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LA Times Takes Back Tupac Story, "I Got Duped," Admits Writer
A Los Angeles Times reporter and editor responsible for a recent story on the 1994 attack on Tupac Shakur are apologizing after new evidence revealed that documents used for the piece appear to have been fabricated.
Reporter Chuck Philips and his supervisor, deputy managing editor Marc Duvoisin, issued statements of apology Wednesday (Mar. 26) afternoon, which were published by the paper today. The statements followed intense criticism and scrutiny for the Shakur article, which appeared on the LA Times website on March 17 and two days later in the paper.
The Smoking Gun recently published an investigative report claiming that the Times had been the victim of a hoax based around documents that were not the official FBI reports that they claimed to be.
In a statement released yesterday, Phillips said he "approached this article the same way I've approached every article I've ever written: in pursuit of the truth. I now believe the truth here is that I got duped. For this, I take full responsibility and I apologize."
"In relying on documents that I now believe were fake, I failed to do my job," he added. "I'm sorry."
Duvoisin also delivered a statement: "We should not have let ourselves be fooled. That we were is as much my fault as Chuck's. I deeply regret that we let our readers down."
Times editor Russ Stanton said he took criticisms of Philips' story "very seriously," and announced plans for the newspaper to launch an internal review of the documents as well as the reporting of the story.
"We published this story with the sincere belief that the documents were genuine, but our good intentions are beside the point," Stanton said in a statement. "The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used. We apologize both to our readers and to those referenced in the documents and, as a result, in the story. We are continuing to investigate this matter and will fulfill our journalistic responsibility for critical self-examination."
Suffering the embarrassment of the hoax may not be the end of the Times' troubles. Jimmy Rosemond and Sean Combs, who were both cast in a suspicious light by the Times report, issued denials via their lawyers both before and after the story was published and now may be considering filing defamation suits against the paper.
In a statement Wednesday Rosemond said that the Times article created "a potentially violent climate in the hip-hop community."
Marc Lichtman, Rosemond's attorney also added, "I would suggest to Mr. Philips and his editors that they immediately print an apology and take out their checkbooks -- or brace themselves for an epic lawsuit."
Diddy's reps were not available as of press time.
Source: AP
Reporter Chuck Philips and his supervisor, deputy managing editor Marc Duvoisin, issued statements of apology Wednesday (Mar. 26) afternoon, which were published by the paper today. The statements followed intense criticism and scrutiny for the Shakur article, which appeared on the LA Times website on March 17 and two days later in the paper.
The Smoking Gun recently published an investigative report claiming that the Times had been the victim of a hoax based around documents that were not the official FBI reports that they claimed to be.
In a statement released yesterday, Phillips said he "approached this article the same way I've approached every article I've ever written: in pursuit of the truth. I now believe the truth here is that I got duped. For this, I take full responsibility and I apologize."
"In relying on documents that I now believe were fake, I failed to do my job," he added. "I'm sorry."
Duvoisin also delivered a statement: "We should not have let ourselves be fooled. That we were is as much my fault as Chuck's. I deeply regret that we let our readers down."
Times editor Russ Stanton said he took criticisms of Philips' story "very seriously," and announced plans for the newspaper to launch an internal review of the documents as well as the reporting of the story.
"We published this story with the sincere belief that the documents were genuine, but our good intentions are beside the point," Stanton said in a statement. "The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used. We apologize both to our readers and to those referenced in the documents and, as a result, in the story. We are continuing to investigate this matter and will fulfill our journalistic responsibility for critical self-examination."
Suffering the embarrassment of the hoax may not be the end of the Times' troubles. Jimmy Rosemond and Sean Combs, who were both cast in a suspicious light by the Times report, issued denials via their lawyers both before and after the story was published and now may be considering filing defamation suits against the paper.
In a statement Wednesday Rosemond said that the Times article created "a potentially violent climate in the hip-hop community."
Marc Lichtman, Rosemond's attorney also added, "I would suggest to Mr. Philips and his editors that they immediately print an apology and take out their checkbooks -- or brace themselves for an epic lawsuit."
Diddy's reps were not available as of press time.
Source: AP