What Liberal Media? pt. 525
More on the Foley fallout. It wasn’t just Denny Hastert that sat on this news for more than a year… the St. Petersburg Times, the Miami Herald, and Fox News also did nothing about the story.
Meanwhile, Florida newspapers — who were leaked copies of the e-mail with the Louisiana boy last year — defended their decision not to run stories. Both The St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald were given copies of the e-mail, as were other news organizations, including Fox News.
“Our decision at the time was … that because the language was not sexually explicit and was subject to interpretation, from innocuous to ‘sick,’ as the page characterized it, to be cautious,” said Tom Fiedler, executive editor of the Herald. “Given the potentially devastating impact that a false suggestion of pedophilia could have on anyone, not to mention a congressman known to be gay, and lacking any corroborating information, we chose not to do a story.”
Hastert called on any person who was aware of the 2003 instant messages to speak to law enforcement authorities. He said no Republican leader in Congress was aware of those exchanges until Friday, when ABC News reported it had questioned Foley about them.
I’m sorry, but you’re in the business of reporting news. Are you seriously suggesting that the story of a sitting conservative congressman cruising for underage boys – a story for which you have evidence – does not constitute news?
This goes hand in hand with the New York Times’ decision yesterday to run four stories on Foley. Three contained facts, evidence of predatory past, the warning giving to pages about him (but only GOP pages!) … and one had quotes from a page saying Foley was “a great ally” and a “good guy.” Guess which one got front page, above the fold display?
And don’t even get me started on the FBI and DoJ’s lack of investigation into this scandal, even after notification. How dare they become political operatives of a fascist regime? How dare the Gonzalez DoJ say child welfare is a top priority … except when a Republican is involved?
Update: Looks like Foley gave good quote to the St. Petersburg times:
“It’s vile. It’s more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction.” — Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach, September 12, 1998, referring to Bill Clinton in the St. Petersburg Times.
