Saturday, October 19, 2013

AUTHOR JIMENEZ LIES ABOUT MY REPORTING ON HIS DEBUNKED CLAIM

So thanks to Media Matters, I was able to post a story this past week that essentially debunked a claim by author Stephen Jimenez that The New York Times Magazine spiked a story he wrote in 2004 on the murder of Matthew Shepard because the piece was too "politically sensitive."

The truth was the piece was not good enough to be published.

But that didn't stop Jimenez from lying about my story on a far-right radio show.

Paul Tough, a former editor at the Times Magazine, told me he was interested in Jimenez's claim that Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student, was not killed in an anti-gay hate crime, but instead as the result of a drug-fueled killing.

But, as Tough said, the truth is Jimenez's article fell short.

Tough told me, among other things, "My recollection was that he and I went through a few edits and drafts together but I don't remember what the final sticking point was. He certainly wrote a draft and my recollection is more than one draft, but in the editing process things are never done until they're done. For whatever reason I feel like for us it didn't get to the level of being a complete and publishable story."

In the same story, when I sought comment from Jimenez about Tough's recollection, he did not offer a defense, instead bragging about a story he did on the subject for 20/20 and awards he received.

He also lied about my story on conservative Janet Mefferd's show, claiming I did not include his response in the story, which is untrue. Hear the false statement HERE at about 36:00.

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