On Wednesday, I wrote a brief post on ACORN's lawsuit against those who made and distributed the now-infamous undercover videotapes of ACORN staff. In the post, I linked to a Washington Post story on the suit. Today, however, I learned that the story at that link is no longer the same as when I made my initial Wednesday post. As noted in an early comment on my post, the original story included the following:
In an exclusive interview with the Post, founder Wade Rathke said conservative claims that ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is a "criminal enterprise" that misuses federal and donor funds for political ends -- a claim contained in a report by House Republicans -- are a "complete fabrication." He said exaggeration and conjecture about the group are being passed off daily on cable television and web-site blogs as documented fact.Portions from this passage no longer appear in the story as it now appears on the Post website. Now the relevant portion of the story simply reads:"It's balderdash on top of poppycock," said Rathke, who was forced out last year amid an embezzlement scandal involving his brother.
Meanwhile, the departed founder of ACORN said many of the accusations about the group are distortions meant to undermine President Obama and other Democrats.Missing are the reference to the "embezzlement scandal" or the colorful quote. Gone as well is the mention of an "exclusive" interview. Yet there is no acknowledgment anywhere in the story that it was edited.In an interview, Rathke said conservative claims that ACORN is a "criminal enterprise" that misuses federal and donor funds for political ends -- an allegation contained in a report by House Republicans -- are a "complete fabrication." He said exaggeration and conjecture about the group are being passed off daily on cable television and blogs as documented fact.
So, the Washington Post published a story on its website, revised the story to omit details that appeared in the relevant piece, and yet did not disclose these facts to the Post's online readers. Isn't this a problem? There may well have been valid reasons for revising the story. Perhaps an editor thought the story got relevant facts wrong or concluded reference to the embezzlement scandal was unfair. Whatever the reason for the change, the Post should have disclosed that changes were made and that it had decided to excise information included in the original story.
This is not the first time I've noticed the web site of a prominent news organization failing to disclose that it had edited the web-based version of a story after initial publication. The NYT, for example, did it when reporting on the Administration's decision to abandon a planned missile defense of Poland and the Czech Republic, as I noted in an update to this post. Is this now common practice? If so, it seems to be a major failing. Responsible bloggers routinely disclose anything more than the most minor stylistic and typographical revisions to published posts. I would think newspaper websites could do the same. Indeed, shouldn't newspapers at least match the disclosure norms observed by bloggers? After all, they're the real journalists.
Whether I think it is proper or not would depend on how important the change was.
- Inadvertently made the same quote on the first reference.
I don't think we need to go as far as the Wikipedia-like revision history log. :)
On Wikipedia, although the main story evolves over time, you can always click back through a changelog and see any particular prior version. Each version has a permalink, so you can cite to a particular version with confidence that your readers will always see the same text you're discussing. (Academics and judges seem to rarely actually use those permalinks when citing wikipedia, but that's another story.)
There's no aesthetic reason the NY Times or a newspaper of similar stature couldn't institute the same thing for its online articles. As its own editors or authors make changes, those go into a changelog that readers can view or can cite directly. As a bonus, the main story text wouldn't be littered with strikethroughs and insertions.
How would anyone know whether the original article really wasn't wrong or misleading, if the newspaper gives no explanation for the change?
There are no statements, in the original material or the redacted material, where the founder of ACORN related the "distortions" back to Obama and other Democrats.
It appears the changes generally are pro-ACORN. They negate the embezzlement charges and then deflect the actual criticism if ACORN into something that is mere political grist (as if it had no foundation). The change appeals to our base tribal instinct. They're appealing to groupthink - if a person is a Democrat then their instinct is to doubt any source that attacks the group.
If your belief is that the NYT is hiding incorrect articles by editing them, then I agree, these changes should be noted. But as I understand that is not what prof. Adler is suggesting.
you mean to tell me the whole ACORN scandal is pure politics? you can actually say that with a straight face?
what is your opinion on the scooter libby investigation? or the CIA torture investigations. something tells me you think they have no foundation.
Newspapers have published multiple daily editions -- and revised, spiked or added stories from edition to edition -- for decades, perhaps a century.
I presume you meant to say "you mean to tell me the whole ACORN scandal isn't pure politics?"
The issue with ACORN is there are multiple criminal investigations of ACORN ongoing - by both D's and R's. Several ACORN employees have already been found guilty and more indictments will likely follow. Further, the founder's brother apparently embezzled over $1,000,000.00 from ACORN and then there's the recent video showing corruption. Is there a political angle? Almost certainly -- ACORN is closely aligned with Obama and the Democrats so their political opponents will want to seize on this association. Each side attempts to get traction with whatever it can. However, my point was not whether or not it was political, but rather, the slant of the changes was pro-ACORN from a supposedly "neutral" news source and the writer putting words in the mouth of the ACORN founder. There are no quotes stating what the writer summarized him saying.
As to Libby and the CIA torture investigations. My beefs there would be that there was no question as to the criminality of what Libby did in "leaking" Plame's name. He wasn't convicted of that but of lying to the FBI about it. As to the torture investigation - I have no ultimate problem with an investigation being conducted as long as its above-the-board and not politicized. However, the fact that Holder did not even go so far as to read the memos that the prior investigators wrote (which did not support continued investigation) indicates a more political motive for the investigation. If something was illegal about their methods, then I say bring it to light and prosecute but if it's a dog-and-pony show then I say don't bother wasting government resources on it. Perhaps he should release the memos that stated there was nothing criminal in what was done and that could clear up whether his motives are pure or not.
I see a very strong reason to inform readers of each revision.
It has become commonplace to link to articles from "mainstream" sources because they have copyright based objections to copy and paste. So we link and then they change the story at the link.
It seems to me, this nullifies their copyright based objections to cut and paste. If the same link leads to two different stories, which one is copyrighted? I recognize they both can be copyrighted, but the link is, or should be, an unambiguous reference to a single item. They can't both be copyrighted with the same unambiguous description.
Sometimes, eating “breakfast” at 3am, over the paper, I'd read some fascinating story.
Later, at home, I'd reread the same story —reliably delivered to my doorstep— and it'd be different!
WOW.
I don't subscribe to any print papers anymore.
Or, is that the reason for the concern?
And, the WaPo did something similar before the election (link, more on that reporter here).
When you compare the omissions from The Washington Post particularly the edit of this-said Rathke, who was forced out last year amid an embezzlement scandal involving his brother and the example Jonathan Adler noticed at The New York Times-why is it that both of the edits make the story more favorable to Democrats?
Coincidence?
"It's balderdash on top of poppycock," said Rathke
Is this some kind of secret trust-fund child language? Why is it I feel this amazing urge to raise my pinky finger when I hear those words? And is one required to wear white shoes before uttering such remarkable language?
Coincidence?
given the tone of postings since the election started, it's mostly because if the story was changed to be more favorable to the republicans no one would deem it important enough to comment on.
earliest (with feeling): "WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nastiness of August reached from the nation's town halls into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday as President Barack Obama tried to move his health care plan forward...."
later (eliminating the feeling): "WASHINGTON (AP) -- A South Carolina Republican lawmaker shouted "You lie" at President Barack Obama as he addressed Congress on Wednesday, prompting a GOP senator to call for an apology."
last (factual update): "Democrats and Republicans alike are denouncing Rep. Joe Wilson for shouting "You lie" at President Barack Obama during his speech to Congress, an extraordinary breach of decorum for which the South Carolina Republican swiftly apologized."
Apart from updating the content with additional developments, what can be clearly seen between the first and second versions is a removal of language that does more to express the reporter's clearly very liberal feelings and interpretations than to report on observable events. Additionally, the title also changed between the second and third versions. The first title was false:
"Obama heckled by GOP during speech: 'You lie!' "
This assigns to the entire GOP the actions of one man, so this is a great and partisan misrepresentation of what happened. The later title is true:
"Lawmakers denounce 'You lie' outburst at Obama"
I happen to have these quotes because at the time I emailed a friend about it.
Changes of the type described don't bother me, but if a publisher doesn't meet a reader's standard in this regard, the reader is free to leave and not return.
For example, an author on this site today indicated that a mistake had been made concerning a law school affiliation, and changed the content but failed to tell readers what had been removed. Scrubbed, some might say. Or whitewashed.
For those whose exacting standards are not consistent with that type of editing . . . see ya.
And IMO it is a pretty sleazy way of doing edits.
Also let me observe that the few times I've posted comments on the NYTimes website opinion pieces I've found them to be a pretty inconsistent in their moderation practices. I've seen comments that where not in any way different from mine get approved while the comment I made sits in their moderation queue till it disappears.
I suppose none of you guys is old enough to have actually heard a newsboy shouting 'Extry! Extry! Read all abaht it!' but don't you watch old movies?
Extra! extra! is already telling the readers that at least one piece was changed or added.
No one bothered if the Washington Post left a note saying it changed the piece. And if it was a correction it should write that it was a correction.
The New York Times is the only paper I regularly read online. While I haven't been checking to see if they secretly update articles, I've noticed a lot of notes that begin "This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:" at the bottom of articles. A search of nytimes.com for that phrase yields 97,300 results. Many of these corrections even go beyond correcting a minor misspelling of someone's name. Other commenters have brought up a wiki-style version history. That could be interesting but the NYT notification method would be ridiculously easy for other news sites to adopt.
If you were being quoted on the propriety of DUI's while your brother was in jail for one, then hell yes it's germane.
And if you're commenting on the validity of an investigation into ACORN, then hell yes having a brother forced out because of a similar investigation is germane.
I think major factual corrections should also be given equal space and placement as the articles they revise, otherwise most remain unaware of the error and keep the assumptions? wisdom? received through the first version.
Good thing I'm the patient sort...
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