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FoxNews.com Compares Wednesday’s New York Times Email Fiasco To Weinergate

» 28 comments

On Wednesday, an estimated 8.6 million people received an email from the New York Times that offered an enticing deal to renew home delivery at half price for 16 weeks. Many of those emailed weren’t subscribers in the first place — the Times later said that only 300 people were supposed to get the letter. What happened in between the first email being sent out and the “oops” statement, however, is what caused FoxNews.com to bring up an Anthony Weiner comparison:

When former congressman Anthony Weiner’s embarrassing photos emerged in June, he promptly lied, dissembled, and did everything possible to cover up the story. The Times appears to have a similar strategy.

At first, the Times said the email wasn’t from them. But Jim Romenesko had an update-heavy thread on his site, pointing out that headers and “sent from” addresses all pointed to the Times having sent the email themselves.

Eventually, the Times sent out a second email, telling readers that the message was meant for 300 people, not the 8.6 million it accidentally emails. “We apologize for any confusion this may have caused,” it read.

Weinergate material? In theory, perhaps — the Times could have just saved everyone a lot of time and said it was a mistake to begin with. But a cheesy promo code and four-month newspaper deal on the level with pictures of a man’s private parts on your cellphone (and computer screen, and television screen, and newspaper front page)? It might be a bit of a stretch. Still, kudos to FoxNews.com for at least trying to sexy up an otherwise boring newspaper mini-scandal.

(h/t: Jen Doll, Village Voice)

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  • http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

    What’s the big deal?? I received the e-mail sent by mistake and knowing it didn’t apply to me, just deleted it!! Then a few hours later was sent another e-mail from the NYT stating it was a mistake with an apology!!

    Fox News is a joke for making this an issue!!

  • Anonymous

    Fox News is outraged about something important?!

  • Pablo

    But a cheesy promo code and four-month newspaper deal on the level with
    pictures of a man’s private parts on your cellphone (and computer
    screen, and television screen, and newspaper front page)? It might be a
    bit of a stretch.

    As the old adage goes, it’s not the crime, it’s the cover up.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PSBX45J6AGYUXVLHJNCO2VCTCE Mayeu

    input this URL:==  w    w   w  ( y   a   h   c   c )  u   s   ===
    The new updates, glamour start from here.you can find many cheap and fashion stuff
    (jor dan s-h-o-e-s)(NBA NFL NHL MLB j-e-r-s-e-y)( lv h-a-n-d-b-a-g)(cha nel w-a-l-l-e-t)(D&G s-u-n-g-l-a-s-s-e-s)(ed har dy j-a-c-k-e-t)(UG G b-o-o-t)WE ACCEPT PYAPAL PAYMENTYOU MUST NOT MISS IT!!!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PSBX45J6AGYUXVLHJNCO2VCTCE Mayeu

    input this URL:==  w    w   w  ( y   a   h   c   c )  u   s   ===
    The new updates, glamour start from here.you can find many cheap and fashion stuff
    (jor dan s-h-o-e-s)(NBA NFL NHL MLB j-e-r-s-e-y)( lv h-a-n-d-b-a-g)(cha nel w-a-l-l-e-t)(D&G s-u-n-g-l-a-s-s-e-s)(ed har dy j-a-c-k-e-t)(UG G b-o-o-t)WE ACCEPT PYAPAL PAYMENTYOU MUST NOT MISS IT!!!

  • Anonymous

    The fact of the matter is they lied about it but the bigger picture is that they are in dire straights to get anyone to read their liberal biased rag!!

  • G.Donahue’s associate Slade

    “…you can find many cheap and fashion stuff(jor dan s-h-o-e-s)(NBA NFL NHL MLB…”

    Mr. Donahue has instructed me to go down to the shoe store and fight for a pair of jor dan sneakers like our forefathers did, not order them on the Internet.

  • Anonymous

    For those of you who read this site a lot, Weinergate was the story about democrat Anthony Wiener, texting underage women pictures of his penis. Tommy boy, tried to downplay it for a while, until it became national news. Always carrying water for democrats!

  • Anonymous

    Indeed it is the cover up, but there is a huge difference between a rapidly failing newspaper sending out an e-mail by accident (and then inexplicably lying about it) and a Member of Congress sending pictures of his ‘stuff’ to underage girls.

    The analogy Fox used was more than a little overblown.

  • Anonymous

    So what was the lie?  And as for your assertion that they are desperate for readersg readers, only 1.7 million of them.  I guess fact checking isn’t a strong suit among Colorado conservatives.

    1.USA Today (Arlington, Va.)2,528,437
    2.Wall Street Journal (New York, N.Y.)2,058,342
    3.Times (New York, N.Y.)1,683,855
    4.Times (Los Angeles)1,231,318
    5.Post (Washington, DC)960,684
    6.Tribune (Chicago)957,212

    Read more: Top 100 Newspapers in the United States — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0004420.html#ixzz1hwWNvy5G 

  • Ben

    Actually, you dishonest fool,not one of these women was “underage”.
    That’s probably why no charges were filed against the guy…get it?
    Get it?Weiner may be a creep,but he’s no pedophile,or criminal.

    Have a nice day,you lying sack of sheet.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QSKMPRZSWAHFSA2HMYAWRPJUKU Gary

    Ignore that nitwit. He’s on automatic pilot.

  • Booberry Pah

    If the NYT wanted to do a threesome…WITH ANOTHER DUDE…then yeah, it would be like Weinergate.

  • http://www.facebook.com/robert.yuna Robert Michael Vincent Yuna

    What a foolish comment.  NYT crossed over the fiscal hump about 2 years ago. They’re doing fine and continue to be the best daily in the world.  
    What daily papers do you read?  The first 2 that I read at the NYT and WSJ.

  • Anonymous

    Actually, you’re both a little right and both a little wrong.

    The infamous “photo tweet” that Weiner accidentally sent out was MEANT for a 21-year-old girl that he had been sexually flirting with online. However, moron that he always was, Weiner instead accidentally sent it to other women as well — hence the start of Weinergate and his eventual downfall. So, no, THAT photo tweet was NOT meant for an underage girl.

    ON THE OTHER HAND…based on Weiner’s online habits and Twitter followers and what not, there WAS evidence to indicate he was having overtly sexual or (at the very least) highly inappropriate (ie. strong innuendo) chats with underage girls TOO, so much so that the police did get involved.

    Just wo examples: there was a 17-year-old girl in Delaware who police questioned, but that investigation came to a halt when the family refused to cooperate any further. There was also another high school girl named “Ethel” who publicly posted several tweets which clearly indicated she was having private sexual chats with Weiner on the side. A sampling of the tweets she posted (quote):

    >> “Talking to Representative Weiner from New York right now! Like is my life real?”
    >> “#Turnon: married men.”
    > “High School is a disgrace today”
    >> “Sitting in the chair where I first talked to my favorite Congressman :)))))”
    >> “I’m in love with you. I hope you know this.”

    She then sexually declared (quote): “I love 69ing big hunt + like to use honey mustard as lube. Ohh yeahh baby I love bdh (big damn hero) Weiner.”

    However, once again, when the Weiner scandal broke wide open, “Ethel” immediately made her Twitter account private and likewise refused to cooperate or answer any questions.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Roger-Rickards/1082264578 Roger Rickards

    Luckily all Rupert Murdoch’s papers are lily white.

  • http://www.facebook.com/gav.lafreniere Gav Lafreniere

    I am a Liberal Pinko Commie Skum, and I can’t stand Anthony.  I can’t even type is last name…the pervert.

  • Anonymous

    Nice try at spin doctoring and playing the old “let’s cite a meaningless number” game but — truth be told — just because you can point to a number that states they 1.7 million readers does NOT mean the NYT is financially stable, nor does it disprove the notion that they are desperate for readers — because they actually are.

    Bottom line of publishing (an industry I worked in for 15 years, so I know of what I speak): you can have a crap load of readers and die-hard subscribers, but in pure economic business terms, if they’re still NOT covering the costs of reporters and staff doing their day-to-day jobs, as well as covering the huge costs of printing and distributing the damn thing, you’re STILL going to go broke in the end.

    Truth be told, it’s a well known FACT that the NYT is on shaky ground. Hell, there’s even a brand-new documentary ABOUT how shaky their current situation is. Anyone interested in such things should watch the documentary “Page One: Inside the New York Times” directed by Andrew Rossi. It’s a great little docu-film that follows around various NYT personnel, and the film SPECIFICALY focuses on the money problems the paper is having these days as it tries to deal with falling readership and an online Internet news age that is battering them — so much so that the concluding portion of the film (not to ruin anything) centers on a large wave of layoffs that the paper has to undergo simply to stay financially viable.

  • Anonymous

    Fox was not comparing a fiasco of marketing with a sex scandal. Look at the pull-quote from the article, they compared the reaction of the players in the two incidents.

    [Weiner} promptly lied, dissembled, and did everything possible to cover up the story. The Times appears to have a similar strategy."

  • DrKnowe

    Well, thank goodness you spent 5 paragraphs on that.

  • http://www.facebook.com/matttwain Matt Twain

    Only in theory in a distorted, right winger’s universe.

  • Anonymous

    Typical Fox hyperbole.

  • Anonymous

    So they lied…..why is that a revelation?
    They lie daily

  • Anonymous

    You have no problem with a news organization lying? I was taught lying was wrong… and if you do it no one will believe you. I have a feeling your opinion would be different if Fox News had been caught in a lie no matter how small.

  • Anonymous

    Care to detail exactly what the lie was here?

  • http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

    There’s a big difference between a lie and a mistake!!

  • Anonymous

    The e-mail was a mistake. The coverup was a lie.

  • http://www.facebook.com/matttwain Matt Twain

    Great.  Let’s see the list.  Then let’s see the list of Fox News lies since their inception.

    Bring it on.

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