First, a new tidbit to report on the Schiavo talking points memo mess.

I spoke with the Seattle Times’ chief copy editor (4/3 1153 correction) National/Foreign Editor, Jim Mallery, yesterday. He confirmed that this article was excerpted directly from a Washington Post article distributed by the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post News Service. The statement that the memo was “distributed to Republican senators by party leaders” was in the Post’s story. It was not added by a Seattle Times copy editor.

Power Line’s John Hinderaker explains what apparently happened:

The Post originally wrote a story that explicitly claimed that the “talking points memo” was drafted and distributed by the Republican leadership. That version of the story went out over the Post’s wire service and was picked up by dozens of news outlets. Before the paper went to press, however, someone at the Post apparently realized that the paper had no basis for attributing the memo to the Republicans, and the key language was deleted from the story that actually appeared in print. That story said: “An unsigned one-page memo, distributed to Republican senators, said the debate over Schiavo would appeal to the party’s base, or core, supporters.” And ever since, reporter Mike Allen and others at the Post have said that they never meant to imply that the memo was created or distributed by Republicans.

John’s right. It’s possible that a Post editor or someone at the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post News Service added the phrase “by party leaders” after reporters Mike Allen and Manuel Roig-Franzia handed in their story. It’s also possible that the phrase was included in the original copy submitted by Allen and Roig-Franzia. So far, Allen has not responded to an e-mail asking him to explain the discrepancy.

That’s not all. As I noted here, the Post itself published at least two separate Reuters articles that said the memo was distributed by Republican party leaders. Both Reuters articles cited the Post as the basis for this statement. At the time of this writing, both Reuters articles are still available on the Post’s web site (see here and here).

I suspect that no one at the Post or ABC News still believes the amateurish, unsigned, misspelled memo was circulated by Republican Party leaders. We may never know whether the memo was the handywork of a Republican staffer or a Democrat dirty trickster or an outside interloper, but clearly there is absolutely no evidence that this was a Karl Rove plot.

Nonetheless, the damage has been done. The memo has been cited hundreds of times to support the argument that Republicans’ decision to intervene in the Schiavo case was politically motivated. And neither ABC News nor the Post has admitted any wrongdoing.

The Post can continue to mischaracterize its coverage. It can stonewall, perhaps hoping that its critics will get bored and give up. Or it can own up to its errors.

Should it choose to correct its errors, there will be a lot to account for. By my count, the Post owes its readers four retractions:
- one for its unsubstantiated allegation in the Allen / Roig-Franzia wire story,
- one for the unsubstantiated allegations in the two Reuters stories,
- one for Kurtz’s description of the talking points as a “Republican strategy memo,” and
- one for Allen’s mischaracterizations of the Post’s role in this fiasco.

Post ombudsman Michael Getler, whom I contacted by e-mail, informed me that he will be out of the office until April 11 and will respond to my message upon his return. We’ll be waiting.

Contacts:
- Mike Allen, White House reporter, (202) 334-6000, allenm@washpost.com
- Michael Getler, ombudsman, (202) 334-7582, getlerm@washpost.com
- Howard Kurtz, media critic, (202) 334-7420, kurtzh@washpost.com

Previous:
- What exactly did the Post say about that memo?
- Kurtz revisits the fishy Schiavo memo
- Kurtz dodges again
- Ask Kurtz
- MSM continues to ignore questions about the Schiavo memo
- Howie Kurtz tries to cover up
- Kurtz keeps quiet
- Did the MSM learn nothing from Rathergate?
- MSM ignores Schiavo memo story
- Another fishy memo

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