WaPo Re-edits ACORN Story

On Wednesday, I blogged ("Chutzpah!") about a piece in the Washington Post about the ACORN scandal. The WaPo article read in part:

"It's balderdash on top of poppycock," said Rathke, who was forced out last year amid an embezzlement scandal involving his brother.

Now the Post has re-edited that piece to delete the reference to embezzlement. No published "correction" - just changed the text without notice.

Check out Jonathan Adler's post at the Volokh Conspiracy for the details. Can't post links from my Blackberry.

The WaPo has a long history of being reluctant to correct factual errors and offering only the absolute minimum of facts when they do. For example, even the New York Times will publish a correction such as, "Some editions of yesterday's Times carried a story falsely describing Skip Williams as the son of John Williams; in fact, he is his pet dog."

But the Post would say, "Some editions of yesterday's Post carried a story falsely describing Skip Williams as the son of John Williams. The Post regrets the error."

But given the Post's tradition as the defacto national newspaper of the Democratic Party, the revision of the ACORN story calls for an explanation.