Why Hasn't The Washington Post Admitted That It Totally Screwed Up Its 'Free Super WiFi' Report?
from the this-is-getting-silly dept
Sometimes the press screws up. Anyone can screw up. The best thing to do is to admit that you screwed up, apologize, and make it right. At times, we've had to do that, sometimes even admitting we were just plain wrong. It happens. You apologize, you make things right, and you move on. However, for some people, that's hard, and apparently the Washington Post is included in that bunch. Earlier this week, we did a big debunking on the WaPo's incredibly misleading story about the FCC and "super WiFi." The story was on the front page of the Washington Post, suggesting (incorrectly) that there was a "new" proposal from the FCC to blanket the US in free WiFi.The truth was that there was nothing of the sort. There was a minor step in a decade-long fight over putting some old TV spectrum to better use. It wasn't new. It wasn't anything important. And it had little to nothing to do with blanketing the US in free WiFi -- especially free WiFi supplied by the FCC (as the Post article implied, and which many people took to be true). A few others got on the debunking train as well, and one of the earlier thorough debunkings came from Ars Technica's Jon Brodkin, who pointed out that it was just bad journalism at work.
While some of the others who picked up on the original story have since admitted they were mistaken, Brodkin has a new article pointing out that the original story won't die. He was contacted to go on Current TV about it until he explained that there was no story. But the really awful part is that the Washington Post itself and reporter Cecilia Kang (who normally does good work, so this still has me baffled) still have not corrected their original piece. Instead, Kang put up a weak follow up piece that added five "things to know" about the plan. The "five things" are all accurate, but they were sort of core to the original story and weren't in there. The whole point is that the original story is incredibly misleading, and the proper thing to do was to put a giant correction notice on it, pointing out that they screwed up the original story. It was misleading to the extreme, and at points, implied things that were simply incorrect.
Yes, it's embarrassing to admit you were wrong, but it's more embarrassing to let a wrong story live on. As Brodkin notes, because the original story is still out there and uncorrected, the false story lives on in many places. He also notes that the Washington Post is standing by the story, which makes no sense:
I ended up talking to the Post reporter on the phone and e-mailing with the Post's ombudsman. The ombudsman told me that the FCC confirmed to the Post that the "free Wi-Fi" story was correct, which is odd, because I also talked to people at the FCC who said the exact opposite. Similarly, a TechCrunch reporter wrote that "my contact at the FCC told me that there was no such plan" as the one reported by the Post.And people wonder why folks have trouble "trusting" the press these days?
The Post reporter was genuinely nice and seemed eager to correct the record, but the execution was lacking. She followed up with a more realistic piece titled "Five things to know about 'free' public Wi-Fi." It explains some of the realities of the situation, such as the fact that the FCC won't be building any networks itself and that whatever networks are built won't necessarily be used to provide free Internet access.
The Post's follow-up story was all well and good, but the original story was never corrected or retracted. In addition to getting the front-page treatment, the initial Post story was coupled with a cringe-inducing video titled "FCC offers path to free Internet access." A host begins the spot by asking, "What if Wi-Fi didn't come from a router in your living room but instead from powerful TV antennas? And better yet, what if you didn't have to pay for it? That possibility could become a reality across the US thanks to a new proposal by the Federal Communications Commission." (Have I made it clear that the proposal is not new and never required "free access," either?)
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: cecilia kang, fcc, journalism, reporting, spectrum, super wifi, white spaces
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Stop whining
I've even heard that you guys are pissing off some reputable jurnos out there with your lack of professional ethics.
#teribuhl
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Stop whining
#MTeo_5
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Stop whining
You meant "jurno", right?
#WordOfTheWeek
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I must have missed this story
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I must have missed this story
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I trust them to be incredibly biased and to get their facts wrong.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Working the internet beat for WaPo must be similar to having to cover pet fashions.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Open Wireless
Because of some of the discussions that were begun by this article, I found openwireless.org, so it might even end up being an individual thing.
I've always like what Bruce Schneier has said about his open WiFi access and I am now helping in my own small way by allowing free, open guest access on my home wireless router.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Huh? According to Wikipedia these are the "rules" you are talking about:
It's been my observation that Techdirt does these things far better than the traditional media outlets. It's one reason I come here every day.
...but never discussing things positively and never building. Sad
Again, huh?
https://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Please stop trying to debunk this story
If this allowed to run far enough, one of our congress critters will pick upon it and try to actually create some legislation. This could result in the start of a meaningful discussion on human rights and how unfettered access to information plays into that.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
WP Free Wi-Fi Video
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Amazing nonsense
http://nucambiguous.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/nonsense-above-the-fold/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]