The blogs continue to report Duke hoax news the Raleigh News & Observer, publisher of the notorious “vigilante” poster, just can’t seem to find.
Today, at Durham-in-Wonderland, historian and blogger KC Johnson reports Duke Law School Professor Erwin Chemerinsky’s first public comments regarding DA Mike Nifong's conduct and other other matter's related to the "investigation" Nifong directed.
While brief and limited, Chemerinsky’s comments will have considerable influence given his status in legal, academic and political circles.
Chemerinsky is one of America’s leading attorneys and a vocal advocate for positions embraced by liberal interest groups. He’s seen as a likely Supreme Court nominee if an opening occurs while a Democrat is in the White House. Last Spring Chemerinsky declined the Dean’s position at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s law school.
Chemerinsky was recently the subject of a wide-ranging, gushy N&O profile ("Duke law prof has pick of high-profile cases")which mentioned many issues and cases he’s been involved in. He was quoted regarding some of them. However, the N&O profile contained no mention of the Duke lacrosse hoax.
The N&O’s failure to mention the Duke hoax struck informed readers as odd in any case, but especially so given that the profile reporter was Anne Blythe, who’s written often on what the N&O still calls “the Duke lacrosse case.”
Blythe was one of the two reporters bylined in the N&O’s much criticized Mar. 25 interview story with the accuser who was granted anonymity because, as Blythe and her fellow reporter told readers:
“It is The News & Observer's policy not to identify the victims of sex crimes.”(bold added)More about all of this soon.
In the meantime, congratulations to KC Johnson for an important news contribution to the unfolding Duke hoax story. KC’s post is here.
5 comments:
Sounds like Durham could use his services:
"Before moving to Durham in 2004, Chemerinsky spent 21 years in Los Angeles, where he led an effort to overhaul the city charter. He aided leaders as they fought police misconduct and possible government corruption."
-- from the N&O article entitled "Duke law prof has pick of high-profile cases".
"He’s seen as a likely Supreme Court nominee if an opening occurs while a Democrat is in the White House."
God help us all
-AC
John,
Are you going to respond to Joe Neff's comments on the Editor's blog?
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/editor/index.php?title=recent_reporting_on_lacrosse_case&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments
He appears to have identified several instances where the N&O uses "victim" instead of "alleged victim." I'm not sure this makes it any better, but using "victim" seems to be small potatoes next to running the wanted posted and the overall early coverage to savage the lacrosse team. I don't know. "Alleged" never seems to carry that much weight anyway. Just wondering whether you are going to respond to Neff. Keep up the great work.
Thanks.
Now the importance of Gottlieb's late report, allegedly turned over to the defense in mid-July, is apparent. No wonder the incident outside the Raleigh bar has been so important to Nifong. See NYTimes story:
http://www.nytimes.com
/2006/08/25/us/25duke.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=us
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