covington students, the Washington Post has disavowed its Covingtongate hoax. https://t.co/6YmViv9Wx0
— Mike Cernovich | 📽 (@Cernovich) March 1, 2019
Not everyone agrees
Wow. Truly impressive journalism! Thanks WaPo for your gas lighting lies and a “correction” most of us expected 5-6 weeks ago. #NoCredibility.
— Troy Ballard (@Troy_B_nSac) March 2, 2019
Only took them a month and half, too. Phew!
— Annie•V (@AV_SardonicWaif) March 1, 2019
We believe the family will react as we did. Nothing is changed and, if anything, they need to pay out the $250,000 for their irresponsibility.
In editor’s note, The Washington Post admits early Covington reporting was flawed. Nicholas Sandmann’s attorney responds that he “would never accept half of a half-measure from an organization that still refuses to own up to its error.” https://t.co/XwEXgjflyv
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) March 2, 2019
Check out WaPo’s Friday night dump!
Editor’s note related to Lincoln Memorial incident
A Washington Post article first posted online on Jan. 19 reported on a Jan. 18 incident at the Lincoln Memorial. Subsequent reporting, a student’s statement and additional video allow for a more complete assessment of what occurred, either contradicting or failing to confirm accounts provided in that story — including that Native American activist Nathan Phillips was prevented by one student from moving on, that his group had been taunted by the students in the lead-up to the encounter, and that the students were trying to instigate a conflict. The high school student facing Phillips issued a statement contradicting his account; the bishop in Covington, Ky., apologized for the statement condemning the students; and an investigation conducted for the Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School found the students’ accounts consistent with videos. Subsequent Post coverage, including video, reported these developments: “Viral standoff between a tribal elder and a high schooler is more complicated than it first seemed”; “Kentucky bishop apologizes to Covington Catholic students, says he expects their exoneration”; “Investigation finds no evidence of ‘racist or offensive statements’ in Mall incident.”
A Jan. 22 correction to the original story reads: Earlier versions of this story incorrectly said that Native American activist Nathan Phillips fought in the Vietnam War. Phillips said he served in the U.S. Marines but was never deployed to Vietnam.
In a separate correction, The Post said it mischaracterized a statement from Covington and that falsely reported that the teens were chanting “Build that wall” at Phillips in the video.
The Post has issued an Editor’s Note about updates to its initial coverage of the Jan. 18 incident at the Lincoln Memorial: https://t.co/rhzKZ1715K
We’ve also deleted this Jan. 19 tweet in light of later developments. For more, see the Editor’s Note. pic.twitter.com/O7qCSnBMPO
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 1, 2019
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