I Really Didn’t Want to Have to Do This (E-Mail Exchange with WaPo’s Howard Kurtz) …..

….. but I must, as I received an e-mail from The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz this afternoon just after 3PM, got a chance to see it at about 7PM (having been elsewhere), and am concerned that if I don’t respond I’ll fall into one of those “could not be reached for comment” black holes that give journalists more flexibility than they should have to play around with reality.

(links included in this post are not in the e-mail)

So, first, here is the body of the e-mail Mr. Kurtz sent to me (there was a postscript, but he said he “doesn’t want to get into it” — so I won’t):

Mr. Blumer,

I noted with interest your retraction and apology regarding Ken Ward.
Can I ask how you made this mistake, and if you felt any responsibility to check with Ward the reporter?
Thanks.

Here’s what I sent back to Mr. Kurtz at 9:35 PM:

Re: Your e-mail to me

Mr. Kurtz,

I insist that if The Post publishes any portion of this response to the body of your e-mail to me earlier today, that it be published in its entirety and without any editing. Whether or not The Post publishes this response, I have posted it at BizzyBlog along with the body of your original e-mail, so that readers can compare what I sent to what, if anything, The Post published.

My response to the body of your e-mail is this:
In future situations, I will contact the person involved if I think there’s even the slightest chance that I might be inadvertently linking to the work of more than one person that happens to have an identical or near-identical name. As a less-than-one-year blogger, I’ve used up my allocation of rookie mistakes.

My mistake was corrected and retracted within 18 hours of when the blog entry was originally published, and Mr. Ward accepted my apology roughly one hour later. I look forward to reading the 128 year-old Post’s completion of necessary substantive corrections to its story on milblogger Bill Roggio (”Bloggers, Money Now Weapons in Information War”) that ran roughly 18 days ago. Please notify me when those corrections have indeed been completed.

Regards,

Tom Blumer
BizzyBlog.com

COMEBACK: Seven minutes later (9:42), Mr. Kurtz responds:

I appreciate your response and will obviously note the correction. We do not promise to run complete statements in response to our inquiries. Thank you.

My response (9:53):

It’s obvious that you and The Post are just going to do what you want.

Your flaunting, if it indeed occurs, of what I insisted on, and had every right to insist on, will also be on the record here at BizzyBlog.

Tom

Kurtz (9:57):

Sir, I will give you a fair shot, as I do to everyone. You will notice, in fact, that I contacted you for a response, something you failed to do. Your comments will definitely be included.

Response (10:02):

Have a good night, Mr. Kurtz.

Ya think he’ll follow up on that Roggio request?
_______________________

UPDATE: Bill Roggio catchup for those who need it:

• Jan. 3 — Bill Roggio: Embedded Bias?
• Jan. 5 — BlackFive: Eleven Days: WashPo Dishonors Blogger
• Jan. 6 — Michelle Malkin: The Washington Post: Bringing Bloggers Together (note towards the end of Michelle’s post that WaPo acknowledges that more corrections are coming over and above those cited in the Jan. 8 Blackfive item that follows)
• Jan. 8 — More Blackfive: Correcting a Fact and Not The Intent

______________________

ENGLISH LESSON: Zheesh — Charlie of YARGB in the comments below said I should have said “flauting” instead of “flaunting.” Trouble is “flauting” is not a word, so he must have meant “flouting,” which is a word and whose meaning fits.

But what’s wrong with “flaunting”? Dictionary.com says:

Usage Note: Flaunt as a transitive verb means “to exhibit ostentatiously”: She flaunted her wealth. To flout is “to show contempt for”: She flouted the proprieties. For some time now flaunt has been used in the sense “to show contempt for,” even by educated users of English. This usage is still widely seen as erroneous and is best avoided.

OK, whack me with a freakin’ wet noodle already. Who says you don’t learn by blogging?

Are we having fun yet? (no I’m not either)