The Associated Press (AP) is reportedly looking at a possible lawsuit after a bombshell article on GOP Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno was found to contain serious errors and contradictions. The article by Brian Slodysko suggested that Moreno had posted on the website Adult Friend Finder (AFF) to find male lovers. The story was eagerly picked up by newspapers like The Washington Post. Moreno is a Trump-backed anti-establishment candidate who is on the ballot this Tuesday in the Ohio primary.
After being pressed by conservative sites like Breitbart News, AP admitted that a claim of having “geolocation data” implicating Moreno is untrue and Moreno’s counsel has shown that an intern admitted that the posting was a prank. Moreover, the AP knew and reported on the admission from the intern but still ran the story and claim of geolocational data support. The article is being denounced as a political “hit piece” and AP has reportedly brought in a major defense attorney to handle the legal repercussions.
The story recounted how someone posted a message stating “Hi, looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling,” reads a caption on a photo-less profile under the username “nardo19672.” It further stated that
“Beyond the work email, the profile lists Moreno’s correct date of birth, while geolocation data indicates that the account was set up for use in a part of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where property records show Moreno’s parents owned a home at the time. The account’s username — nardo19672 — appears to refer to Moreno’s full first name, Bernardo, as well as the year and month of his birth in February 1967.”
In reality, an intern reportedly admitted to creating the account as a joke. Moreno’s lawyer told AP that
“16 years ago an intern at Moreno Auto created an account at AFF as a prank, which he quickly abandoned that same day. We have provided AP a copy of a signed letter from that intern, admitting to this, as well as another signed letter from a former VP of Mr. Moreno’s company, confirming this intern’s employment at the time the account in question was created…The email address in question was not Bernie’s personal email address, but rather an email address that appeared on company websites and literature and was managed by staff. Multiple people had access to it, including this intern.”
While acknowledging that objection, the AP still ran the story on purported “links” of Moreno to the site. Various people immediately objected to the claim of the geolocational evidence, including the man who reportedly created the code for the site. Adult Friend Finder founder Andrew Conru expressed shock at the reporting and posting a detailed refutation of the claim:
“I reviewed all the available information and it showed that the account had only a single visit, no activity, no profile photo, consistent with a prank or someone just checking out the site. That’s it. The AP report seeming to claim that the available data proves the account was created in Florida is inaccurate, as location information is manually entered during the signup process. In reality, there appears to be no public geolocation data tied to the account.”
He added later:
“Ah, just noticed what people are calling geolocation. In 2008, when someone entered any zip code during signup, we just had a lookup table to map it to latitude and longitude. Geolocation today means to deduce someone’s location based on the browser’s IP address which isn’t the case here.”
When pressed by Breitbart News, Lauren Easton, the director of communications for the AP, on Saturday admitted that it did not have “geolocation data” referenced in the two prior stories but still stood by those stories. It suggested that the “geolocational data” was merely noting that it was basically coming from the same zip code. Critics objected that the use of the term suggested that AP had data showing an account created with a specific IP, or internet protocol, address that can be tied to a specific location. Otherwise, with the reported admission of the intern, there was little to support the bombshell article published just before the election.
The AP questioned the claim of the intern. Moreno gave very specific information and a statement from former intern, Dan Ricci, who said he created the account as “part of a juvenile prank.” That statement included the admission that “I am thoroughly embarrassed by an aborted prank I pulled on my friend, and former boss, Bernie Moreno, nearly two decades ago.” However, The AP said that it could not “independently confirm Ricci’s statement and he didn’t immediately respond to messages left for him on multiple phone numbers listed to him. He donated $6,599 to Moreno’s campaign last year, according to campaign finance records.”
I understand that the AP would want to communicate directly with Ricci. I also get the suggestion that Ricci might be simply a supporter covering for a candidate. However, I do not understand the basis for running the article in light of the countervailing evidence without something more than a loose claim of “geolocational data.” It is particularly suspicious when the posting was made sixteen years ago and was just published a few days before the election.
While AP did not confirm the statement of Ricci, counsel for Moreno (and the candidate himself) would be facing serious legal jeopardy if they made up the statements and lied about the admission.
Moreno has reportedly hired Charles Harder, one of the attorneys who led the lawsuits against Gawker before that publication closed.
A lawsuit could present some interesting questions since AP did incorporate the denial and alleged admission from the intern. It could argue that the rest is its opinion on the newsworthiness of the allegation. The issue is whether, given Moreno’s status as a public figure, the AP meets the “actual malice” standard for defamation as either knowingly publishing a false claim or doing so with reckless disregard of the truth. If Moreno sues and gains access to discovery against AP, this could prove a costly and embarrassing matter for the company.
Anyone who reads the AP with any frequency should note the pronounced careen to the Left since 2016. If you want better balance, read the United Press International (UPI dot com) instead. As an old teletype Radio rip and reader going back to the mid 1960s (AP, UPI, Reuters) the recent tilt is obvious.
Notice how quickly JT posted this? What if this is all a sham and there is truth to the story? Just saying because JT has a habit of rushing in when all the facts are not fully looked into. And funny, how JT believes instantly that this was a false story when so many of the thousands of trump and other trump party lies go un checked.
JT your riding a dead horse, come November your trump party will be in complete disarray.
So, what the hell, it might be true is the standard?
Apparently that is what JT thinks. Or rather, if it makes trump look good, ignore it as long as you can. If it makes Biden look bad, pretend it is a proven fact. Just keep in mind, some truths take a long time to figure out. Is this one? I don’t know. I do know that there have been a whole slew of republicans that have resigned after being outed as being gay, pedophiles, rapists, or any number of other combinations that don’t sit so well with run of the mill former republicans. There was the republican that killed himself after he was outed as a cross dresser. Repos are so weird.
Pleasantly reassuring that so many have the viewpoint that the old, established MSM is what it is. Kinda like Jim Jones habitually being presented as a reputable member of society without being contested yet the vast majority know better than to drink the kool-aid.
I live in a red area of a now red state and my local rag this morning (I only get it for the crosswords) had about 20 letters to the editor with 18 of them being left/far left and Republican/Trump bashing. This is in a red area in a red state!!! They don’t care if they go broke, the ideology trumps profit. This signifies the end of our great capitalistic society. How can you fight against companies that would rather lose money than support what the people want?
hullbobby:
(1) I assume that your “local rag” is associated with a national media syndicate? If so, with the dominance of left-wing control, that explains all.
(2) I assume that the local editor of the national syndicate retains control of which letters to the editor to print. That means you will never know how many pro-Trump, pro-Republican letters were received but not published. Again, selective publishing/selective messaging with a soft sell to create the impression that yours are in the minority of views….
That is to say, intended message to readers like you: you are outnumbered…you are on the wrong side of the track…your thinking and views are wrong…you are blissfully ignorant…yada yada
Do you remember the old book, “The Medium is the Message?”
Lin, you hit the nail on the head. I equate “letters to the editor” with “Fact Checkers”, both are just a way for liberal bias to pretend to be objective and fair when in reality they are both riddled with lies.
The point I really want to emphasis is that letters to the editor and fact checkers are liberal control maniacs hiding behind “objective” labels.
Hullbobby, we may live in the same community—Naples, FL–red state red area. Our local rag, a subsidiary of Gannett’s USA Today–bashes anything even slightly right of center on a daily basis.
Wiseoldlawyer, we are close, I am a bit north of you. I am also an old lawyer but I am not sure about being wise. We probably get the same rag with parts printed for each of our areas. It is a total rag. I enjoy your comments, keep it up. Folks like you, Lin, Upstate and a few others make it a great read.
hullbobby said: “How can you fight against companies that would rather lose money than support what the people want?”
Do everything within your power to see that they run out of money sooner rather than later? Talk to anyone you know who might influence advertising dollars spent in that paper and do your best to persuade them to take that money elsewhere, and/or inform them that as long as they advertise there, you will nover consume their products? Attempt to organize a boycott of them in your area? None of that may work, just brainstorming.
Jonathan, to call a candidate backed by Trump as “anti-establishment” when Trump has seized complete control is rather disingenuous. Trump is an ex-President, a (self-proclaimed, but perhaps dubiously) billionaire, has members of Congress wiping his boots, he and anyone he endorses are “Establishment.” Also a threat to the nation.
A fall from greatness. Burn yourself up AP!
So, someone posting on a dating site is now a scandal ? Or perhaps I am falling into a trap thinking that someone named “Bernie” is a male and on a male dating site… ? oh NO “Danger Danger Will Robinson”, but if Bernie is a female than is it not a scandal ?
ATTENTION: ASSOCIATED PRESS: No one cares what your sexual preference is. I thought we, and I am very conservative, got over that many many years ago..
“Geolocation today means . . .”
The AP is slimy. (And, yes, I read the article.)
They used a word, “geolocation,” that *today* means something very different than it did 16 years ago. They pulled that sleight-of-hand to leave readers with the false impression: See, we did our journalistic due diligence using modern technology.
That utterly dishonest “reporting” comes from the same organization that publishes the “AP Stylebook” — allegedly, the guide for objectivity and integrity in journalism.
In reality, their end is to smear a Trump-endorsed candidate. Their means is: Manipulate words and throw journalistic integrity into the woodchipper.
Sam: Agree. I only add that the laws relating to media defamation (re: the high standard for proof) are equally slippery (not necessarily slimy) in permitting innuendo and “alleged” or “reported” information to come off as unassailable fact. This, added to the use of “selective fact” reporting to lead an audience to only one conclusion/inference)….
MSM is the Soviet Union Pravda of today here in the US.
So, Mr. Moreno must have been ahead in the vote or polls? I am sure it is something done on both sides, and I sure wish the school yard bullies would grow up and act their age and perhaps the quality of their education. We have a country falling apart but nobody seems to care much about that. We seem to elect “news channel performance artists” not people who want to go to Washington to clean up the blasted swamp. There are laws written, but how carefully are they written. One word or comma can change what they really meant.
Which part could they not verify, the fact that the originator of the search says it was a prank 16 years ago or that that the writer of the articles had, in someway, a means to verify that it was indeed Mr. Moreno. Geolocation???. They would be lucky at that time to place him in the same state. Seems like a good case for Libel even with the Sullivan standards. The award could be HUGE. I wonder how long they have had these little nuggets in their database just ready to throw out like grenades on the weekend before elections.
Sort of like accusing someone of rape when no one else knew about it, she never discussed with anyone else, could not get the year right and the alleged dress had not even been made. But what the hell, you’re accusing a Republican so the “truth” can be quite sketchy or non-existent.
Somehow I can understand the Professor even with lousy editing and spelling. This is a blog for legal discussions not a class in writing literature, or building up a thesaurus. This is not a brief for the Supreme Court. Get over the spell check and make a salient comment.
The Legacy Press is not a “free” press. It is simply an arm of the Democrat party. Understand that, and you would no more listen to them, than to Joseph Goebbels.
This is just one more example of how much of corporate media has evolved from reporting the news to being the communications are of the democrat party and the coastal leftist elite. Then the media wonders why readership has declined?
A P –
“The AP said that it could not “independently confirm Ricci’s statement.” [Didn’t they have his signed letter?]
Leslie Stahl, CBS News (2020):
“It’s a very important issue to find out whether a man’s corrupt who’s running for president, who’s accepted money from China, and Ukraine, and from Russia,” Trump responds. “Take a look at what’s going on, Leslie, and you say that shouldn’t be discussed?…I think it’s one of the biggest scandals I’ve ever seen, and you don’t cover it.”
“Well because it can’t be verified,” Stahl says. “I’m telling you—”
“Of course it can be verified,” Trump interjects. “Excuse me, Leslie, they found a laptop—”
“It can’t be verified,” Stahl repeats. [Didn’t they have the claim of the computer store operator?]
Earlier in the interview, Stahl also said there was “no evidence” that the FBI spied on the 2016 Trump campaign.
“The biggest scandal was when they spied on my campaign. They spied on my campaign,” Trump said.
“There’s no evidence of that,” Stahl responded.” [This was after the Mueller Report had been made.]
Curioius standards of proof. Dennis Prager: “Truth is not a left-wing value.”
The free press to which the First Amendment refers is an aspirational construct. For most of us who are middle-aged, or older, it once consisted of mainstream print media like major metropolitan daily newspapers, and TV network news. While it certainly had its share of faults and biases, that group of entities did a fairly good job of conveying factual, verifiable, information, for the most part. However, that press is long dead, and its corpse has been rotting on the ground for so long that all of its juices have corrupted, and seeped into the depths. Anyone who believes anything they read in print, or on-line, without first consulting at least one independent, credible, source for verication (using several sources is advisable) is a fool. There have always been liars among us, but we have allowed those liars to ascend to prominence as the rulers of the proverbial roost.
“verification”, not “verication”
Verification of their prevarication.
Obviously appears to be intentional by AP
AP, Washington Post, MSNBC etc will do anything and say anything to try to politically harm Republicans, Independents etc who oppose the Left Wing Radical views and policies of the DEM’s. They seek total control by the DEM’s come Nov. As the elections get close expect more of the same. The best way to defeat the radical Left Media is Republicans win and take control, including Trump. Then sue the radical left wing media and etc an hit them in them financially.
AP is an enemy of freedom. All local papers that use AP should be shunned. AP is seemingly a supporter of Hamas and even shared their office in Gaza with them.
Sue AP, sue them now, sue them often, sue them, sue them, sue them. We get people arrested for a political meme, we get people arrested for praying at abortion clinics, we get people arrested for being in DC on the wrong day, we get former presidents arrested for having classified documents in a Secret Service protected site while his opponent, an ex senator and VP, doesn’t get indicted while he had the same items at his CCP sponsored “Think Tank, his CCP sponsored university, his CCP sponsored office and even his CCP paid for house.
Getting back to the AP, they need to be stopped because they are a major purveyor of true misinformation, not some opinion piece that has the DC little girls clutching their pearls. AP has tentacles all around the country. People know that NBC (MSNBC included), CNN, the NY Times, ABC, CBC etc are left leaning shills of the Democrat party, but sadly many people aren’t aware that as they read their local paper in small town USA that they are being fed liberal, Democrat sponsored garbage put out by the AP.
End the AP and end them now.
The integrity of the legacy press has gone the way of the buggy whip and steam engine train. I cannot imagine who would watch or read anything they produce? They must count on the fact that there are enough ignorant people to keep them afloat. I am sure some whacky professor will eventually say that it is racist to seek truth.
“Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest….”
Turley wrote: “While acknowledging that objection, the AP still ran the ran on “links” of Moreno to the site.”
Should probably be “While acknowledging that objection, the AP still ran the story on “links” of Moreno to the site.”