Good, Bad, and Ugly

Feeding conspiracy theories?

Many people are linking through Yahoo to a photo you’re running of someone in boots walking on the US flag in Zuccotti Square.

It’s a hackneyed cliche, of course, that protestors hate their country. In this case, the photo seems to have been faked. I am not a Photoshop expert, but the light looks wrong, the edges look wrong, the shadows under the boots seem wrong.

More obviously, the stripes on the flag are completely incorrect. Why are you running this photo at all? Did someone hack your website?

A photo like this destroys your credibility completely. It’s bad journalism and a threat to democracy–further, it feeds conspiracy theories on both the right and the left. As a citizen of the US, I feel angry, as a sometime reporter I feel betrayed, and as a veteran I am apalled. Pull your heads out, really.

Nac

I can see criticizing the person in the photo, and maybe even the person responsible for the badly made flag, but in my opinion this is a perfectly legitimate news photo.

Not on our site…

Ron Paul vs. the “pretty boys”

The ad, not authorized by the candidate, debuted last week. It’s posted on Paul’s website and on YouTube. But Revolution Pac is looking for wider distribution. The PAC is seeking donations to buy TV time to air the spot in the crucial early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

This article states that the un-affiliated Revolution PAC ad appears on Ron Paul’s website, assumed to mean the Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee website www.ronpaul2012.com. The ad does NOT appear on our website, nor does any Revolution PAC information appear there. Please make this correction, and many thanks for your attention.

James V. Barcia Deputy National Press Secretary Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

We made the correction to our Front Row Washington blog item: GBU Editor

U.S. Republican presidential candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul speaks during the American Principles Project Palmetto Freedom Forum in Columbia, South Carolina September 5, 2011. REUTERS/Chris Keane

Join the Good, Bad, Ugly Facebook Blog Network

The wrong results

Running hard, Perry a tough sell in New Hampshire

PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire (Reuters) – White House hopeful Rick Perry has hit New Hampshire hard since kicking off his bid for the Republican nomination, but the tough-talking Texan will struggle to win support in this early-voting state.

A poll done for the New Hampshire Journal this week showed Romney with 36 percent support, Perry debuting strongly at 18 percent and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann at 13 percent.

Can you explain this? Are they different polls?

Is your website just straight up lying about poll numbers? Or did you use a different source?

I will spread the word about this if you are blatantly lying, so please let me know if there’s a better explanation.

Daniel H.

What’s in a nickname?

Governor Moonbeam has big plans for California sun

SAN FRANCISCO, July 1 (Reuters) – California plans to get a third of its electricity from wind, solar and other renewable energy, but Governor “Moonbeam” Jerry Brown wants more. Soon.

The feisty 73-year-old who brings a former seminarian’s zeal to environmentalism sees green jobs reinvigorating the economy and restoring California’s position as world leader in clean energy.

I’m writing to let you know I find it inexcusable for Reuters to have referred to Gov. Brown of California as “Moonbeam,” in an article on the state’s energy plan.

That nickname originated as an insult, and doesn’t belong in your article. That nickname also was abandoned long ago by Californians, suggesting that the article’s author and the editor are relying on decades old misinformation.

The nickname is only used these days by people engaging in partisan politics, which casts grave doubt on Reuters alleged neutrality as a source of news.

One expects this kind of childishness from Fox News, but now I will have to include Reuters in that dumpster.

Who’s unattractive?

Brady Bunch mom got crabs in affair with NY mayor

Florence Henderson, the actress who played perky mom Carol Brady in the beloved family sitcom, says she once got crabs after a one-night-stand with career politician John Lindsay, who was the mayor of New York City at the time.

Henderson, now 77, recounts in her upcoming memoir that she was cheating on her husband during the 1960s, and gave in to her better judgment when her married and unattractive friend put the moves on her over drinks at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

If Florence Henderson really “gave in to her better judgment,” as your writer states, she would NOT have slept with the mayor.

I think he must have meant to say she gave in AGAINST her better judgment.

But no matter, black is white and white is black these days anyway. What’s the point of being accurate?

Just Wondering

He’s still not a Republican

Today, Reuters released a report concerning Anthony Weiner and his resignation. Today’s headline reads “Amid scandal, US Republican Weiner steps down”.

Reuters writers should be very aware that former Rep. Weiner is not a Republican and is in fact a Democrat.

This glaring error could be chalked up as a reporter who did not research the topic of their report or was rushing to get a story out. Today’s headline can not be explained away that simply since this is the second time, in less than a month, former Rep. Weiner has been identified as a Republican in a Reuters headline.

Proving the same incorrect headline twice can no longer be considered a lazy error by a journalist and moves into the realm of an overt attempt to sway public opinion at best. At worst, this is an overt attempt to tarnish the reputation of the Republican Party.

Regardless of how this headline was able to go out, it is inexcusable.

T.B.

Michele, one “l”….

U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) talks to the audience after the end of the first New Hampshire debate of the 2012 campaign at St. Anselms College in Manchester, New Hampshire June 13, 2011.  REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Bachmann files papers to enter US White House race

MANCHESTER, N.H., June 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Michelle Bachmann said on Monday she has filed the paperwork to formally enter the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

You guys misspelled Michele Bachmann’s first name in this story, and in some photo captions I saw, too. It’s Michele, not Michelle!

A Supporter

Sanctum Santorum?

Santorum launches Republican bid for White House

WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) – Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum launched a long-shot Republican bid for president on Monday, pledging an unflinching commitment to conservative policies, including a Medicare reform plan that has proved unpopular with voters.

“We’re going to be in this race and we’re in it to win,” Santorum told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview from his home state of Pennsylvania.

In today’s story it was stated that he launched it FROM HIS HOME STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

That is totally incorrect. His home state is Virgina, specifically, Leesburg. He owns a property in Pennsylvania but he does not live there.

Explorer

Santorum was born in Virginia and lived in West Virginia until the age of 7, when his family moved to Pennsylvania. With the exception of a year or two of high school spent in Illinois, he lived in Pennsylvania through his boyhood, college and law school years and adult working life before being elected senator.

He’s not a Republican…

Republican Weiner uncertain whether lewd photo was of  him

Anthony Weiner is a DEMOCRAT … YOUR HEADLINE implies he is Republican.

Duh!

Great reporting, folks!

R.M.

That was a very unfortunate one. The original headline said Rep. Weiner, meaning Representative, but on an online product it was changed to Republican.

We corrected it of course, but lots of people saw it: GBU Editor

Not all Palin supporters?

Palin returns with feisty, anti-establishment speech

MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) – Conservative Sarah Palin returned to the U.S. political arena on Saturday after several months absence with a feisty speech attacking both the establishment Republican Party and Democratic President Barack Obama and proclaiming “the 2012 elections begin here.”

In a move apparently aimed at keeping her name in the running for the Republican nomination in next year’s presidential election, Palin addressed several thousand people in Wisconsin, a state bitterly divided by a political fight over union rights.

If your article on Ms. Palin’s recent Wisconsin stop is representative of Reuters degree of accuracy, objectivity and comprehensiveness in reporting, Reuters will not be on my list of reliable news sources.

To “report” that Ms. Palin spoke to a crowd of several thousand implies that they supported her, whereas an accurate report would indicate that the majority did not.

Shoobie

Nothing in our story suggests that these were all pro-Palin people. We said she addressed “several thousand people,” and we could have said supporters had we thought that’s what they were.