美国国家公共电台 NPR No Apology, No Explanation: Fox News And The Seth Rich Story

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Fox News has questions to answer about its journalistic practices. The network is being sued over a story it published and then retracted¹. It was about the unsolved killing² of a young Democratic Party staffer named Seth Rich. Up until now, the network hasn't explained what went wrong, but that may be about to change as it defends itself in court. NPR's David Folkenflik has the back story of the case.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE³: Let's just recap what Fox News reported earlier this year.

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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: So more on the story of murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.

FOLKENFLIK: It was May 16. That morning on Fox News' website, Malia Zimmerman reported that Rich had secretly shared thousands of e-mails of Democratic Party leaders with WikiLeaks. Popular Fox shows amplified⁴ Zimmerman's story.

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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: A bombshell new report on the mysterious death of a DNC staffer 10 months ago at the height of the presidential campaign.

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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Suggests he was in communications with WikiLeaks prior to his murder.

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LOU DOBBS: Rich's contact with WikiLeaks corroborated⁵ by private investigator⁶.

FOLKENFLIK: The big scoop⁷ involved presidential politics, international intrigue⁸ and a person's death. But Fox had to take it back. When a story of this scale crumbles⁹, most news organizations feel obligated to explain what happened and why. Fox didn't do that. So let's take a look at what Fox did - not legally but journalistically. Lesson one, any investigative report has to be ironclad. And that goes double when it involves a murder. Tom Bettag is a former top news executive for CBS and ABC.

TOM BETTAG: With a family at stake, the journalistic rule, like the medical rule, is first do no harm.

FOLKENFLIK: Seth Rich's parents tell NPR the Fox piece devastated¹⁰ them. Here's his mother, Mary Rich.

MARY RICH: It was like burying Seth all over again. And we need to stay focused on finding his murderers.

FOLKENFLIK: Lesson No. 2, Make sure your sources are saying what you think they're saying. In this case, there was just one named source, Rod Wheeler, a private eye who had been hired on behalf of the Rich family. Fox News quoted Wheeler, confirming Rich had shared emails with WikiLeaks. Wheeler immediately denied it. And last month, Wheeler sued Fox for defamation¹¹. Before the story ran, the Fox reporter Malia Zimmerman sent a draft of her story with quotes she intended to attribute to Wheeler. But there's zero evidence Wheeler ever said those words or gave her permission to use them. And if Zimmerman did invent the quotes, that's a big problem, even if Wheeler did give her the green light.

Lesson No. 3, make sure each source stands on its own. A wealthy Trump¹² supporter named Ed Butowksy helped to orchestrate the Fox News story. Butowsky was the one who picked Wheeler to work for the Riches. Both Butowsky and Wheeler were Fox News commentators¹³. And Butowsky fed Wheeler and the Fox reporter tips.

BETTAG: All of this screams potential conflict of interest.

FOLKENFLIK: Tom Bettag says the ties were just too cozy¹⁴.

BETTAG: In this case, you have an investigator who's been hired by somebody who has a link to Fox. And the investigator himself has a link to Fox. And they have a stake in giving Fox what it wants to hear.

FOLKENFLIK: The night before the Fox News story ran, Wheeler told a local Fox reporter that a law enforcement source had confirmed Rich's involvement with WikiLeaks. But Wheeler objected, saying Butowsky and Zimmerman told him they found that law enforcement source days earlier. Wheeler said it was that source - their source - that he was confirming to the local Fox station. And in a taped conversation later that day, Butowsky and Zimmerman conceded Wheeler had actually never said any such thing.

Lesson No. 4 arrives courtesy of media lawyer Charles Glasser.

CHARLES GLASSER: Transparency and trust are the absolute lifeblood of any mainstream¹⁵ media organization. And I'll call Fox that.

FOLKENFLIK: Fox failed to disclose Butowsky's role in the story. And Fox also didn't share what went wrong. Here's Fox Business host Lou Dobbs that night.

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DOBBS: A federal investigator telling Fox News that an FBI forensic¹⁶ report of Rich's computer showed he made contact with WikiLeaks.

FOLKENFLIK: That unnamed investigator was the story's second key source. Yet the FBI tells NPR the agency has not participated in investigating the Seth Rich case. Fox never mentioned the source again. And the network declines to say whether it stands by the source. Fox now says it cannot comment because of Wheeler's lawsuit¹⁷. Again, Charles Glasser.

GLASSER: There is a critical role that newspapers and publishers and broadcasters have to clean up the record. And they have an ethical¹⁸ responsibility as a pillar of democracy.

FOLKENFLIK: The late Fox chairman Roger Ailes used to boast that Fox had never retracted a story. He saw that as weakness. Yet Fox News' behavior since the Seth Rich story has little recent parallel for a big news organization. And Fox's choices have had repercussions¹⁹. The British culture minister this week put the brakes on a $15 billion deal sought by media magnate Rupert Murdoch and his family. She questioned the Murdochs' commitment to fairness and accuracy. Rupert Murdoch directly controls Fox News.

David Folkenflik, NPR News, New York.

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1 retracted   

v.撤回或撤消( retract的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回

参考例句：

• He made a false confession which he later retracted. 他作了假供词，后来又翻供。
• A caddy retracted his statement. 一个球童收回了他的话。 来自辞典例句

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

5 corroborated   

v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 )

参考例句：

• The evidence was corroborated by two independent witnesses. 此证据由两名独立证人提供。
• Experiments have corroborated her predictions. 实验证实了她的预言。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

7 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

8 intrigue   

vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋

参考例句：

• Court officials will intrigue against the royal family.法院官员将密谋反对皇室。
• The royal palace was filled with intrigue.皇宫中充满了勾心斗角。

9 crumbles   

酥皮水果甜点( crumble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This cake crumbles too easily. 这种蛋糕太容易碎了。
• This bread crumbles ever so easily. 这种面包非常容易碎。

10 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

11 defamation   

n.诽谤；中伤

参考例句：

• Character defamation can be either oral or written.人格诽谤既可以是口头的也可以是书面的。
• The company sued for defamation.这个公司因受到诽谤而提起诉讼。

12 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

13 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 cozy   

adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的

参考例句：

• I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯，因为他们是舒适的。
• We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。

15 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

16 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

17 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

18 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

19 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》