Still Waiting For Kantor

Last week, USA Today columnist Andrew Kantor attacked blogger Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs in a story meant to highlight the "professionalism" of the mainstream media, while calling into question the ethics and accountability of bloggers.

The problem was, Kantor's attack on Johnson was not grounded in fact. Kantor's shoddy research into the issue was exposed, and I formally asked him for a correction to his USA Today article early Saturday morning.

It is now Monday morning, and Mr. Kantor's USA Today article has gone uncorrected, even though I left a detailed comment on his blog explaining precisely where he made his errors, and asked him for a formal correction shortly before he closed comments.

As a result of the inaction to date, I sent the following email to Mr. Kantor this morning:

Dear Mr. Kantor,

I formally asked you this weekend to ask USA Today to correct the factual inaccuracies in your story that accuses Charles Johnson of “digging up” the story on Editor and Publisher's 2003 column by Greg Mitchell. You have not responded to that request on your blog or in email, and no changes have yet appeared in USA Today.

Do you intent to ask USA Today to make those corrections, or do you intend to let the known inaccuracies in your story stand? Please contact me this morning and let me know if you intend to make these corrections, and if you do not intend to ask USA Today to make those corrections, please let me know why.

I also ask to know whether or not you intend to follow up with Editor and Publisher's Greg Mitchell and Charles McKeown to see what their response to the “stealth” rewrite of Mitchell's 2003 column less than four hours after I linked it, and after two weeks of them refusing to answer questions about that rewrite in any way, shape, or form.

Thank you very much for your time and your (expected) prompt response.

Respectfully,

In addition, I sent a request for correction to USA Today.

Kantor professes to be a professional with "pro principles," and yet his inaccurate article has not be changed more than 48 hours after his inaccuracies and incomplete research were detailed to him precisely. Perhaps Mr. Kantor will eventually get around to updating his misleading column, perhaps not.

The fact remains that this professional journalist, like so many the blogosphere has exposed, is no more accurate than the amateurs he dismisses out of hand.