Politics

Journalists Apologize For Spreading Bogus New York Times Story About Rick Perry

Erika Cross / Shutterstock.com

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Rachel Stoltzfoos Staff Reporter
Font Size:

Reporters apologized for spreading a bogus New York Times hit piece on Rick Perry Thursday, after new facts came to light that completely undermined the central assertion of the story.

“I’m about to delete this tweet, which spread the rumor about Perry not knowing what energy sec does,” New York Magazine writer Jesse Singal tweeted, referring to an earlier tweet sharing the story. “I think it’s false.”

The New York Times reports Perry had no clue the energy secretary is in charge of safeguarding the nuclear arsenal when he accepted the nomination for the position in Donald Trump’s administration. Massive flaws in the reporting quickly became clear, however, as the sole source for the story told The Daily Caller his words were taken out of context, and journalists quickly dug up a statement from Perry on his nomination that explicitly mentions the nuclear arsenal. (RELATED: Journos Slam ‘Garbage’ New York Times Hit Piece On Rick Perry)

Initially a lot of journalists retweeted and cheered the story, but after it was clearly debunked, some began deleting those tweets and instead sharing the stories debunking the report. They harshly criticized the paper in the meantime.

“I officially retract my snarky Rick Perry tweet c/o the NYT,” writer Andrew Heaton tweeted. “I stand by my snarky Dancing with the Stars tweets.” Asked why he was retracting in a reply to his tweet, he added: “It appears the NYT had a pre-existing opinion and then slopped some dubious reporting on top to confirm.”

“Im retracting last 2 tweets,” Vanity Fair editor and Newsweek senior writer Kurt Eichenwald tweeted. “Someone pointed out there are now questions if NYT allegations on Rick Perry are true.”

“Since I tweeted the NYTimes story, I’ll tweet this repudiation from their source,” Huffington Post reporter Natalie Jackson tweeted. “Deleting my initial tweet.”

“I still think experts are far better for running technical depts like Energy, though, but apologize for spreading bad story,” she added.

Follow Rachel on Twitter

Send tips to rachel@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel