Well the New York times has finally corrected the record on ACORN.
This is both a testament to the power of public pressure on the side of rightiousness, to force a large newspaper to "correct" smears published as fact; evidence that a once-fine paper had been coopted by a flagrantly false RW smear campaign against ACORN.
And it is a commentary on the depth of journalistic lack of integrity that this paper took so long.
Earlier today, ProgressiveVA published a beautiful diary - "R.I.P." - in memorium to the sad demise of the once-great and powerful community organization, ACORN - a group that worked to help homeowners stuck with predatory mortgages and worked tirelessly to register voters. I was proud to be a small part of that group's work to help mortgage owners. But the NY Times sadly waited until this great organization failed before 'correcting' the smears it once published as fact.
And during all that time, while the truth languished, ACORN's reputation was allowed to remain besmirched by the NY Times until after this fine group declared bankruptcy.
Here is a link to the NY Times retraction and correction - it is,as corrections go, fairly shameful and not worth the paper the Times is printed on. It came several weeks after pressure from the public, which followed the findings of the Brooklyn DA on the O'Keefe smear tape.
I am convinced that ACORN's campaign for folks to notify its Public Editor played some part in that retraction. I received my Email from ACORN and on the day that the Brooklyn DA declared the ACORN smear tapes to be evidentially null due to massive edits - asking for an Email 'accountability' campaign to the NY Times public editor.
Those of you who read the comments to the great kos diary today on ACORN by ProgressiveVA - [PLEASE go over and send some rec love while you can] know that I once played a small partin one of their many wonderful projects [ACORN's multi-year campaign to stop predatory mortgage lending] and that I had tried, via one of my own earlier diaries, way back in October 2008, to elicit efforts to stop the smears against them.
When ACORN wrote to me in early March, to be a part of their letter writing campaign to the NY Times, they kindly included a boilerplate letter. But rather than send that boilerplate letter, mhy own passions ran strong that day. I wrote this to the NY TImes public editor:
Subject: Re: NYT- assisted smears by O'Keefe v Brooklyn DA
Clark Hoyt
Public Editor
New York Times
Dear Mr Hoyt:
The New York Times appears to have missed an important story in correcting the record regarding ACORN.
I have learned that sources inside the Brooklyn District Attorney's office say that the ACORN smear videos produced by James O'Keefe – already charged with a felony in the Landreau Office telephone scam - were a "heavily edited splice job" that were edited "to meet [an] agenda" of an admittedly Right-Wing group. Readers who look beyond the pages of your publication already know that this included a fake "pimp costume" that Mr. O’keefe apparently spliced in for his propaganda.
Why has your paper never published any investigative reporting to correct that record?
It is at least as believable that Mr O’Keefe’s actual professional, well-dressed appearance – never reported by you - supported the ACORN story that he arrived as a boyfriend attempting to help his girlfriend escape her prior life – none of which is shown in those apparently heavily edited videos.
I ask that the Times at least catch up to the news from the Brooklyn DA’s office - and begin publishing a corrected report.
The smear campaign whose falsehoods your paper assisted have crippled this excellent organization. You insult the poor and you insult readers intelligence. You also insult the many attorneys who work pro bono for this fine group. I am one who worked pro bono for their Nat; Financial Office back in 2003 when helping families saddled predatory mortgages was not yet "sexy."
This wonderful group deserves a public retraction after your newspaper was so willing to publish Mr O’Keefe’s defamatory claims disguised as truth.
Sincerely,
[Puffmeister, Esquire]
It was probably already too late as ACORN was already growing weaker, two large groups including the BY branch reorganized under different names.
Bad management was surely played a part. But the loss of federal funding after O'Keefe's smear campaign - perpetuated by a negligent media - played the major roles.
To me, the failure of our 'signature" NYT newspaper to retract its stories early on showed its complicity in allowing ACORN's reputation to languish.
Now, finally on the day before ACORN dies, the NY Times admits its error; and it does not even do a good job at that.
Here is how it started [thanks HuffPo]:
Public Editor Clark Hoyt acknowledged that the paper was wrong in its reporting that James O'Keefe entered ACORN offices dressed as a pimp.
"I am satisfied that The Times was wrong on this point," Hoyt wrote, "and I have been wrong in defending the paper's phrasing. Editors say they are considering a correction."
And even when the correction they were "considering" finally ran, the BradBlog pointed out that the NY Times did a piss-poor job.
Here is the opener by this great blogger:
The once-great New York Times has now become the new shame of this nation. Tonight they have run a "correction" concerning their repeated misreporting of the ACORN "Pimp" Hoax for tomorrow's papers. And, as you'll see below, it's pathetic --- simply pathetic --- and still inaccurate.
This blog points out that it had been
six months after the New York Times ran their first incorrect story on the ACORN "Pimp" Hoax
and that it was the Public Editor himself who was pushing the NY Times to run after the original smear story - since FOX News was covering it.
Unbelievably, as the BradBlog points out, at one point, in response to protests about O'Keefe to the NY Times, its own
Senior Editor for Standards Greg Brock (SeniorEditor@NYTimes.com) wrote via email that James O'Keefe "appeared on a live Fox show wearing what HE said was the same exact costume he wore to ACORN's offices...We believe him. Therefore there is nothing for us to correct";
If one goes to Google today, and lists keywords 'ACORN' with 'correction' one sees 727 news articles today and at the top, I am glad to say is the Brad Blog evisceration of the NY Time's graceless retraction.
" NYTIMES RUNS INACCURATE 'CORRECTION' FOR ACORN 'PIMP' HOAX COVERAGE - IT'S ...
Brad Blog (blog) - 13 hours ago
Tonight they have run a "correction" concerning their repeated misreporting of the ACORN "Pimp" Hoax for tomorrow's papers. And, as you'll see below, ...
Video: ACORN to close KRQE.com
NYT Public Editor Finally Admits ACORN 'Pimp' Hoax Reporting Failure: 'Times ... AlterNet
NY Times ombudsman now understands how language works True/Slant
New York Times - Village Voice (blog)
all 827 news articles »
I'm going to go now and read a few more of those 827 articles.
Shame on the New York Times for being more transcriptionists to a RW smear machine.
R.I. NO Peace, Grey Lady. For Shame.