In their eagerness to discredit a politician, even reporters at the best of newspapers can accept shady information as fact, without checking adequately on its source. It's a sloppy way to do business, but in a hurried profession it happens. Maybe it's just because the New York Times is so huge and so widely read that it appears to rack up more
big sloppy errors than most. A mispelling here and there, the occasional wrong date on an event, etc, these are to be expected at any newspaper, but the Times, in an odd turnabout, does pretty well on the little things and outrageously badly on some of the big things. Take for example the paper's most recent error in covering GOP vice presidential pick. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. This was published in today's Times:
Alaskan Independence Party officials released a statement Monday saying that Ms. Palin had been a member for two years, from 1994 to 1996, information included in reports in The New York Times and other news outlets. In Internet videos of recent party meetings, other party officials can be seen boasting of Ms. Palin’s past membership.
On Tuesday, though, the party’s chairwoman, Lynette Clark, said the earlier statement was false. Ms. Clark said that she had based it on information another party member had given her, but that a review of the records showed only that Ms. Palin had attended the 1994 conference.
Ms. Clark added that while the review confirmed Todd Palin as a member, it did not indicate that Ms. Palin had been one.
On Wednesday, Ms. Clark released a corrected statement, saying, in part, “I, foolishly, repeated and accepted as fact what an officer of this membership shared with myself, and husband Dexter Clark, over a year ago.”
“I humbly apologize to Governor Palin, and to both national and local press and media,” she added.
Ms. Palin has been registered as a Republican since May 1982, according to the State Division of Elections. Mr. Palin registered as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party in 1995, remaining a member for all but two months of the next seven years, until he registered as an undeclared voter in July 2002.
Oopsies.
Obviously, the AIP has reason to claim a popular high-profile politician as their own. Just think about how many groups have tried to claim Obama as their own. Given that obvious motive, the Times should have been much more careful and instead of just taking a party official's word for it, the Times reporter should have had Ms. Clark fax over a copy of Gov. Palin's registration card or form.
Incidentally, I found this on the Alaskan Independence Party Web site, on the introduction page:
"The platform of the AIP is, as one would expect, centered on Alaskan issues. Although it is widely thought to be a secessionist movement, the Party makes great effort to emphasize that its primary goal is merely a vote on secession, something that Party advocates say Alaskans were denied during the founding of the state. A plebiscite was, in fact, held in Alaska at the state's inception in 1958, but AIP members argue that voting was corrupt and that residents were not given the proper choice between statehood, commonwealth status, or complete separation -- something they say has been granted to other U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico. " http://www.akip.org/introduction.html