Buzzfeed reporter falsely claims Buzzfeed corrects its errors
http://twitter.com/#!/BuzzFeedAndrew/status/305759874103517184
Conservative media outlets get its facts wrong “all the time” says Kaczynski. As proof, he cites five examples:
Weekly Standard started the fake “Obama’ David Gregory’s kids school have 11 armed guards” meme. weeklystandard.com/blogs/gregory-…
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) February 24, 2013
The Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard falsely reported Jeep was closing plants in the US and moving to China. washingtonexaminer.com/article/251170…
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) February 24, 2013
Drudge put up this photo as his banner during the election, it was taken in May 2009. twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew…
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) February 24, 2013
Another example: .@danaloesch said Marines at the Cairo embassy were denied live ammo, it wasn’t true. breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012…
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) February 24, 2013
Last Example: Breitbart said Huntsman was going to the DNC. breitbart.com/Big-Government…
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) February 24, 2013
Last point: None of those stories have corrections.
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) February 24, 2013
Feel free to put all those tweets on your site Twitchy.
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) February 24, 2013
Thank you, we will.
Kaczynski acknowledges that Buzzfeed makes mistakes, too, but claims that any such errors are promptly corrected.
@collegepolitico It’s going thing when we make mistakes we corrected them then.
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) February 24, 2013
Is it true? Is Buzzfeed truly transparent about its errors, as Kaczynski asserts?
Take a look at this Buzzfeed article entitled, “Pro-Gun Hecklers Shout at Father Who Lost Son in Newtown.”
Slate and The Week admitted that the father, Neil Heslin, wasn’t heckled during his testimony. Here’s the video:
After being called out by Twitchy’s Michelle Malkin and others, CNN host Anderson Cooper acknowledged that Heslin “asked for response and audiences members gave it.” But nearly a month later, BuzzFeed continues to cling to the repulsive heckler narrative. No correction, no retraction and the factually-incorrect headline — “Pro-Gun Hecklers Shout At Father Who Lost Son In Newtown” — has not been changed. The only edit was a pathetic CYA attempt: an “update” at the very end with the unedited video, a transcript of Heslin’s remarks, and this lame rationalization:
Gun rights advocates and others have suggested Heslin was not heckled, since the crowd was responding to a question Heslin asked. Others counter that Heslin’s question was rhetorical. But around the 15 minute mark you can hear shouts such as “Second Amendment” interrupting Heslin’s testimony. An official can then be heard reprimanding those who were yelling.
What a model of journalistic integrity!
Then there’s this article by Buzzfeed DC Bureau Chief John Stanton, headlined “University Of Mississippi Students Riot Over Obama Victory.”
News outlets and others on the scene stated unequivocally that there were no riots — only protests:
Riots HAVE NOT broken out on campus. Only protests. #OleMiss
— NewsWatch Ole Miss (@NewsWatch_99) November 7, 2012
We are defining what happened earlier as protests. “Riots” are violent public disturbances, and that did not occur on the #OleMiss campus.
— Daily Mississippian (@thedm_news) November 7, 2012
Not trying to be flippant, but if you consider “riot” to be a really long line at Subway OKAY it looks like that around Ole Miss. That’s it.
— Alexander Pipes (@alexander_pipes) November 7, 2012
As a student who is currently in Oxford I can guarantee there are no riots. Stop demonizing #OleMiss
— Shea Throckmorton (@SheaThrock) November 7, 2012
A journalism student who was there initially called the incident a “riot” but later backtracked and apologized:
I apologize and should clarify that what happened tonight is better described as protests, not riots. #OleMiss
— Margaret Ann Morgan (@Margaret_AnnM) November 7, 2012
Going to bed after a long night of victory for our president and upset on our campus. Thankful that these were nonviolent protests & hope…
— Margaret Ann Morgan (@Margaret_AnnM) November 7, 2012
To this day, Buzzfeed has neither updated nor corrected nor retracted its story.
Here’s a Buzzfeed article by Dave Stopera entitled, “People Who Say They’re Moving to Canada Because of Obamacare.”
The article attempts to portray conservatives who opposed the U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding Obamacare as ill-informed or worse. Stopera’s snarky headline: “I’m sure they’ll like the healthcare just fine there.”
As Twitchy reported at the time, at least one-third of the tweeters featured by Stopera weren’t conservative and didn’t oppose Obamacare:
@nahusn The point is, it was a joke, a ruse. I am a liberal Democrat. (I would love Canada.) The internet is safe. Go smash the right wing.
— James (@15c3PO) June 29, 2012
@chrispeck97 I don’t really have a strong opinion. I was just making a joke. Guess the joke’s on me!
— Lucas Dargis (@LucasDargis) June 28, 2012
@kyrodck Yes, as would have been explained 1,000 times if you would have read my feed. I made a joke and morons couldn’t contextualize.
— Walter Weldon (@WallyWeldon) June 29, 2012
@braunbraun Meaning the tweet was a joke, I don’t think the US is a socialist country, and I support the law in large.
— Walter Weldon (@WallyWeldon) June 29, 2012
People who got pissed that I said I wanted to go to Canada. It’s. a joke. obviously people for understand sarcasm.#someonesmissingabrainlego
— Christian Anderson (@partyatchris) June 28, 2012
One of the women featured in the Buzzfeed article wasn’t even referring to Obamacare:
http://twitter.com/#!/Janes_good_sead/status/218405360338341888
Nearly eight months later, her tweet and all the others are still included in Stopera’s Buzzfeed article. No correction. No retraction.
Even when Buzzfeed corrects an error, it rarely if ever uses the word “correction” or “retraction.”
Consider this story, entitled “People Tweeting Hideous Things About Sandra Fluke.”
The tweets were truly disgusting. But the most sickening tweet of all wasn’t even directed at Fluke — it targeted conservative radio host Dana Loesch.
Buzzfeed deleted the tweet from its story and posted this “update”: “We’ve removed a Tweet that was aimed at someone other than Fluke.”
The word “correction” was not used.
Here’s another example: a story by Kaczynski initially titled “Paul Ryan Gets Testy And Walks Out Of Interview”
After a lengthy Twitter exchange and some insults (and apologies), Kaczynski changed the headline from “walks out” to “ends.” That’s closer, at least, but still is not accurate.
And as usual, Buzzfeed called the headline change an “update.” It did not use the word “correction.”
Buzzfeed does not always acknowledge changes it makes to its stories after publication.
He then pointed to the altered sub-headline as evidence that the critics were mistaken:
@mikebeas Failed to mention? It’s in the deck. I said Fox Host, because no nobody knows who Bob Beckel is.
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) February 20, 2013
The article still does not acknowledge that Kaczynski changed the sub-headline after initial publication.
Update:
The “erroneous” Drudge photo was tweeted by @BarackObama on September 19, 2012 (International Talk Like a Pirate Day and only eight days after the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi):
Arrr you in? OFA.BO/FAapT9, twitter.com/BarackObama/st…
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 19, 2012
