Media correct false report on Powell.
By on Feb 23rd, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Media correct false report on Powell.
This morning, news outlets reported that former Secretary of State Powell told an audience at Purdue University yesterday that he “supported President Bush’s decision to send more U.S. troops to Iraq.” But ThinkProgress followed up with Powell’s office and confirmed that these reports were wrong. Powell has never indicated support for escalation.
Dan Shaw, who wrote the original story for the Lafayette (Ind.) Journal and Courier, has corrected his original story. Below, the original and corrected versions side-by-side:
Though the new article does not acknowledge the original error, the reporter says a correction will run in tomorrow’s paper.
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Anything is better than nothing.
February 23rd, 2007 at 5:03 pmThis surge was to be for 6 months ……3 months are up already ???
February 23rd, 2007 at 5:10 pmSeems like Mr Shaw is the one getting more and more confused.
February 23rd, 2007 at 5:14 pmAs a PR person I can tell you that in this day and age, don’t hold your breath.
February 23rd, 2007 at 5:15 pmThe article serves its purpose. Like the Pelosi “plane” nonsense, the radical-right has found that if you get the lie out there first, it assumes a life and permanence of its own.lie
February 23rd, 2007 at 5:23 pmhttp://newsmine.org/
News and Document archive source for uncovering and exposing
February 23rd, 2007 at 5:32 pmwith over 10,000 articles and documents
Two of the biggest reasons that Bush got almost UNCONTESTED support for attacking Iraq: Tony Blair and Colin Powell. Tony Blair translated Bush’s strategy into English…and Colin Powell was the MOST TRUSTED AMERICAN with regards to international affairs. When Bush ran for election in 2000, everyone doubted his foreigh policy credentials, BUT he had Colin Powell, so Voters felt in good hands. Unfortunately … Bush didn’t follow Powells council, and went off the Deep End with Cheney and Rumsfeld.
February 23rd, 2007 at 5:48 pmI am from Lafayette and I am a Purdue alumnus. The Lafayette Journal and Courier recently changed hands and it has turned into a mouthpiece for the * administration surely as the Washington Times is.
I’m pleased that Purdue had Colin Powell as a speaker. I am even more pleased that someone called the local rag out on their shit.
Now, Dan Shaw should be severely reprimanded for his biased reporting.
February 23rd, 2007 at 5:51 pmExactly. In my line of work, that is how it goes. The first company to send out a press release stating that they were coming out with a product will end up in every article about those types of products, even if they never release said product.
February 23rd, 2007 at 5:59 pmReporters who get stuff like this wrong should be fired. End of story. It’s that important. The direction the country will take is influenced by stories like this. People will believe the first story and claim someone paid them off to print the correction. It needs to be done right the first time, and if bloggers can get it right, they should too. The general public is entirely too easy on these jerks.
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:06 pmWill the correction run on the front page? Does the Saturday paper have the same readership as the weekday editions?
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:07 pmI am glad to see a correction was made, but once something is reported and people talk about it, the retraction is usually lost in the dust.
I can understand an error, but this was completely and totally wrong! This guy should probably lose his job.
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:16 pmDan Shaw DID correct his original story, because people were Watching, and connecting via the Blogosphere. If he isn’t more carefull in the future, he could develop a reputation for sloppy reporting …..not a good selling point for the paper. This error may be lost on the American people in general, but I doubt the same is true for Dan Shaw and his editors.
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:21 pmThis story raises a few important questions, such as…
…where and/or from whom did Shaw get the impression that Powell supported the escalation, when this apparently was not true?
…why did he apparently fail to make any effort to corroborate this?
…and why did all of the other major news outlets simply regurgitate the story without bothering to verify it for themselves?
The journalistic profession has become so sloppy in recent years that there are moments when I’m almost inclined to think that we’re being deliberately manipulated into doubting anything that the press tells us so that we won’t know what to think anymore…
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:44 pmPowell went on the record, in the Dec. 18, 2006 Washington Post, that he was “NOT PERSUADED that an increase in U.S. troops…would reverse the situation”. So if he had supported the surge in the Purdue speech , it would have been BIG NEWS. No wonder people checked out this story, and found the error.
February 23rd, 2007 at 7:11 pmLike Barney the First Pooch(Laura is the other First Pooch), the OBEDIENT MEDIA LAP DOGS ROLL OVER FOR CHIMPya and Torticola Cheney and PRINT THEIR BOLD-FACED PRINT LIES, PUTTING WORDS INTO NEWS FIGURES’ MOUTHS FAVOURABLE TO Bushland Uber Allies BY MAKING UP FAKE NEWS AND ATTRIBUTING LIES, FALSEHOODS, and DOWNRIGHT CALUMNY to evryone from the Honourable Nancy Pelosi to the redoubtable Colin Powell!!!!! SCUM RAGS like The Layayette(Ind.)Journal DESERVE THE FAHRENHEIT 451(tm) TREATMENT AND SHOULD BE BURNED TO ASHES!!!!!
February 23rd, 2007 at 8:01 pmI worked for ten years for a press-clipping service in Indiana and have read every paper in the state. To the tee, they are right wing. Unfortunately the Journal and Courier is one of the better ones. I have little doubt that they knew they were getting the story wrong. The fact of the matter is, which the editors surely know, is that a lie goes around the world before the truth can get its boots on. The retraction itself will get little traction as the right wing echo chamber and their lapdogs in the Corporate Media run with the original version of the story.
February 23rd, 2007 at 8:26 pmThis is what they always do. The people who most need to see the correction won’t ever see it.
February 24th, 2007 at 1:43 amPowell had his chance to redeem himself, but instead he prefers to basically just mumble a little bit about Bush and Cheney. Powell sold his soul to the devil and can never get it back.
February 24th, 2007 at 1:46 am“I am not persuaded that another surge of troops into Baghdad for the purposes of suppressing this communitarian violence, this civil war, will work,” he said, adding that the Iraqi government and security forces must take over. –Colin Powell on Face The Nation, December 17, 2006
February 24th, 2007 at 2:02 amThis story raises a few important questions, such as…
…where and/or from whom did Shaw get the impression that Powell supported the escalation, when this apparently was not true?
…why did he apparently fail to make any effort to corroborate this?
…and why did all of the other major news outlets simply regurgitate the story without bothering to verify it for themselves?
The journalistic profession has become so sloppy in recent years that there are moments when I’m almost inclined to think that we’re being deliberately manipulated into doubting anything that the press tells us so that we won’t know what to think anymore…
Comment by Bluestocking
“I am not persuaded that another surge of troops into Baghdad for the purposes of suppressing this communitarian violence, this civil war, will work,†he said, adding that the Iraqi government and security forces must take over. –Colin Powell on Face The Nation, December 17, 2006
Comment by Don Bacon
The phenomenon of easily-refutable misinformation (disinformation?) bouncing around the MSM echo chamber has been a source of booming business for outlets like Media Matters.
This is why so many feel that the MSM is increasingly irrelevant and that the most reliable news is coming down the tubes of the internets.
February 24th, 2007 at 4:19 am