Why Won't The L.A. Times Admit They Were Wrong About Ted Rall?
They made a mistake. They should own up to it.
Ted Rall, the controversial cartoonist who's been a featured author here at C&L, was fired by the L.A. Times last week, in the most publicly humiliating way possible: An open letter to the readers in the pages of the paper, saying Rall lied about an encounter with cops he'd described in several of his cartoons through the years.
Here's the thing: They were wrong. Just plain wrong, as an enhanced audiotape shows.
LA Times fires @TedRall based on questionable evidence related to encounter with #LAPD http://t.co/eZxebgsL7U
— Daniel Wright (@DanSWright) August 2, 2015
On Monday, @LATimes fired political cartoonist @TedRall following a complaint by the LAPD https://t.co/ejGUbfYvOr pic.twitter.com/DImeIVlcNn
— Greg Palast (@Greg_Palast) July 29, 2015
.@LATimes fires political cartoonist & LAPD critic @TedRall—it's clearly meant to be a warning to other journalists pic.twitter.com/Dnsn7GzaT5
— Greg Palast (@Greg_Palast) July 29, 2015
Enhanced audio shows #LAPD lied/tampered with tape that was given to @LATimes & used as grounds to fire @TedRall http://t.co/icRckxmYHf
— Greg Palast (@Greg_Palast) July 31, 2015
In the past week LAPD have accused both me & @tedrall of lying about their misdeeds. In both cases recordings prove them the liars.
— JeffSharlet (@JeffSharlet) July 31, 2015
I mean, fact checkers wldnt like me calling LAPD leaders *liars.* I'll just say they're not telling truth about @tedrall or #CharlyKeunang.
— JeffSharlet (@JeffSharlet) July 31, 2015
6. The LA Times "fired" Ted, saying that the tape gave no indication of handcuffing or shouting onlookers. http://t.co/ejwvc1FRRc
— Ruben Bolling (@RubenBolling) July 31, 2015
8. This morning, audio engineers released an enhanced version of the tape, with static wiped out. In this version you can clearly hear...
— Ruben Bolling (@RubenBolling) July 31, 2015
9. ... a woman say "Take off his handcuffs!" Voice apparently says, "He was just jaywalking... you need to take off...take of his handcuffs"
— Ruben Bolling (@RubenBolling) July 31, 2015
10. This tape supports two key aspects of Ted's story: that he was handcuffed and that onlookers shouted protests. http://t.co/IecO52EA3g
— Ruben Bolling (@RubenBolling) July 31, 2015
Streisand Effect in LAT firing @TedRall "job of..media to question authority, not to blindly defend it & eat its own" http://t.co/IUFRjexrfO
— Thomas Drake (@Thomas_Drake1) July 31, 2015
Former LA Times Cartoonist Mulls Lawsuit http://t.co/TdLFNSoTDe
— Ted Rall (@TedRall) August 4, 2015
5 days since I proved to @LATimes @Nick_Goldberg that I told the truth and that the @LAPD lied 5 days! No apology, no retraction, no job.
— Ted Rall (@TedRall) August 4, 2015
2. Why would the #LAPD go after @TedRall?
[Because he exposed police wrongdoing? Repeatedly!?!] pic.twitter.com/NvQMBMGDxJ
— Greg Palast (@Greg_Palast) August 3, 2015