I think it is absolutely understandable that the Washington Post might gloat after having caught O'Keefe's organization in an attempted sting video.
But you have to be careful what you say when you are in gloat mode.
From Mediaite:
An undercover endeavor from James O’Keefe seemed to crash and burn after Project Veritas was caught as they tried to feed disinformation about Roy Moore to Washington Post. WaPo released a story tonight about how their reporters were contacted by a woman who claimed that she had an abortion after Moore impregnated her as a teenager decades ago.
This account came after WaPo released their report on the first four women who came forward with claims about the Alabama Senate candidate. The report said that this new accuser frequently asked about what could happen if she went public with her story.
The newspaper never posted anything about her accusations before, however, due to a number of red flags that came up while they profiled her:
The Post did not publish an article based on her unsubstantiated account. When Post reporters confronted her with inconsistencies in her story and an Internet posting that raised doubts about her motivations, she insisted that she was not working with any organization that targets journalists.
But on Monday morning, Post reporters saw her walking into the New York offices of Project Veritas, an organization that targets the mainstream news media and left-leaning groups. The organization sets up undercover “stings” that involve using false cover stories and covert video recordings meant to expose what the group says is media bias.
WaPo posted video footage of their reporter trying to ask O’Keefe questions outside of his office, though he refused to say if the woman was working with him, or if he was working on behalf of Moore or his allies, particularly Breitbart chief Steve Bannon.
“This so-called off-the-record conversation was the essence of a scheme to deceive and embarrass us,” said WaPo Executive Editor Martin Baron. “The intent by Project Veritas clearly was to publicize the conversation if we fell for the trap. Because of our customary journalistic rigor, we weren’t fooled, and we can’t honor an ‘off-the-record’ agreement that was solicited in maliciously bad faith.”Because of their journalistic rigor, huh?
O'Keefe says he has more videos.
We shall see about that journalistic rigor.
11 comments:
We shall see about that journalistic rigor...indeed.
Pass the popcorn.
As someone who has had a rather robust freelance journalism career and maintained high ethical standards I draw the line at telling a lie to obtain an objective.
Project Veritas sought to peddle a falsehood so they could then expose a falsehood. Seems underhanded.
While not being a fan of Washington Post, neither am I a fan of what O'Keefe just tried to pull off. If the end justifies the means then we are talking about breaking a very important commandment - a line drawn in the sand regarding human relationships.
Thou shalt not lie. It is an imperative, not a suggestion. smile
Quote: ===>"...draw the line at telling a lie to obtain an objective.
Project Veritas sought to peddle a falsehood so they could then expose a falsehood."<===
I see it slightly differently. PV sought to peddle a falsehood so they could then establish the pattern of the WP peddling falsehoods of similar destructive value. I have no additional knowledge, but I suspect that PV cleared the effort with Moore beforehand.
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Additional leftist viewpoint:
TheAtlantic: How James O'Keefe Made Himself Irrelevant —
[they wish!]
They probably suspected her from the start because they did not fabricate her story in-house like the others.
In other news today ..... North Korea just proved they have an ICBM that can reach Washington DC and New York.
That should scare the shit out of the folks that live there ...... but probably not as much as if they found out that I had one that would reach there as well.
TLEP,
Your ethics do not work in the world we live in.
The purpose of Project Veritas is to show that the media and academia and government organizations are willing to go with total bullshit evidence to support the bullshit programs and stories that they put out.
the first Project Veritas video involved a man walking into Acorn with a young girl whom he said was his employee and that they were providing some sort of service which was OBVIOUSLY prostitution.
This was not a real scenario in the least.
Their point was to show that Acorn - a quasi government organization under the Obama administration - was willing use it's funding to prop up "small business" in the hood.
According to your ethics they used a falsehood to prove a crime.
Or, on the other hand, if you are ok with that, then why is it wrong to use the same tactic to bust unethical journalists when they are using their position as journalist to SUBVERT DEMOCRACY?
RT,
We have a big fucking problem on our hands, don't we?
Trump says, "We'll take care of it."
But he has done nothing to make me think he is going to do ANYTHING ABOUT IT AT ALL.
Pasto,
Nietzsche comes to mind... as a response to your comment rebuttal.
Yes .... it was from a mobile launcher this time as well, whereas before they broadcast the launches for days ahead of time preparing the rocket on the pad we keep keyholes watching.
But, you know ...... real wars always put your homes at risk. We aint been in one of those for a long long time.
War is supposed to be scary .... not just feel good TV coverage.
How many of those Bad boys does he have?
I know we got plenty.
That overwhelming ratio in our favor will only degrade in time.
It certainly narrows Trumps options to the more catastrophic first strike ones, it seems.
It's definitely a hard call to make.... and live with.
...... it was Truman's unwillingness to make that hard call a third time that left us in this position, on top of every administration since that kicked the can down the road.
This is not much scary that the Islamist protesters in street of Nuclear Pakistan this week that backed the government and military down. They could storm the parliaments and barracks at any time and get control over those Nukes.
Iran will breakout eventually.
We've known this day was coming for decades. It was an inevitable day in human history. The Rubicon lies before us. Nuclear deterrents only work on sane & fed enemies.
I agree Trump's only talked a good game up to this point. Its a hell of a call to have to make. Maybe the hardest call ever made.
Life's going to be interesting on the other side of the Rubicon.
It would make the call on Iran and Pakistan a little easier ..... or at least our threats more convincing.
..... my gut tells me he is crazy enough to pull that trigger. He's certainly not as concerned about the potential for bad press his predecessors were.
On the other hand ..... this development puts us at as much risk as we'd be asking the South Koreans and Japanese to make if we initiated hostilities.
TLEP ..... what do you think about THIS?
As a general rule I hate Liars or Lying.
In some professions and relationships .... always telling the truth can certainly be more harmful than a well placed lie.
TLEP,
Don't quote Nietzsche, if you haven't read Nietzsche.
Answer my question: Do you oppose what O'Keefe did to Acorn?
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