Florida newspapers - that were leaked copies of the e-mail with the Louisiana boy last year - defended their decision not to run stories. Both The St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald were given copies of the e-mail, as were other news organizations, including Fox News.
"Our decision at the time was ... that because the language was not sexually explicit and was subject to interpretation, from innocuous to 'sick,' as the page characterized it, to be cautious," said Tom Fiedler, executive editor of the Herald. "Given the potentially devastating impact that a false suggestion of pedophilia could have on anyone, not to mention a congressman known to be gay, and lacking any corroborating information, we chose not to do a story."
Clearly the news outlets mentioned above have forgotten what they are supposed to doing as journalists. Key incriminating statement:
Lacking any corroborating information.
Are these not the folks whose job it is to find out if there is or isn't any corroborating information? Is there a story here or not? If not, what are they doing all day? Running corporate video news releases and regurgitating the official propaganda of the Emperor? Since when are they so kid gloved with a congressman who is "known to be gay"?
Had Fox, The ST. Petersburg Times or The Miami Herald chosen to even lift a finger to look into this it would have opened the same flood gate to the truth it did for the ABC journalists who did actually bother to check it out. Foley would have been stopped a year ago if any one of them had done their job.
Apparently they did not. Why? Perhaps that will make itself known in time as well.
If this does not say it all about the state of journalism at these outlets I surely don't know what else could. One would expect a reputable news outlet to engage in something that was once known as investigative journalism. Did they even try to find out what the real story was before they decided on deeming it innocuous? Did any one of them give a thought to the fact that if there was any chance, innocuous or otherwise, that this man was a pedophile kids were at risk? Or did they decide to look the other way along with the Republican Party members who also knew about these e-mails and were warning pages to stay away from Foley as early as 2001.
Matthew Loraditch, a page in the 2001-2002 class, told ABC News he and other pages were warned about Foley by a supervisor in the House Clerk's office.
Loraditch, the president of the Page Alumni Association, said the pages were told "don't get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff."
If they felt Foley was not a threat to these kids why would they be warning them about him? Foley is a sick individual and his crimes are abominable. What of those that look the other way? How can we not hold them equally responsible from the point at which they chose to look the other way?
They can all defend themselves till the cows come home, but the cold hard fact is they were negligent in protecting these kids after questions were raised. Why did they do nothing? Only they know for sure and it is they who must live with the fact that they let these kids down when they could have stopped this or at the very least made absolutely sure that it was all really... INNOCUOUS.
A progressive ex-big city girl writing about her post-corporate American life in the Appalachian mountains. Progressive prospective on living and politics from off the corporate ladder.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
The friggin FBI was told, as early as 2001 to back off any investigation into this Foley filth. Two Attorneys General ordered them not to pursue it......
I am content to allow the investigation of Foley to take its course but hope the Dems insist upon investigating whether the GOP leadership (Hastert) quashed this as well as Ashcroft and Gonzales......and while we are talking investigation how about one on the Tenet memorandum to Condi sixty days prior to 9/11 stating unequivocably that CIA assessments were that we were going to get hit soon!
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Tuesday, Oct 3, 2006 at 6:26:16 PM
Florida newspapers - that were leaked copies of the e-mail with the Louisiana boy last year - defended their decision not to run stories. Both The St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald were given copies of the e-mail, as were other news organizations, including Fox News.
Are you saying only FOX news and not ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, etc. had the leaked information?
Had Fox, The ST. Petersburg Times or The Miami Herald chosen to even lift a finger to look into this it would have opened the same flood gate to the truth it did for the ABC journalists who did actually bother to check it out. Foley would have been stopped a year ago if any one of them had done their job.
Do you really believe only FOX had this information a year ago?
by
sbaker (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 147 comments) on Thursday, Oct 5, 2006 at 9:41:20 AM
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