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Sunday, June 12, 2011

Politico expends 726 words to make a non-apology apology to Sarah Palin

Keach Hagey's tortured explanation of how her publication, Politico, managed to make a colossal mistake is judged not persuasive.  Let's start with the non-apology headline: It doesn't say, "Politico made a mistake"; it just says, "About that Palin column."  Not exactly contrition there, huh?

In discussing how a totally bogus Sarah Palin quote made it into a Politico opinion piece, Hagey reverts to the passive voice, not naming names, not focusing in on anyone's fault:


The problem came during the editing process, when “she said” was mistakenly added to the story -- making it seem, incorrectly, that the authors were suggesting that Palin had uttered these words.

In other words, despite the enormous length of the story--726 words--there's not much mea culpa.  No word of anyone being disciplined, or new policies and safeguards.