Aurora Shooting: ABC's Brian Ross Incorrectly Suggests Tea Party Link

[cali]

ABC's Brian Ross made a huge blunder on Friday when he suggested there may have been a link between the alleged shooter in the Colorado theater tragedy and the Tea Party. The network later said that the report was wrong.

Ross' comments came after federal officials informed news outlets that the suspect was named James Holmes. George Stephanopoulos threw to him on "Good Morning America" by saying, "You've been investigating the background of Jim Holmes here. You found something that might be significant."

<snip>

Later, the network revealed that the report had actually been "incorrect" and retracted the claim. "ABC News and Brian Ross apologize for the mistake, and for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted," an editor's note read.

<snip>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/brian-ross-tea-party-colorado-shooting_n_1689471.html

[flamingdem]

1. Understandable he made the connection

It's so likely considering shooters such as the Seal Beach salon who killed 7 and had his teaparty bumpersticker for all to see.

[Enrique]

18. maybe it's understandable for us to make that connection

reporters are supposed to report.

[flamingdem]

20. True. They had better watch the urge to google for answers

The intertubes are the wild west in terms of facts

[Lex]

2. So there's no tea party link?

[TalkingDog]

6. There's a guy named JIM Holmes who joined the Tea Party Patriots a couple of months ago.

But a quick search of any people search engine will show that there are a couple of James Holmes in the area.

The "news" media is a fucking joke. I could do a better job of researching a story.

2 minutes of my time: http://www.whitepages.com/name/Jim-Holmes/Aurora-CO

[bluestateguy]

3. He is a lousy reporter

He is the same fool who had the DC Madam's (Deborah Jane Palfrey) list of client phone numbers in his possession and said that there were no noteworthy names on the list. Then of course a few days later it came out that David Vitter was a client.

Back to the Georgetown Cocktail Party for you, Brian.

[coalition_unwilling]

13. Ross is little more than a stenographer to power, imo. He always presents his

reports with this 'hush-hush tone of deep significance' and they are almost always later shown to be little more than hot air.

I stopped watching ABC News so long ago that I no longer can summon up any specific examples.

Ross should be fired or at least suspended.

[Archae]

4. Now if that report was from Faux "news"

They'd list Holmes as a Muslim, and even after being debunked, they'd still run with that.

Just look how they are running with the altered tape of Obama's speech.

[Chan790]

9. You mean like the Daily Mail reporting that their sources say he's from OWS.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2176495/Denver-shooting-Police-say-apartment-Dark-Knight-Rises-gunman-James-Holmes-24-booby-trapped.html

He was not any watch list that would have alerted authorities that he was dangerous, officials told NBC.

As speculation mounts about the motive behind the mass shooting, one private investigator has said that Holmes may have been part of Occupy Wall Street's most violent faction, Occupy Black Bloc.

Bill Warner told how the Batman movie portrays the OWS crowd in a negative vein, leading him to believe that may have been a cause behind the gunman's rage.

Holmes kicked down a door to enter the packed theater, dressed in black and wearing a gas mask and bullet-proof vest.

He threw a smoke grenade and waited for it to explode before he started firing randomly into the audience with two pistols, a shotgun and what is believed to be an assault rifle, police said.

(Photographs omitted.)

[Fawke Em]

12. Occupy hasn't condoned those Black Bloc people.

In fact, the Black Bloc people have been using Occupy as cover without OWS's permission.

[Chan790]

15. Aware of all of that...

my point was not about OWS (in fact I think the gossip the DM is citing on this is false) but about a RW publication immediately looking for a way to link it to those opposed to said RW rag's agenda.

Edit: There is at this point no more evidence to link James Holmes to OWS or even Black Bloc than there is to link him to the Tea Party...at this point we just don't know...and idle race-to-be-first media speculation reporting is an embarrassment.

[alp227]

11. Didn't the media speculate the Oklahoma City bomber was Muslim?

Last edited Thu Jul 26, 2012, 12:05 AM - Edit history (1)

[Archae]

14. Yes they did, until McVeigh was busted.

[hughee99]

19. Yes, and that the Times Square bomber was a teabagger too.

The problem is, the news isn't supposed to be the place to present "media speculation".

[4th law of robotics]

22. And the DC sniper had to be a white guy

[Luminous Animal]

5. Kick.

[cali]

7. kick for factual information

kick for terrible journalism being exposed.

kick because even if you'd like to believe a tea bagger did this, facts fucking matter.

[Luminous Animal]

8. Kick again.

[alp227]

10. Interesting how the first search result "james holmes" +aurora leads to...

Breitbart's Big Government blog claiming Holmes may actually be a DEMOCRAT!

Sadly, blunders like this and NBC editing George Zimmerman's 911 call only confirm the paranoia about "the liberal media".

[FarLeftFist]

16. Ugh. Pre-maturely politicizing tragedies is some real Junior High School BS. I expect it from the RW

like Breitbart & Drudge because they're run by children, but ABC news?? Sad.

[The Northerner]

17. Don't some people realize that jumping to conclusions without any evidence

could backfire and embarrass those making the knee-jerk accusations?

[4th law of robotics]

21. Pretty douchey to immediately make this in to a political issue

If he had said there was an OWS link based on the same lack of evidence people here would be pretty upset.

[AngryOldDem]

23. Just shows the state of the media in this country anymore.

Pure laziness. You don't make such a bold statement unless you can prove that it's true. Fucking Journalism 101. Just because it's on the Internet doesn't make it so, and reporters such as Ross should know that.

Also, this just feeds into the Right's assertion that there **is** a liberal bias in the media -- so, good job Bri!