Read the Beforeitsnews.com story here. Advertise at Before It's News here.
Profile image
Story Views
Now:
Last hour:
Last 24 hours:
Total:

Wall Street Journal Issues Epic Correction On Radley Balko’s Error-Riddled Reporting

% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.


Shame the Hacks who Abuse Media Ethics

Many activists fighting against police abuses have embraced longtime GOP activist and Koch employee Radley Balko for his reporting on the militarization of police. Leaving aside the libertarian politics of focusing on the militarization of police as the problem — rather than the worsening class war and inequality in this country that make a militarized police force inevitable — few have bothered to scrutinize the accuracy and professionalism of Balko’s reporting.

They should, as the Wall Street Journal discovered too late. Last summer, the Journal published a long excerpt from Balko’s book, “Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces”. Shortly after Balko’s article was published, factual inaccuracies came to light, forcing the editors of the Wall Street Journal to fact-check his article, something Balko’s editors at Public Affairs apparently failed to do. The laundry list of factual errors and shoddy reporting was so long, that the Journal updated his story by appending a long “Corrections & Amplifications” at the end of his piece. The correction to Balko’s reporting stands as one of the most epic reporting corrections in the annals of journalism. Here it is:

Balko’s laissez-faire attitude towards facts and falsehoods in his reporting should come as no surprise to SHAME readers. As our profile shows, since the late 1990s, Balko has worked as a Republican Party propagandist, recruiter and activist — most of that time in the Koch brothers’ front groups like Reason magazine and the CATO Institute. Balko has also operated as an undisclosed tobacco industry lobbyist, and allied with PR industry villain Rick Berman’s campaign on behalf of the fast food industry. Moreover, Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal would be the last publication to take a hostile view towards Balko’s journalism; from 2001 through 2008, Balko worked for Murdoch as a regular columnist at FoxNews.com. Murdoch served on the CATO Institute’s board of directors, where Balko continues to serve as a CATO Media Fellow.

In other words, Balko is the furthest thing from a professional reporter. However, because Balko has pursued a subject dear to many liberal activists struggling against police abuse, and because he comes with deep Koch pockets and relationships — no one on the left has had any interest in checking Balko’s facts and professionalism. Apparently fact-checking a reporter is something only done when we disagree with the report; otherwise, it’s unseemly.

The problem of course is that a right-wing GOP shill like Balko is earning the credibility and respect of many on the left, who aren’t even bothering to question why a Koch-funded PR operative has taken such an interest in police militarization, and what their political goal is in doing so. As SHAME revealed, Balko believes the answer to criminal justice problems is privatization. Balko has proposed privatizing criminal labs and privatizing juries, and defended Stand Your Ground laws during the Trayvon Martin trial by falsely asserting, “Stand Your Ground was not a factor in the Zimmerman verdict.”

Balko has even called for privatizing National Security, in a FoxNews article headlined: “National Security Needs Private Sector Innovation.”

These are Balko’s libertarian politics, which he is certainly entitled to. But they are not likely the sort politics that Balko’s many progressive boosters share.

Read Radley Balko’s SHAME profile

http://shameproject.com/


Source: https://shameproject.com/shame-blog/wall-street-journal-issues-epic-correction-balkos-reporting/


Before It’s News® is a community of individuals who report on what’s going on around them, from all around the world.

Anyone can join.
Anyone can contribute.
Anyone can become informed about their world.

"United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.

Humic & Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex

HerbAnomic’s Humic and Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex is a revolutionary New Humic and Fulvic Acid Complex designed to support your body at the cellular level. Our product has been thoroughly tested by an ISO/IEC Certified Lab for toxins and Heavy metals as well as for trace mineral content. We KNOW we have NO lead, arsenic, mercury, aluminum etc. in our Formula. This Humic & Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral complex has high trace levels of naturally occurring Humic and Fulvic Acids as well as high trace levels of Zinc, Iron, Magnesium, Molybdenum, Potassium and more. There is a wide range of up to 70 trace minerals which occur naturally in our Complex at varying levels. We Choose to list the 8 substances which occur in higher trace levels on our supplement panel. We don’t claim a high number of minerals as other Humic and Fulvic Supplements do and leave you to guess which elements you’ll be getting. Order Your Humic Fulvic for Your Family by Clicking on this Link , or the Banner Below.



Our Formula is an exceptional value compared to other Humic Fulvic Minerals because...


It’s OXYGENATED

It Always Tests at 9.5+ pH

Preservative and Chemical Free

Allergen Free

Comes From a Pure, Unpolluted, Organic Source

Is an Excellent Source for Trace Minerals

Is From Whole, Prehisoric Plant Based Origin Material With Ionic Minerals and Constituents

Highly Conductive/Full of Extra Electrons

Is a Full Spectrum Complex


Our Humic and Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex has Minerals, Amino Acids, Poly Electrolytes, Phytochemicals, Polyphenols, Bioflavonoids and Trace Vitamins included with the Humic and Fulvic Acid. Our Source material is high in these constituents, where other manufacturers use inferior materials.


Try Our Humic and Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex today. Order Yours Today by Following This Link.

Report abuse

    Comments

    Your Comments
    Question   Razz  Sad   Evil  Exclaim  Smile  Redface  Biggrin  Surprised  Eek   Confused   Cool  LOL   Mad   Twisted  Rolleyes   Wink  Idea  Arrow  Neutral  Cry   Mr. Green

    Total 1 comment
    • wunmansho

      It isnt just the militarization of the police that’s the problem. Its the federal funding that’s the real problem. This is first inning of the the NWO which will have policing authority throughout the western hemisphere that people can’t say no to. You can bet we’ll discover that when a local jurisdiction tries to dump its thug cops the CIA’s own judges won’t allow it.

    MOST RECENT
    Load more ...

    SignUp

    Login

    Newsletter

    Email this story
    Email this story

    If you really want to ban this commenter, please write down the reason:

    If you really want to disable all recommended stories, click on OK button. After that, you will be redirect to your options page.