5/22/06 - CBS Public Eye on Leopold Story: "Buyer Beware" [View All]

"Buyer Beware Applies in New Media World"

By Vaughn Ververs
12:09 PM : May 22, 2006

Last week saw another story, spread throughout the Web, that now appears to wholly untrue. The report, appearing on Truthout.org, claimed that White House adviser Karl Rove had been indicted by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and had been given 24 hours before announcing it publicly. Of course, that 24-hour deadline has passed some eight times since the story first appeared, it’s particulars have been flatly denied by principles named in the story and it has been shot down by a variety of outlets, including CBS News. Here’s how Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz relays the tale today:

More at: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/05/22/publiceye/entry1639586.shtml

"Rove Lawyer has a Pet Peeve"


By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer

Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's lawyer, says he spent most of the day on May 12 taking his cat to the veterinarian and having a technician fix his computer at home.

He was stunned, therefore, when journalists started calling to ask about an online report that he had spent half the day at his law office, negotiating with Patrick Fitzgerald -- and that the special prosecutor had secretly obtained an indictment of Rove.

A Web site's report that Karl Rove, left, had been indicted by Patrick Fitzgerald, right, prompted a slew of reporters from major outlets to check it out, even though the story was written by an acknowledged past liar.

The cat's medical tests, Luskin says, found that "the stools were free of harmful parasites, which is more than I can say for this case."

The claim that President Bush's top political strategist had been indicted in the CIA leak investigation was written by a journalist who has battled drug addiction and mental illness and been convicted of grand larceny. That didn't stop more than 35 reporters -- from all the major newspapers, networks and newsmagazines -- from calling Luskin or Rove's spokesman, Mark Corallo, to check it out.

The reports appeared on the liberal Web site Truthout.org, run by Marc Ash, a former advertising man and fashion photographer in California. Jason Leopold, the author of the stories, directed inquiries to Ash, who says that "we stand by the story. We have multiple points of independent confirmation of what we originally reported. Our problem is, the prosecutor's office is under no obligation to go public."


Much more at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/21/AR2006052101374.html