Thursday, August 03, 2006

Washington Times Apologizes For ‘Not Including Mr. Dingell’s Complete Answer’

Think Progress

Yesterday, ThinkProgress noted that a Washington Times editorial falsely claimed Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) refused to “condemn Hezbollah.” The editorial used a chopped transcript of a July 30 television interview, which originated on the right-wing blog Powerline, as evidence. In fact, immediately after the transcript was abruptly cut off, Dingell says “I condemn Hezbollah…”

We encouraged ThinkProgress readers to contact the Washington Times and tell editor Tony Blankley to stop misleading his readers and publish Dingell’s full response. You spoke and the Washington Times listened:

Yesterday’s editorial, “Rep. Dingell and Hezbollah,” unintentionally omitted Mr. Dingell’s full answer to an interviewer’s question asking if he was against Hezbollah. Here are Mr. Dingell’s complete comments:…[Transcript of Dingell’s complete response]

We regret not having been aware of and thus not including Mr. Dingell’s complete answer in yesterday’s editorial.

The Washington Times is still criticizing Dingell. They still maintain that he refused to “denounce Hezbollah.” That’s their prerogative. But at least their criticisms are made side-by-side with Dingell’s actual remarks and not a dishonest caricature.

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