Reporters and politicians ripped into Politico for publishing a story Friday saying Ben Carson “fabricated” a story about being offered a full scholarship to attend West Point.
But even before this criticism started, Republican front-runner Donald Trump had already declared war on the Virginia-based news outlet’s editorial standards, saying last week that it is “the dumbest and most slanted” site that he has ever encountered.
“Losers!” he added.
Trump also said last week that his campaign wouldn’t deal with Politico’s reporters anymore.
By Friday, it seemed as if everyone had joined in questioning Politico’s editorial judgement after its story on Carson was torn up over Twitter.
“I’ve been a reporter for almost 30 years. Politico’s Ben Carson story is among the stupidest things I’ve ever seen in print,” TheBlaze’s Scott Baker said on social media.
Politico originally reported that, “Ben Carson’s campaign on Friday admitted, in a response to an inquiry from POLITICO, that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated: his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.”
The story, titled “Ben Carson Admits Fabricating West Point Scholarship,” also claimed that Carson’s spokesman “conceded” the 2016 Republican presidential candidate had “fabricated” a story about applying and being accepted to West Point.
The spokesman did no such thing.
Further, Carson himself has never claimed that he applied to West Point. He has also never said that he was accepted by the storied military academy. Rather, the retired neurosurgeon has always maintained in speeches and writing that he was extended a “full scholarship,” but that turned down the offer because he wanted to pursue a career in medicine. Carson has also always said that he applied to only one college: Yale.
As these and other details surfaced Friday afternoon, it became clear that Politico oversold its “scoop,” and the press and political class made their opinion of the story clear.
“Not accurate in Politico story: Carson claimed to have applied to West Point,” CNNMoney’s Dylan Byers noted on social media.
Byers, formerly of Politico, took it a step further by suggesting in an article that, “What initially looked like a disaster for Ben Carson could now be a major black eye for Politico.”
“[T]here is no evidence in Politico’s story that Carson ever claimed to have applied to West Point,” he added, disputing the report’s central claim.
The Daily Caller’s Alex Pappas said, “Politico said ‘Ben Carson admitted to fabricating.’ He did not. These are the facts of the case, and they are undisputed.”
BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins also said that, “Politico’s ‘admits fabricating’ headline isn’t really right.”
Republican politicians also jumped to Carson’s defense, even those who are vying with him to win the GOP nomination in 2016. Former Florida Gov. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said in an interview with Fox News, “If it’s between Politico and Ben Carson, put me in the Ben Carson column please.”
Fellow presidential contender Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said, “I’m a big fan of Ben Carson … I know there’s a media kerfuffle about it … but I can tell you this: I like & trust Ben Carson.”
Carson himself ripped into Politico late Friday and said the website told a “bald-faced lie” about his brief relationship with West Point.
The end result of Politico’s supposed scoop is a heavily amended story that now includes a 163-word editor’s note explaining its reasoning for the story’s original claim.
The report’s headline now reads, “Exclusive: Carson claimed West Point ‘scholarship’ but never applied.”
Bloomberg News’ Kendall Breitman interpreted the story’s multiple edits by saying, “Politico admits to fabricating headline.”
The story’s opening paragraph has also been changed to read, “Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Friday conceded that he never applied nor was granted admission to West Point and attempted to recast his previous claims of a full scholarship to the military academy – despite numerous public and written statements to the contrary over the last few decades.”
These changes were originally made without any accompanying editors note.
“[U]nwillingness to admit fault plagues Politico’s big story of the day,” the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple reported. “As all of Twitter — not to mention the Carson campaign — has pointed out, Carson admitted no such [fabrication].”
“He never applied to West Point … and Politico reported that he had,” he added.
When a note of correction was eventually added to the story, reporters were still unimpressed.
“The new Politico lede remains problematic: Carson just now ‘conceded that he never applied,’ [though] he wrote that in his memoir 23 years ago,” the Washington Post’s Dave Weigel said.
