Update: Swiftboat II? Newspapers issuing correction on reporting.

Re-posted with permission from the editors at The Infozone News - 'Following the truth, and reporting on the journey'.

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As reported at The Infozone News:

June 28, 2006 - US Congressman John Murtha D-PA was in Florida over the weekend at a Townhall meeting at Florida International University. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported, Murtha saying, "American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran to a crowd of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon." Teri Hayt, Managing Editor of The Arizona Star emails, "Sharon Rosenhause(Managing Editor of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel) from Ft. Lauderdale has just sent me a note saying that Rep. MurthaÂ’s office has contacted them saying he was quoted out of context. Sharon will be issuing a correction that will will run."

The Arizona Star version of the story, which was linked on Sunday night by Matt Drudge has yet to issue a correction. Both the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Arizona Daily Star have now published corrections.

Bosun comments: The Press and the blogosphere got spanked on this one. Folks, we have to get the facts right. Or, we turn out to be like those we critique, on both sides of the pundit aisle. Fortunately, The Infozone checked the facts before they leaped on the story. But then again, The Infozone has been good at that. "Bravo Zulu in honest reporting" to the folks at The Infozone.

Britt Hume of Fox News has not updated his story, which reported on the comments alleged to have been made by Murtha. Hume however has not issued a correction to his earlier story.

John Fund, who wrote on Murtha's comments in The Wall Street Journal has neither corrected his article, or offered a correction. When the South Florida Sun-Sentinel corrected their story, both the Fox News story by Brit Hume and John Fund's Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal are no longer accurate representations of what happened. Yet neither writer has corrected their story.

The News Media Guild "The News Media Guild's Professional Activities Committee is a group of reporters, editors, photographers, and broadcasters who work to foster quality journalism." This incident demonstrates the need for such a universal standard. In the article, reporter Elizabeth Baier quoted several other of Congressman John Murtha's statements in her article, as well as a quote from others at the event, but did not quote the comments alleged to have been said by Murtha in the first paragraph of her article. Melissa Sanchez of the Miami Herald replying to an email, says that while Murtha made the comment, "That was in reference to international polls. It was not so much his own conjecture, but a conclusion drawn from polls in various countries."

So this alleged and most controversial statement, written by Baier appears to have taken his comments out of context.

The article has become a hot topic on the blogsphere. Conservative bloggers picked up the story and are repeating Baier's first paragraph of her article as a statement of fact. This started Sunday night, when Matt Drudge picked up the story on his web site.

June 27, 2006
Rep. Murtha Responds to Misquotes

Rep. John Murtha D-PA in a statement issued today says, "I was recently misquoted following a speech I gave at a Veterans forum at the Florida International University Biscayne Campus on June 24, 2006. During the speech, I made a point that our international credibility was suffering, particularly due to our continued military presence in Iraq and that we were perceived as an occupying force. For illustrative purposes, I provided the example of a recent Pew Poll which indicates a greater percentage of people in 10 of 14 foreign countries consider the U.S. in Iraq a danger to world peace than consider Iran or North Korea a danger to world peace.

Pew Poll Murtha added, "It is imperative that these issues be discussed in an open and informative manner. I will continue to insist that this administration face the true realities of its policies with respect to Iraq and insist that they change direction."

Read Murtha's Press Statement

Link to original story: Swiftboat II? Has 'Jerry Springer Journalism' Hit the Mainstream Media?

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