Dana Milbank, who turns out to be one of the snottiest sirens of the ego-centric "mainstream media," is continuing to huff out defenses for his misquote of Barack Obama in a converstion with House reporters that Milbank didn't hear first-hand. Milbank has claimed that both he and fellow Post reporter Jonathan Weisman used the quote accurately, and that subsequent renditions of the quote, which clarified that Obama was saying "it's not about me, I have become a symbol..." were manufactured by Democrats who didn't like the way it looked. Well, here's the update. First, from Media Matters a couple of days ago:
In his July 30 Washington Post column, Milbank wrote: "Inside, according to a witness, [Obama] told the House members, 'This is the moment ... that the world is waiting for,' adding: 'I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.' " Milbank suggested the quote showed Obama's "hubris." He did not cite a source for the quote.
In a July 29 entry on the Post's The Trail blog, Weisman reported a similar version of the comment, writing that, "according to a witness," the reported remark "suggest[ed]" that Obama "was beginning to believe his own hype." But Weisman later posted an update to his July 29 blog post saying that "House leadership aides pushed back against interpretations of this comment as self-aggrandizing," and reported: "[O]ne leadership aide said the full quote put it into a different context. According to that aide, Obama said, 'It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign -- that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It's about America. I have just become a symbol.' " During his August 8 chat, Weisman wrote, "We ran them [the quotes] exactly how they were e-mailed to me."
Milbank asserted as fact in a July 31 chat that "House Democratic aides got up Thursday morning and decided that the quotes looked bad." And in his August 7 online discussion, Milbank asserted: "Hopefully we needn't go through all of this again, but to make sure everybody's clear: My colleague Jonathan Weisman and I believe the quote was correct as written, and that this supposed 'context' is a recreation, after-the-fact, by Democratic aides who were worried about how the quote looked. Perhaps Obama didn't mean for it to come out that way, but there's every reason to believe it did."
However, when asked about Milbank's August 7 comments in his August 8 online chat, Weisman wrote, "I'm happy to see Dana taking a firm stand. I'm a little more squishy":
New York: Yesterday, in here, Dana Milbank claimed that both he and you believe your controversial quoting of Obama from the House Caucus fully reflected the context in which the statement was made, and that claims otherwise by aides and Congressmen in attendance are in fact lies. Does Milbank in fact speak for you on this?
Jonathan Weisman: I was waiting for this question. I'm happy to see Dana taking a firm stand. I'm a little more squishy. Here's what I can say. The source of the quotes is an unimpeachable voice of House Democrats and a strong Obama supporter. We did not cherry pick quotes. We ran them exactly how they were e-mailed to me. And the "context" that was provided was provided the next morning, after House Democratic aides met to compare notes. I can't say whether the first rendition was more accurate than the second. I can say those providing the second rendition had good reason to supply context that would nullify the first. I can also say I trust the suppliers of both renditions.
Without a tape or transcript, we will never know which was accurate. But I will tell all those who accused of us [sic] willfully cherry-picking quotes or taking them out of context, you are flat dead wrong.
Well, now the Post's ombudsman, Deborah Howell, has admitted that Milbank and Weisman did not even attempt to verify the quote, and worse, that Milbank has responded to the criticism with rank sarcasm:
... That quote came in an e-mail -- I saw it, and it was quoted accurately -- from notes taken by a source trusted by national political reporter Jonathan Weisman, who has long covered Congress, and Washington Sketch columnist Dana Milbank. They thought it made Obama sound full of himself.
Weisman was on a plane, traveling with Obama, and he picked up the e-mail on his Blackberry about 10:30 p.m. and quickly turned the quote into a late online post on The Trail, The Post's political blog. He also e-mailed Milbank with the quote, a common occurrence among Post reporters, because Weisman knew that it would fit into Milbank's column. ...
...There was no tape and no transcript of Obama's talk, but the quote came from someone who told me that the quote didn't reflect arrogance. Here's where it gets tricky for me; I dislike most anonymous quotes, including this one. I figured out who the source probably was and confirmed my suspicion by talking with him, but no journalist should ever reveal another's source except in the gravest of circumstances.
Neither Weisman nor Milbank called the source. Weisman considered the source more or less official and didn't use his name, even though the source didn't ask for anonymity in the e-mail. Weisman said he has "an understanding going back years that he is giving me privileged information from closed meetings; it is by definition on background. With someone you interact with constantly, there just aren't the formalities of sourcing on every conversation and e-mail." Milbank called the source "unimpeachable.
When he gives you a quote you can take it to the bank. You don't need to go around verifying it with others."
The source said he often tells reporters what happens in closed meetings and expects anonymity. He sent an identical e-mail to several other reporters and talked to several more; the others didn't see the quote as damaging.
By the next morning, partisan blogs, Obama fans and House aides were disputing the quotation, and Weisman updated his Trail post online, saying that House leadership aides pushed back against interpretations of this comment as self-aggrandizing, saying that Obama "was actually trying to deflect attention from himself." One aide said the "full quote" was: "It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign -- that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It's about America. I have just become a symbol." But there's no tape to verify that, either, and Post editors refused to publish a correction.
Milbank's column was undoubtedly a sharp stick in Obama's eye, giving examples of what Milbank thought was Obama acting as if he were already president. Readers had other complaints, including that Milbank had mistakenly said Obama was sharing views on micromanagement with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown; the remarks were made to opposition leader David Cameron. That error was the subject of a correction.
Readers were also ticked off that Milbank laughed off complainers during his online chat July 31. He dubbed himself the "Whine Enthusiast," ranking complaints or "whines" from readers. Milbank said he chose to answer some nasty attacks with humor.
Howell claims that the lessons to be learned from this episode are to be spread around:
Lessons for sources: Stand up and be named. Be sure reporters understand the context if they weren't there. Lesson for Milbank's editors: Label his column commentary. Lesson for the Obama campaign: Let the press in when your candidate speaks to a large gathering of elected officials.
I'd say she's missing one: lesson to the Post: print a correction. Milbank can now be found weeknights on Campbell Brown's bottom-rated CNN show (hey, I thought he'd go to Fox...)
Recommended reading: more on this case of seriously sloppy journalism from Consortium News.
And another Consortium pick: how the mainstream media is helping John McCain, and could ultimately help him win.
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"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
