This is just pathetic. LA Times staff writer Tim Rutten wrote a column which complains that weblogs are factually challenged. According to Rutten,
Wednesday, for instance, Kaus posted an item on his personal site (www.kausfiles.com) praising former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee for allowing reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to publish their articles on Watergate at a rapid pace, even though that “sometimes meant revealing unsubstantiated or simply wrong information.”
The only problem is that the quote in question is not from Kaus but rather from historian Stanley Kutler. In his post, Kaus both attributed the quote to Kutler as well as setting it off in quote tags.
It is simply mind boggling to see so many professional journalists make such fundamental errors while taking pot shots at weblogs for being too loose with the facts.
And, of course, unlike many weblogs, there is no discussion system linked directly to the article to point out Rutten’s error (nor is there any sort of link to e-mail him to taunt him about being such and idiot).
Source:
To Err Is Human, but to Think Out Loud … Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2002.