Glenn Greenwald fails journalism 101 in his latest smear effort

[geek tragedy]

In the world of real journalists, one is supposed to check with the subject of a story before printing accusations about them.

Instead, Glenn Greenwald--ever eager to stoke hatred of the Obama administration--published an incendiary charge (that Michelle Obama had appointed a torture-enabling Bush official to one of her task forces) without first asking the First Lady's office if this was true.

Well, look what they had to say AFTER he published the story:

"The White House, however, now tells a much different story. In an email to me from the First Lady’s Communications Director, the White House claims:

Several members of the White House staff are convening a meeting with multiple mental health professionals on Tuesday to discuss issues pertaining
to the wellness of military families. SAMHSA and the American Psychological Association have both been asked to attend. We understand that Dr. James
is involved with these groups and may have been indirectly invited to attend this meeting.

She claims, however, that he now will not be at that meeting, and further states that "Dr. James has not been appointed to serve in any capacity with the White House."

There’s obviously quite a discrepancy between the claims in the James email as provided by HLS' Human Rights Project and the White House’s claims. Calls to Dr. James regarding this matter have not been returned, but if I speak with him, I’ll post his response to the White House's denials."

Well, gee, that would have made for a less interesting story--"some guy sends email that may not be true."

But, this is Greenwald, after all, so heat matters much more than light.

http://mobile.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2011/03/25/james/index.html

[snot]

1. Glenn's reporting on most stories has been very helpful.

[freshwest]

2. Yes, but he dropped the ball on this one, I guess.

[krawhitham]

35. He does it all the time but this time someone fact checked him

[geek tragedy]

It's not reporting, it's blogging.

If it were reporting, he would have put in a call to the First Lady's office before accusing her of promoting torture.

[EFerrari]

15. Reporting is not finding ways to make an inconvenient story go away. n/t

[geek tragedy]

17. Reporting is doing one's best to make sure something is true

before printing it.

Greenwald made no effort to contact the WH on this. He had his little gotcha opportunity, and ran with it.

[SidDithers]

19. Reporting involves confirming the information you're posting is factual...nt

Sid

[madfloridian]

3. Dr. James' letter is posted at Salon. He says he was appointed.

So now we are down to a who do you believe situation.

"UPDATE: Here is the full text of the email sent by Dr. James, as provided to me yesterday by Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program:

Message from Dean James for the SOPP Community:

Hello Everyone,

It is with great pride and pleasure that I write to the SOPP community and say that I have been appointed by the First Lady to a White House Task Force entitled Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The Military Family.

The first meeting will be at the White House next Tuesday (the 29th) and will be hosted by Mrs. Obama and her staff. Indeed, I feel honored and privileged to represent the SOPP, WSU and the APA in this important endeavor.

Next week I will provide a follow-up e-mail to provide more information.

All the best,
Larry C. James, Ph.D., ABPP"

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Thunderstruck]

9. "Next week I will provide a follow-up e-mail to provide more information"

Hey James, hows about doing that today...right now.

[EFerrari]

5. Glenn didn't fail anything.

He sourced his story very precisely. And whether the White House changed its mind or whether that POS was outed for fakery, Glenn did his job.

Fail yourself.

[madfloridian]

6. Exactly right.

[geek tragedy]

7. Why do you suppose he didn't contact the WH BEFORE posting that? nt

[EFerrari]

12. That isn't the interesting question.

The interesting question is why James thought sending out that email would be a good idea.

[geek tragedy]

16. That's an easy one--to promote himself. nt

[sabrina 1]

39. Because he was not the recipient of the email??

Maybe those who DID receive it should have contacted the WH?

[Thunderstruck]

8. So you're saying Greenwald DID contact the WH to verify?

[geek tragedy]

10. No, they contacted him. If he had contacted them before running the story,

he wouldn't have run the story.

[Thunderstruck]

11. Well, at least he's updated with the new info. But now we have the matter

of James and his proclamation. Did he just make it up or...what?

[SidDithers]

33. If he had, he would have printed "Calls to the White House were not returned"...

or "The White House refused comment on this story", or "The White House denies that Dr. James has been appointed to any White House Task Force".

But, nothing like that was included with the original post.

Sid

[Catherina]

13. Precisely. n/t

[SidDithers]

14. K&R...

Greenwald should have got confirmation before going with his story.

But people will only remember the sensational allegation, not the correction.

Sid

[hulka38]

18. What's in it for Dr. James

to send out a detailed but completely bogus email like that? I don't think he sent it as he gains nothing from it. This seems like a set up to smear the credibility of liberal bloggers who may get a little careless and are quick to snap at the WH.

[geek tragedy]

20. He gets to act like he's a respected authority in DC

and that the past never happened.

[hulka38]

23. LOL

For a weekend? Thereafter he is a proven liar on a national scale.

[Luminous Animal]

22. The International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard set Greenwald up?

http://harvardhumanrights.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/former-guantanamo-psychologist-named-to-white-house-task-force-on-enhancing-the-psychological-well-being-of-the-military-family/

[hulka38]

24. They probably thought the email

was authentic too.

[DirkGently]

44. Has someone established that it wasn't?

[northernlights]

21. headline misleading, but the opinion piece is accurate. try reading it

"Today, Dr. James circulated an excited email announcing, "with great pride," that he has now been selected to serve on the "White House Task Force entitled Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The Military Family." In his new position, he will be meeting at the White House with Michelle Obama and other White House officials on Tuesday."

Or are you suggesting Greenwald libeled James by falsifying the email?

Headlines are often misleading, due at least in part to the attempt to cram substance into very few words on a single, short line. And in part to invite readers to actually read the article, or at least the 1st couple 'graphs.

FAILED attempt to smear Greenwald.

(boldface mine)

[Vinnie From Indy]

25. EPIC FAIL!

IS that you Rush Limbaugh?

The OP has my vote for smear o' the day! Greenwald is one of America's best journalists operating today!

It appears that nobody is buying the OP's shameless, naked, pathetic, and mildly amusing attempt to smear Greenwald. I regret that I have only one "unrec" to give to this bit of nonsense.

Cheers!

[Justina For Justice]

26. This Headline is a Smear of Greenwald.

Greenwald reported that Dr. Larry James had been asked to participate in a U.S. government commission for military families. He reproduced the e-mail. That was true. The White House confirmed that he was a member of SAMSHSA and the American Psychological Association, who were both asked to the meeting and that James may have been indirectly invited to attend the meeting.

Greenwald is an important voice for progressive ideas. Why is the poster smearing Greenwald with mis-information?

[frazzled]

28. No, it was Greenwald doing the smearing

He was definitely smearing the WH when he used the headline "Top Bush-era GITMO and Abu Ghraib psychologist is WH's newest appointment."

There was no appointment. This is a meeting where SAMSHSA and APA were asked to attend. If Larry James was promoting himself as having been appointed to anything by this WH, he was twisting the facts. And Greenwald could resist making the accusation that a "torture" psychologist, architect of Abu Ghraib, had been officially sanctioned by the WH.

If Glenn Greenwald can dish out smears, he should be able to accept the criticism when he is wrong.

[hulka38]

29. Why would anyone promote themselves with an

obvious and easily provable lie that would make him a laughing stock? Right now that's the key question.

[frazzled]

31. Resume bloating

If you think people don't embellish their credentials every day, you've just fallen off the turnip truck!

Remember all the verifiable "embellishments" a number of candidates were making to their "war" experiences (from behind desks) during the election season last year?

[hulka38]

32. How does lying about gaining

a WH appt. in a profile, highly charged situation become resume bloating? You're gonna get busted 100% guaranteed. It makes no sense that he would do it. You do that if you think you can get away with it ffs.

[frazzled]

27. A simple google seems to do

A search for "Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The Military Family," "White House Task Force Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The Military Family," or even "White House task force military family" seems to yield results that consist solely of the salon article and its variants or comments thereon. There is no press release or other article from the WH or any other source that seems bear that particular title mentioned in Larry James's email.

The closest I can find is a press release from the Association of the United States Army (3.1.11) that discusses a "sweeping, interagency effort under way to strengthen families and enhance their well-being and quality of life" and discusses a recent report the WH issued, titled "Strengthening our Military Families: Meeting America’s Commitment." It's a totally non-sensational read:

http://www.ausa.org/publications/ausanews/archives/2011/3/Pages/WhiteHousecommitstostrengtheningmilitaryfamilies.aspx

http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2011/0111_initiative/strengthening_our_military_january_2011.pdf

When you blog from Brazil and receive emails--do we even know James was the true source of this?--and don't bother to check up on anything, you are neither a journalist nor even a reputable blogger.

[Modern_Matthew]

30. Mistakes happen in journalism. I blame lack of transparency. nt

[Wilms]

34. "latest smear effort"?

Please list the other "smears".

TIA

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[zbdent]

38. If Greenwald was reporting the truth ...

there would have been a massive smear campaign attacking Larry C. James as a horrendous, communist, socialist appointee of HRC/Obama ...

[JNelson6563]

40. I'm not surprised.

I see this news is unpopular here. This doesn't surprise me either but it is amusing none the less.

Julie

[mythology]

41. He should have been more concerned with being right than first.

But that probably wouldn't have helped drive traffic to his postings.

[Ramulux]

42. Absurd

Larry James sent out an email saying he had been appointed to a task force created to help military families. That is what Glenn Greenwald reported. Then the white house says that they dis-invited him from a meeting he may have been "indirectly involved" with, and Glenn immediately updated his original article with that information.

That seems like pretty solid journalism to me and an obvious attempt by the white house to distance themselves from this guy after it was reported that he was bragging about being invited to colleagues.

[Oilwellian]

45. Indeed

The real story here is why was this guy involved with military families at all? Why was he invited as part of Michelle Obama's task force? The Harvard group that originally received the copy of the email, evidently filed a complaint against Dr. James. In it they said:

July 8, 2010, Cambridge, MA –The International Human Rights Clinic of Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program filed a complaint with the Ohio Psychology Board yesterday, calling for an investigation into the conduct of Ohio-licensee Dr. Larry C. James, former Chief Psychologist of the intelligence command at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Despite the prison’s record of torture during his tenure, Dr. James obtained an Ohio psychology license in 2008 and currently holds the influential post of Dean at Wright State University’s School of Professional Psychology in Dayton.

The Clinic, along with Toledo attorney Terry Lodge, filed the 50-page complaint on behalf of four Ohio residents—Michael Reese, a veteran, of Columbus and Cleveland; Trudy Bond, a psychologist, of Toledo; Colin Bossen, a minister, of Cleveland Heights; and Josephine Setzler, a retired professor and mental health advocate, of Fremont.

“We rely on psychologists to follow the ethics of their profession, and to do no harm,” said Setzler, who became an advocate after her brother was diagnosed with mental illness. “If a psychologist uses his professional training to facilitate suffering, then should he really be licensed to treat patients in Ohio?”

(snip)

According to the Ohio complaint, for several months in 2003, and from 2007-2008, Dr. James was the senior psychologist of the Guantánamo BSCT, a small but influential group of mental health professionals whose job it was to advise on and participate in the interrogations, and to help create an environment designed to break down prisoners.

During his tenure at the prison, boys and men were threatened with rape and death for themselves and their family members; sexually, culturally, and religiously humiliated; forced naked; deprived of sleep; subjected to sensory deprivation, over-stimulation, and extreme isolation; short-shackled into stress positions for hours; and physically assaulted. The evidence indicates that abuse of this kind was systemic, that BSCT health professionals played an integral role in its planning and practice, and that Dr. James, in his position of authority, at minimum knew or should have known it was being inflicted.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/hrp/news/Larry_James.html

The mere fact that this guy was going to be at a luncheon with Michelle Obama to discuss mental health care for our military families is absolutely stunning to me. Why the FUCK is he not in prison? Attacking Greenwald is ridiculous and a desperate attempt to change the focus.

[DirkGently]

43. Greenwald used a primary source that the WH disputes in part. Nice try though.

The WH says it accidentally invited James. James says he was "appointed." That doesn't make Greenwald's piece false, unless the e-mail attributed to James is a fake. Which seems unlikely given the WH is saying James was invited "indirectly" to do something.