Edited AGAIN! NYT Just Keeps Changing TNR Story

Last paragraph:

The magazine granted anonymity to the writer to keep him from being punished by his military superiors and to allow him to write candidly, Mr. Foer said. He said that he had met the writer and that he knows with "near certainty" that he is, in fact, a soldier.

That's the end of the story; nothing follows, as you can see from my screecap above.

The new version:

The magazine granted anonymity to the writer to keep him from being punished by his military superiors and to allow him to write candidly, Mr. Foer said. He said that he had met the writer and that he knows with "near certainty" that he is, in fact, a soldier.
After this article appeared, Mr. Foer said he was "absolutely certain" that the author is a soldier.

There's nothing really nefarious here, I guess. The NYT owes it to Foer to note his new, less nuanced position on the identity of "Scott Thomas." They're just adding in some, errm, context that probably should have in the first new version of the story, but didn't get to it to a few minutes ago.

So no big deal, I guess, except we're seeing, yet again, how that sausage is made. It's often not as pretty as the sausage-manufacturers at the NYT would have you believe, with their vaunted multiple layers of painstaking editorial oversight and rigorous fact-checking.

I guess this is what happens when you try editing your reporter's story on the fly, after it's already been published.

Again: For the NYT's and Franklin Foer's benefit, these edits and fact-checks are really better done before publishing.

Thanks to Dusty.

Posted by: Ace at 05:43 PM

Comments

1 This is getting truly ridiculous.

The New York Times : All stories are subject to change without notice.

Posted by: CTD at July 24, 2007 05:49 PM (RurGt)

2 6 Geez, what must Marty Peretz be thinking.

Keep in mind Peretz was around when the Stephen Glass scandal almost destroyed TNR. He must be thinking, "oh no, not again."

Posted by: OregonMuse at July 24, 2007 05:50 PM (WqDqW)

3 Remember that you are dealing with a newspaper. The only thing that is *real* and that they stand behind is what gets published in the hard copy paper. The website will be manipulated six ways to Sunday and you will never see a correction. To news media people, the web is like something written in pencil. They can erase and change and delete all they want. They are only going to stand behind and issue corrections for what ink actually hits paper.

If it isn't in the paper, then they will deny they ever "said" it. Publishing to teh Interwebz doesn't count.

Posted by: crosspatch at July 24, 2007 05:52 PM (pxZRL)

4 Franklin Foer's butt is on the line, and he knows it. And nothing would make me happier to see that BDS-addled doucherocket get his pink slip over this.

Posted by: OregonMuse at July 24, 2007 05:54 PM (WqDqW)

5 Also, I want to see Iowahawk do a Dan Rather Mystery where Dan teams up with gumshoe FF to get to the bottom of this story -- right after Dan figures out where the phony Guard memos came from.

Posted by: OregonMuse at July 24, 2007 05:56 PM (WqDqW)

6 I'm imagining a totally absurd copy editing meeting/argument going on in the offices right now. The Editor, The Lawyer and The Writer are all going back and forth on what should be written. The guy actually writing the words into the machines is just a poor sumbitch intern who has to change the text every 5 seconds at the whims of the argument behind him.

Posted by: tachyonshuggy at July 24, 2007 05:58 PM (Lz6uE)

7 Geez, the last time a story changed that often, that quickly, I was trying to explain to my parents what I was doing in the liquor cabinet.

Posted by: Brown Line at July 24, 2007 05:59 PM (50X/W)

Foer is also the one who made his bones exposing CNN's cooperation with Saddam's Information Ministry back in 2002. It had to wait until the Iraq invasion before Eason Jordan 'fessed up.

That's the tragic part, really. I'm betting he had weak sources back then too; but since it confirmed his "metanarrative," he followed through on it. Here the metanarrative is pretty obvious, and it's also one he finds agreeable; but those weak sources aren't signalling the presence of facts this time so much as BDS run amock. He got away with it last time, doesn't look like he will this time.

Posted by: Plinko at July 24, 2007 06:03 PM (x8Std)

9 OMG!!!! They've edited it again! Now, it reads "he is certainly certain".

Posted by: dave at July 24, 2007 06:05 PM (lFXac)

10 Does anyone know the name of that digital TV bullshit thing that Rather is working at? I need to get my resume over to him ASAP.

Posted by: Franklin Foer at July 24, 2007 06:08 PM (hlYel)

Just to make it clear, I don't think Foer has any excuse here; but I do think he's probably done this sort of thing before, and doubtless felt entitled to do it again because nobody called him for it at the time (since he was right). Stopped clocks are right twice a day, and the editorial staff at the New Republic has a lot more to answer for than Foer if they did let him get away with it before (because he/they didn't get caught).

Posted by: Plinko at July 24, 2007 06:08 PM (x8Std)

12 Why is he being protected from his superiors? He is witness to the crimes, not the perpetrator himself. This jackass apparently does nothing except observe things happen in Iraq. He doesn't engage the enemy, he certainly doesn't react to other soldiers. He doesn't seem to have any responsibilities, and noone seems to be responsible for him.

Of course, since most of this crap is behind the subscription wall, I don't know know how rich and detailed his accounts are.

Posted by: joeindc44 at July 24, 2007 06:13 PM (za2Xz)

13 The New York Times cannot agree
on the exact degree of Foer's certainty
I am no Monty, that's plain to see
But I doubt their source's accuracy

Posted by: sandy burger at July 24, 2007 06:15 PM (Uuy++)

14 You mean journalists might shade (competely change) their reports to cover for other journalists who may have been caught playing fast and loose with the truth? What with the way they've treated the AP's various gaffes, I had never considered that possibility.

Posted by: corvan at July 24, 2007 06:20 PM (16gju)

15 TNR could have given their space to any number of military bloggers that would have put their name on their stories. Read most milblogs you'll see the good and the bad of what's going on Iraq. Stories of heartbreak and courage from people who are there.

But the TNR wasn't interested in that. Nope they preferred to believe (how they want to believe!) the worst of the worst.

I get that TNR is an opinion journal and not obligated to tell both sides of the story but you'd think they'd have some interest in the truth. Oh wait, they are leftists, the only "truth" to them is America is Bad.

Posted by: Drew at July 24, 2007 06:21 PM (hlYel)

16 "He must be thinking, "oh no, not again.""

Yeah, but the Glass thing wasn't overtly crazy-leftist (which Peretz himself certainly is not). This, OTOH, shows how far into moonbattitude they've drifted.

Joe: a very obvious generic login works for TNR's website. I don't want to say more lest it get shut down.

Posted by: someone at July 24, 2007 06:23 PM (TXnhk)

17 Ummm, this isn't really what I had in mind with that relativity stuff.

Posted by: Albert Einstein at July 24, 2007 06:44 PM (bV8PN)

18 LMAO!! After I commented, I had to go grocery shopping.

I suspected the last graf was a third time. I was more wondering if you caught it before it happened. It was definitely an in-house fight: Louise Story wrote it. Story went home. TNR rebutted. Unknown NYT'er changed it. Story came to work. Story saw it, was furious, and changed it back.

I wonder if Story was told to put it in or an Unknown NYT'er again did their magic after she went home. We may never know, but geez, seeing an NYT in-house fight take place on-line is great.

Posted by: Dusty at July 24, 2007 06:47 PM (GJLeQ)

19 You know, it's pretty suspicious that the Ever Changing Story shifts into overdrive the day after Lindsey Lohan's latest DUI arrest.

I'm just sayin'....

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at July 24, 2007 06:50 PM (tVbxd)

20 Haven't these guys figured out they can't get away with this stuff anymore?

Posted by: Radical Centrist at July 24, 2007 07:17 PM (c5e90)

21 There is a third version now: see Hot Air or LGF.

Posted by: andycanuck at July 24, 2007 07:22 PM (cq7i2)

Looks like they are catching on at the NYT. Write a story that sounds like what you want to portray, watch the major blogs and let them do the fact checking, then issue different wordings till one covers the errors.

It is unprofessional and blatantly biased, but at least they are finally reacting to it with some honestly, albeit grudeingly.

The bloggers. Doing the jobs journalists won't do. Like, journalism.

Posted by: PHenry at July 24, 2007 07:26 PM (JiGDO)

23 grudgingly

Posted by: PHenry at July 24, 2007 07:28 PM (JiGDO)

24 Maybe journalism is just politics...except less honest.

Posted by: corvan at July 24, 2007 08:06 PM (16gju)

25 "There is a third version now: see Hot Air or LGF."

What, you mean the version DISCUSSED IN THE ACTUAL POST ABOVE?

Gee. Never would have guessed.

Posted by: someone at July 24, 2007 08:18 PM (TXnhk)

26 C'mon guys! I'm absolutely, 100%, positively, completely nearly totally confident in this shit. Quit picking on me!

Posted by: Frank Foer at July 24, 2007 08:20 PM (eFVD1)

27 Or maybe politics is journalism...with more honor.

Posted by: corvan at July 24, 2007 08:24 PM (16gju)

NYTimes

Our motto: "Story First! Facts Later!"

Posted by: Barry at July 24, 2007 08:28 PM (aJtCl)

29 Guys, I think Jesse Macbeth must have gotten e-mail privileges from prison...

Posted by: richard mcenroe at July 24, 2007 08:40 PM (clI2H)

30 Whether the writer is or isn't a soldier is of minor importance compared to salient questions like, "Did the events he describe actually happen and, if so, why did he not report them as required?" and "Is the writer being paid for his reports?" There has to be something in the UCMJ about not reporting violations so you can sell a story on them . . .

Posted by: Jim Addison at July 24, 2007 08:58 PM (uqc7t)

This is my first post here, Ace and Acelings, so I just ask you to take it on faith that I'm pretty much on your side.

The updating of the NYT story is a feature, not a bug. It's why we like the web. "Oh, the guy we're talking about read this story and wants to dig himself a deeper hole." That's not really deceptive, and the overall tone of the article is certainly not circle-the-wagons around a beleagured fellow liberal. It's, "wow, this looks bad, let's give the condemned man the last word".

Posted by: Michael at July 24, 2007 09:14 PM (ApPLh)

Well, the NYT/TNR cabal must provide a balanced picture of what's occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's only fair to work the "Killitary" angle; after all, they've devoted numerous pages of their publications trumpeting the daily courage and episodes of heroism in Iraq and Afghanistan so that folks like PO Danny Dietz (Navy Cross, posthumous) are a household name.

Thank God they showed such great prudence in downplaying Abu Ghraib in 2004. Who knows, that could have really inflamed passions in the Arab/Muslim world.

Posted by: Xenu at July 24, 2007 09:32 PM (O28xr)

33 Michael,

There's nothing wrong with updating a story as it evolves but doing it without calling attention to that fact certainly smacks of trying to pull a fast one. And I am not sure this is a courtesy the Times extends to everyone, especially Republicans.

Posted by: Drew at July 24, 2007 09:52 PM (hlYel)

34 I will NEVER eat sausage again.

Posted by: TallDave at July 24, 2007 10:10 PM (r1Ip+)

35 I don't know why the NYT is still in business. Not only can you not trust them, but they pander to our enemies. They have in fact become one of our enemies.

Posted by: cheryl at July 24, 2007 10:10 PM (VUsyt)

36 I don't know why the NYT is still in business..... They have in fact become one of our enemies.

I believe you may already know the answer to the first part of your comment. The editors of the NYT most likely feel that they have a sizable enough audience of anti-American leftists and "intellectuals" for their sleazy propaganda that there really is no need to hide their absolute disdain for one of the few countries on Earth that freely allows a publication like theirs to exist.

Posted by: Liz Edwards at July 24, 2007 11:01 PM (56ssE)

37 If the NYT pulled some of their crap in Canada, the publisher would be getting hauled into court constantly. Canada's notions of "free speech" are considerably restricted compared to ours.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at July 24, 2007 11:29 PM (bV8PN)

38 Dan's got the new TNR masthead logo posted. I like it.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at July 25, 2007 01:08 AM (bV8PN)

39 C'mon! They know it's just a "bunch of crazy rightwing bloggers" documenting this stuff.

Who's really going to notice? It's mid-summer, everyone is at the beach or Disney World, No harm no foul. Try again in September.

Posted by: The MSM at July 25, 2007 02:26 AM (/NJxu)

Just like the "declining level of public support for the war" mantra that prefaces every NPR story on Iraq, I would characterize this as "wishful journalism" - which is just like wishful thinking, except without the "thinking" part.

Posted by: sherlock at July 25, 2007 11:46 AM (G9/8V)

41 Fine, and I'm "absolutely certain" this story is another pack of lies designed to once again smear and slur our men & women in the Armed Forces. This is even lower than Kerry's winter soldier scam, since he appeared live with his own name when he was telling his lies. The cowards behind this story are remaining anonymous behind the shield of an "unbiased" editor.

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