Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Guardian Issues Correction Regarding Berkeley Story Mentioning Me



So, for the past week I had shared considerable alarm at a story printed by the Guardian:

Here's the link for the story.

Here's the key part of the account which was alarming:


I never said the attack on Heather Heyer was justified.

Never.

So, what happened?

I twice reported to the West Coast USA Bureau of the Guardian to retract those statements.

I never said them.

Then I received welcome news from Erin McCormick, the reporter:


Dear Arthur,

Your letter seeking a correction on your quote at the Berkeley rally was just forwarded to me this afternoon. I checked my notes and I find that you have a point. I quoted you as saying "He was surrounded," when my notes indicate it was in fact said by Johnny Benitez,  who was having a similar debate with counter protesters a few feet away. I seem to have conflated your statements. I am truly sorry for the error and for the amount of time it has taken for the information to get to me!

I have discussed it with Merope Mills of the head of the Guardian's West Coast Bureau. We will correct the article in the morning and append a note to end noting the error in earlier versions.

Again my apologies,

Erin McCormick
freelance reporter

And now the story has been corrected:


And here's the official staement from the editors regarding the correction:




It's good to know that there are more journalists out there who are willing to admit that they make mistakes and will make corrections as needed.

WINNING!

By the way, I wish that they had not neglected to report that I was attacked savegely in the city just for exercising my First Amendment rights ...





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