Defamation by stupidity

On his best days, Atlantic blogger Daniel Indiviglio is a lousy financial news reporter and commentator. Today, he out did himself by jumping the gun when "reporting" on a SEC litigation announcement that "Kenneth Starr" has been charged with running a Ponzi scheme:

 Somewhere, Bill Clinton is smiling. One-time special prosecutor who uncovered the dirty details of the former President's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky has been engaged in some bad behavior of his own, according to the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission.

Correction (~3:18pm): Apparently there are two famous Kenneth Starrs. The one charged is an investment advisor to the stars, but not the former special prosecutor. Apologies to Bill Clinton if we got his hopes up -- and to the other Kenneth Starr.

Moron. It's hard to disagree with the commenter who opined that:

Notice how glib an airheaded Daniel Indiviglio was when he had to admit his defamation-by-stupidity. 

Or the one who observed that:

Next time, try using Google before accusing the wrong guy of committing fraud.

It would seem like the bare minimum.

Comments

[the Cranky Professor]

Effort from a journalist? Puh-leeeeeze.

[Carlos]

If reporters had a professional association akin to the attorney's bar he should be disbarred.

[tim maguire]

Also worth pointing out is that the apology is to Clinton; the person he actually defamed is thrown in only as an afterthought. Not only is Indiviglio stupid and lazy, he is petty and grossly unprofessional.

[comatus]

Know who really is smiling,somewhere?

Emily Litella, that's who.

[John Richardson]

I wonder what Daniel Indiviglio will write when he finds out the North Carolina Department of Revenue is run by Kenneth Lay.

http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/profiles/kenneth_lay

[Jack Olson]

Carlos, when you ask lawyers why their profession has such a terrible reputation, they answer that a tiny corrupt minority is besmirching the good name of the rest. Yet, only one lawyer in 2,000 is permanently disbarred each year and it takes four years--more time than it takes to go to law school--to disbar a corrupt or incompetent attorney. Are reporters any less mutually protective than lawyer?

[setnaffa]

Seems like he was following the President's pattern ("The Cambridge Police acted stupidly, oops, let's have a beer")...

[Boomer]

With all due respect to Carlos, I happen to disagree. I don't believe Indiviglio should be disbarred.

I think the mf should be publicly caned.

[kcom]

"It would seem like the bare minimum."

Well said.

You'd think he'd wonder when and how Kenneth Starr, a lawyer and prosecutor and judge, suddenly got into the investment brokerage business. You'd think he would have checked that out. But, as they say, it was a story too good to check and it dovetailed too neatly into a story he really, really wanted to write. Even his correction was lame. It wasn't really an apology to Ken Starr as much as one to Bill Clinton. A poor showing all around.

[Arty]

"If reporters had a professional association akin to the attorney's bar he should be disbarred."
Posted by: Carlos | 05/28/2010 at 08:15 AM

Reporting is a profession in the same sense that prostitution is.

[PatHMV]

I think the correction itself is idiotically phrased, from a legal standpoint. While I doubt Starr would bother with a defamation suit, the profound lack of grace and evident lack of remorse shown by apologizing first to Clinton and only then to "the other Starr," as if an afterthought, would seem to be evidence of actual malice. Certainly it indicates a state of mind which might lead a person to run a story with "reckless disregard for the truth."

Maybe one day a few folks like Starr WILL actually take the trouble to bring defamation claims, when the evidence for them is pretty strong, as here, and more of these so-called "journalists" will learn to be just a bit more careful.

[Rick Zalon]

This is what you get when a craft such as journalism recasts itself as a "profession:" a monoculture of third-rate intellects with second-rate degrees from first-class universities without the skills, life experience or respect for truth and accuracy to provide anything of value to consumers.

[Forrest]

It's all about the narrative, don't let any facts get in the way. Propaganda is best served without facts.

[MikeK]

If reporters had a professional association akin to the attorney's bar, he would never have passed it.

There, FIFY

[Kevin]

What's even funnier is that the accused Kenneth Starr was clearly identified as an investment advisor, whereas the other Kenneth Starr is, you know, the Dean of Pepperdine's Law School. Somehow that didn't seem to register with 'Viglio McDumbass.

[Shelby]

Reporting is a profession in the same sense that prostitution is.

The problem for the pros, of course, is that when amateurs are so enthusiastically willing to compete, it's much harder to justify getting paid. Prostitutes seem to be far behind the curve in seeking protection as a licensed guild.

[JimT]

Arty:

My mother, a journalist for Hearst in the '20s, always referred to reporting as the second-oldest profession.

[Bababooey]

I don't think he's reporting, he's blogging.