It is a rare moment in the mainstream media for a journalist to apologize for their errors, but Diane Sawyer admitted her mistake today for incorrectly saying that Harry Reid was filibustering. Apparently she forgot what the term means, even after all of her years covering Washington. Thankfully she remembered later on and fessed up to her mistake.
From Media Matters:
On the July 19 edition of ABC's Good Morning America, co-host Diane Sawyer apologized for her false assertion -- documented by Media Matters for America -- regarding Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) plan to hold an all-night Senate debate prior to the July 18 cloture vote on a Democratic proposal to withdraw troops from Iraq.
On the July 17 edition of the program, Sawyer said that Reid "vows to filibuster, talking all night to close out all topics besides a vote on Iraqi troop withdrawals." In fact, by extending the Senate session throughout the night, Reid did not "vow to filibuster," as Sawyer reported; rather, he highlighted the Republicans' blocking of an up-or-down vote on the proposal. Indeed, it was the Republicans who opposed the Democrats' effort to end debate on the legislation and move to a simple majority vote. In her on-air statement, Sawyer clarified that Reid had actually "held the all-night debate to protest the threat of a filibuster from the Republicans. ... You wrote me. You were right. I was wrong. I apologize."
Congratulations Diane, I hope your example of honesty will be mirrored by all of your colleagues. Of course, that is probably just wishful thinking on my part. Too bad the trend in traditional media outlets is to screw up and move on.
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