UPDATE - GORE WILL NOT BE PARTICIPATING IN TONIGHT'S DEBATE

[helderheid]

Update:I just spoke with a local reporter for the UT. I asked her why the UT would report a story, that on the surface seems incredulous, as no other source is even mentioning an Al Gore appearance. She got a little testy with me and said I should really speak with her editor. She also said that the UT would not report the story if it wasn't true and that she didn't want to get in a debate with me. I told her I wasn't debating her, but that the first tenet of good journalism is to get the facts right before printing them. I pointed out that CNN wasn't even mentioning that Al Gore would participate nor that Gingrich and Thompson would be in Tuesday's debate. She again said that she felt the story was true if they reported it. When I started to ask what her name was, she got a little testy and referred me to her editor, asked for my phone number, and said that someone would be calling me back.

2nd and final Update:Here's the final word. CNN just called me and said that after talking with a source in the Gore camp, Gore will not be on stage tonight, nor will Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich on Tuesday. CNN does not know how the "rumor" got started. I asked her if they disavowed the UT story and she said yes.

Thaaaat's all folks.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/3/1112/92415

Despite this:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070603/news_1n3nation.html

Paper appears to have really messed up!

[AlCzervik]

1. i can't decide if i'm more disappointed that he won't be there or more pissed

because of really sloppy reporting.

Well for the five minutes i actually believed it was kind of exciting.

[helderheid]

4. I'm with you!

[John Q. Citizen]

2. You just can't trust those MSM blogs (AKA newspapers) They have no gate keepers apparently. n/t

[welshTerrier2]

I just spoke to the San Diego UT also

they ACKNOWLEDGED their story was INACCURATE and they are in the process of updating their website.

[helderheid]

5. I've done a screen cap to mark the occasion. Perhaps I should send it to Al Gore :)

[cascadiance]

25. Looks like Raw Story already has done so! :)

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Paper_erroneously_reports_Gore_to_join_0603.html

Has a screen grab there too...

[helderheid]

26. ha!

Thanks!

[Blue Belle]

Reminds me of the "Dewey Wins!" headline...

and this whole event today, of course, just proves Gore's point in "Assault on Reason".

[AlCzervik]

10. and they still haven't updated it. how long does that take?

[helderheid]

15. I know! I just checked - still there!

[AlCzervik]

16. i guess they aren't going down without a fight! I can see the newspaper just

standing and tapping it's foot, "No i'm not wrong, you are! So there!" stick's it's tongue out.

[Eurobabe]

If Gore gets into this it won't be until November

Then if he does, it may be a Gore/Obama ticket. Just my gut.

[leftupnorth]

21. Our guts are in agreement.

[Vincardog]

27. My feeling is that he will file the last possible day. Especially is it appears we are going to be

forced to eat a Hill Sandwich.

[cascadiance]

22. The speculation I've seen is for August/September to be the timeframe...

I think that has to do with making sure he's registered to be on the ballot of all of the primaries that he might have to announce before then.

I'm still hoping for a Gore/Feingold ticket, but Gore/Obama might not be bad, if Obama starts to take a few more risks in favor of grass roots issues like campaign finance reform and others that would hopefully distance himself from the DLC crowd of candidates... He certainly has the grass roots support at least now.

[Blue Belle]

31. I'm with you on the Gore/Feingold ticket...

Either that or a Gore/Edwards.

[janx]

3. How much more irresponsible can a newspaper get?

:shrug:

[helderheid]

8. Piss poor reporting!

[janx]

9. Where did the information come from?

Did a reporter or headline writer just pull this out of a hat?

[helderheid]

11. my guess is they looked at the CNN website and assumed he was in because his picture is up on their

site.

[janx]

13. It can't be that bad...

If that's all it takes to work for a newspaper, it's no wonder nobody knows what the heck is going on.

[helderheid]

14. I just can't imagine.

[mconvente]

24. That seems likely - plus posts at DKos suggest the paper is a local RW rag

Also, the reporter of the newswire got very testy when asked about it, so who knows?? But yeah, I'm still waiting for Gore!

[AlCzervik]

12. imo the "reporter" in question looked at CNN's website, saw the pics and made the leap.

[Oeditpus Rex]

33. Plenty

Besides the classic example...







...many papers called the 2000 election for Gore.

Even in the "golden age" of newspapers, a San Francisco paper reported on Dec. 9, 1941 that 30 Japanese airplanes flew over the Golden Gate before splitting into two groups, one heading north and the other south. The paper even printed a large map charting the planes' route.

There were, of course, no such planes.

In the grand scheme, the UT's error is a small one.

[derby378]

6. Shouldn't someone get fired over a screwup of this magnitude?

The Rastafarians have the right idea. Time be time. Measure twice, cut once.

[helderheid]

7. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens

[MindPilot]

17. Firing is a little strong. In the big picture, it's a little mistake.

Given the damage--which basically amounts to some political junkies getting all excited--done by the "mistake" when weighed against the buzz created for both the paper and CNN, I'm guessing the reporter will get a "nice work".

I mean it's not like the UT supported invading a sovereign nation looking for non-existent WMDs or any big mistakes like that. :sarcasm:

[tkmorris]

32. Jah Love nt

[Oeditpus Rex]

34. Fired? Magnitude?

At most, there'll be a "You fucked up. Don't do it again."

That's all it warrants.

[IndyOp]

18. I think they made the same mistake some DUers made - they looked at the

CNN page, saw that Gore's picture was there, and did not read the statement beneath the pictures that indicate that the people shown "have some measure of name recognition"

SERIOUSLY, RIDICULOUSLY LAZY "JOURNALISM" --

pretty typical for the Corporate Media though...

[SallyMander]

19. This is soooo disappointing

I was really looking forward to hearing his perspective...

Alas.

Too good to be true.


(Edited to add: Thanks for setting the record straight, helderheid.)

[cascadiance]

23. Don't be disappointed. I doubt that this affects Gore's REAL plans ONE bit!

And if anything, if the numbers of us speaking up on this messup get large enough, he might see it more of as a positive sign for him to get into the campaign later at some point.

The only disappointment I have is the thought that the Union Trib might clamp down on good articles in the future that might not serve the more right wing ownership/leadership of that paper than they had in the past. I'm hoping that that isn't the net effect of this story messup!

[SallyMander]

28. Yeah... i think he's in "wait and see" mode

If Clinton, Obama and Edwards are tanking in the polls by the end of the summer, he may jump in... a girl can only hope. ;-)

I'm just interested in everything he has to say, so i would have enjoyed the debate more with his perspective included!

[cascadiance]

20. I just hope that the Union Tribune doesn't clamp down TOO heavily on stories in the future!

Given that they are run by more RW management, if this story causes them to be more stringent about what gets published, some might say that would be a good thing. In a perfect world, perhaps yes.

But I think that perhaps not having more stringent oversight served us well in the past here when stories about Duke Cunningham's problems that they broke ground on that started the whole investigation into the various scandals with the CIA, new Watergate stuff, MZM, Brent Wilkes, etc. and the later well written story on Carol Lam getting fired that really elevated the Attorneygate story to have national prominence. If those stories hadn't been published, I wonder how much more in the dark to this administrations' criminal acts we'd be today. I HOPE that this doesn't stop stuch stories from being published in the future!

Like I said in the other thread. I think it worked FOR the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau (now the McClatchey Washington Bureau) not having heavy oversight by Knight Ridder when it was started (I could see perhaps that happening after working for Knight Ridder when this bureau was started). In this day and age in the corporate media, it is not a perfect world, and perhaps not having too much oversight is a GOOD thing in some instances. I'd certainly trade occasional story f-ups like this one happening at times along with the real good stories coming out, than none of them coming out!

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

29. Too bad newspaper reporters aren't doing the legwork anymore. One phone call would have clarified

whether Gore, Gingrich or Thompson would participate. OK, maybe two at the most.

F***ing lazy journalism is right.

MKJ

[cascadiance]

30. Underfunded could also be an appropriate adjective too...

News staffs today operate with a LOT less staff than they used to. Even if some wanted to be more than stenographers, sometimes the practicality of getting all of the wire copy stories assembled as well as the local content out in the paper is a little much for them now to do what should be done in verifying stories like they were able to do so in the past. Look at how much less foreign news bureaus we have now too. It's called the side effects of trying to make news a "profit center" (aka the CORPORATE media falsely entrusted with the "freedom of the press"!)

BTW, looks like they took the story page down now, so it's good that we/Raw Story got a screenshot earlier...

[cassiepriam]

35. He already ran once and was elected. Time for him to serve his term.