New York Times Columnist Charles Blow Again Caught Misleading Readers

In less than a year, on three separate occasions, left-wing New York Times columnist Charles Blow has been caught red-handed misleading readers. This happened again Sunday when Blow repeated a Politico smear against Republican presidential frontrunner Ben Carson (caught on social media), a smear that had been thoroughly debunked a full two days before the Blow column published.

The Sunday column was directed at Carson’s credibility. In the second paragraph, Blow writes:

After Politico checked into Carson’s claim that he had received an offer of a “full scholarship” to West Point, his campaign was forced to concede that he had never actually applied and been granted admission, but the campaign “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,” the news outlet reported.

(Politico came under scrutiny itself for the way it initially characterized Carson’s concession.)

There are no less than three lies in that paragraph, all of which were proven lies before the Blow column published. The parenthetical note appears to prove that Blow was personally aware of the fact that Politico’s story had imploded. Nevertheless, Blow and the Times ran with it. Here are the lies:

1. Carson never claimed he “received” a full scholarship.
2. Carson did not “concede” that he never applied at West Point because he has never claimed to have applied. There was nothing to “concede.”
3. Carson did not “concede” that he was never granted admission to West Point because he has never claimed he was granted admission. There was nothing to concede.

The New York Times has a real problem with Charles Blow, who appears to believe he is above some level of accountability when it comes to telling or revealing the truth.

Back in March, Blow attempted to savage Republican Governor Bobby Jindal. By the time the Times was done issuing no fewer than three major corrections, there was almost nothing left of the original Blow column.

Back in January, Blow attempted to mislead readers with a story about his son, a black student at Yale, being detained by the campus police. Blow savaged the Yale police, suggesting they had racially profiled his son (who matched the description of a burglar). What Blow did not tell his readers is that the police officer in question is black, as is the Yale police chief.

Blow is an opinion columnist, not a journalist. That gives him license to express an opinion, not willfully mislead.

It should be noted that since the publication of Blow’s column, almost all of the DC Media attacks on Carson’s credibility have since been debunked. Nevertheless, there have been no updates to the Blow column.

 

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC