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Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher Explains Reporting Of Weinergate Sources ‘Betty’ and ‘Veronica’

by Tommy Christopher | 11:44 pm, June 19th, 2011

» 44 comments

Since the revelation Friday that the sources known as “Betty,” “Veronica,” and “Mrs. Betty” are not who they represented themselves to be, a lot of questions, speculations, and criticisms have arisen. As the reporter who broke the story, vigorously defended it, and helped to discover the deception, it’s reasonable for people to expect some answers to those things. While I don’t have a lot to add to what we published on Friday, I will do my best to apply that information to these questions, speculations, and criticisms.

Two weeks ago, we ran a story that contained statements from two 16 year-old girls, who we dubbed “Betty” and Veronica” to protect their identities. The story also included comments and a statement from “Betty’s” mother. On Friday, we detailed the steps that I took to verify the information these sources gave to me, which included independently verified documentation, telephone conversations with Betty’s mother, extensive email contacts, and photo identification for all three sources, which I checked against available information. The photos of the girls were consistent with, but not identical to, those on available social media profiles, the address on the mother’s driver’s license was not fictitious, and was consistent with the school district listed on the girls’ student IDs.

The main thrust of the story was that Rep. Weiner had not made inappropriate contact with “Betty,” and that Andrew Breitbart was not guilty of engineering a hoax against Weiner. Both of these things are still true.

Shortly after the story’s publication, however, suspicions arose about the identities that these people had given me. I continued to follow up with these sources, but after several days, they broke off contact with me. At the time, without evidence to the contrary, I continued to investigate, but also acted publicly upon the belief that these were minor children, at risk of harm. As conservative blogger Ace of Spades notes, this is still a distinct possibility, so while I am comfortable publishing the fact that their real-life IDs didn’t pan out, I still feel a duty to exercise caution.

It is from that duty that much of the criticism and speculation about my actions on this story springs. One component of the original Betty & Veronica story was Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas’ refusal to redact identifying information of what we both believed to be two minor children (and who still might be), an act that I went at him pretty hard for.

Within an hour of Friday’s publication of this new information, I got the following email from Moulitsas:

How’s that crow taste?

Told you it was fishy. How’s it feel to be played?

Publish this email.

I reviewed our emails, and Moulitsas never expressed any doubt that these were two minor children when he refused to redact their information. Now, it is true that, in my desire to protect these kids, I reacted emotionally to Moulitsas, and at other times since the publication of this story. Is it possible that my bias as a parent played some role? The SPJ Code of Ethics instructs journalists to “minimize harm,” and to show “special sensitivity when dealing with children,” so I would like to think that all journalists would take this as seriously as I do, but if that is not the case, I’ll plead no contest to that charge.

Secondarily, until I had evidence they were lying, I had an ethical duty to my sources to adhere to the attribution and publication guidelines we had agreed to. There are still supporting facts and documents that, for ethical reasons, I’m not at liberty to share. I mention this because some of my loudest critics have demanded that I reveal things (by virtue of off-the-record conversations) that they know I cannot.

There are also some who have been put off by my criticisms of some of the coverage of this story, as it relates to the journalistic process, particularly on Twitter (while it should be self-evident, by the way, my tweets are my own personal observations, and do not represent the views of this site). To the best of my recollection, I stand by those criticisms. I followed that process, and I’m satisfied with the result. The material facts in the original story remain unchanged, and that process led to our current understanding of the story, and will hopefully lead to even more clarity.

One particularly galling criticism has been the notion that I “refused to re-investigate” the Betty & Veronica story, made, in some cases, by people who knew for a fact that this was not true. I never stopped investigating the story, but I also don’t believe in the type of “open source” journalism that has been so prevalent in this story. Publishing every thought, document, and theory that pops into your head may have some short-term benefits, but it also carries risks that I find unacceptable, and can undermine the long-term prospects of a story.

Even now, bloggers are publishing “leads” to the identity of “Betty,” without regard to how that might affect an otherwise innocent person. While a compelling circumstantial pattern is a good place to begin a story, it doesn’t equal a good news story. This open source approach to journalism is appealing in an egalitarian sense, but if every 100 of these speculations turns out to be accurate for every one Richard Jewell, that’s an unacceptable ratio.

Anthony Weiner, Markos Moulitsas, Richard Jewell, Tommy Christopher

Hall Phillip Walker

Tommy Christopher wrote:
“The SPJ Code of Ethics instructs journalists to “minimize harm,”
I’m guessing the SPJ code also says “don’t publicly attack people based on misinformation” or something similar? Because you failed to follow that guideline. Accusing people of child endangerment can certainly be harmful when such an allegation is not true.

You owe Moulitsas and everyone else you attacked over this a public apology. You called him a “child hating piece of shit” and criticized other liberals & dems for not joining you in attacking him or failing to distance themselves from him. And there were no children involved.
There’s no “there” there and never was.

“Is it possible that my bias as a parent played some role?”
Please.
Playing the “concerned parent” card to justify playing “gotcha” is beneath you. Or it should be.
turk281

Hall Phillip Walker said:
Tommy Christopher wrote:
“The SPJ Code of Ethics instructs journalists to “minimize harm,”
I’m guessing the SPJ code also says “don’t publicly attack people based on misinformation” or something similar? Because you failed to follow that guideline. Accusing people of child endangerment can certainly be harmful when such an allegation is not true.

You owe Moulitsas and everyone else you attacked over this a public apology. You called him a “child hating piece of shit” and criticized other liberals & dems for not joining you in attacking him or failing to distance themselves from him. And there were no children involved.
There’s no “there” there and never was.

“Is it possible that my bias as a parent played some role?”
Please.
Playing the “concerned parent” card to justify playing “gotcha” is beneath you. Or it should be.

He doesn’t owe Moulitsas sh*t.

At the time all supporting evidence was pointing to those girls(?) being underage. That includes ID’s and other documents.

Once it’s been brought to ones attention that the personal info of possible underage children is posted on a blog that you run, the only decent thing to do is redact.

You don’t keep it up there until it can be disproved. Forget about ethics, it’s the only decent thing to do. It doesn’t matter to Markos because the ends always justify the means to him. He’s proven that by constantly printing rumors and innuendo as fact.
AmericaSucks

Tommy: You need a wee edit here, because paragraph 2 begins, “Two weeks ago, we ran a story that contained statements from two 16 year-old girls…” Since you now know that they WEREN’T 16, you should edit to that effect: “…we ran a story that contained statements from two people claiming to be 16-year-old girls…,” or something along those lines.
slickerwick

Moulitsas, judging from his email to you and his role in this, sounds like a real dick. But anyone who is familiar with his m.o. knows that already.
Prom Night Dumpster Baby

I think it’s great that someone in the media today stood up and refused to act like slime in an attempt to get a scoop. Commendations.

Suggesting Markos hated children just because he was being a typical slimy reporter that would get the story no matter who may be collateral…. a bit much. But “piece of s&*%” was warranted.
http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

“The main thrust of the story was that Rep. Weiner had not made inappropriate contact with “Betty,”

How do you know that?

I still don’t understand how Betty and Veronica fit into the whole thing. Were they invented to trap Weiner, or what? If they were, why did the statements completely defend Weiner?

Did TC write their statements? Per that radio show with Stranahan, he said TC hinted that he wrote the statements based on numerous convos with Betty’s family.

If he did, that might explain the inconsistencies in this scenario.

If they were intending to set up Weiner, they weren’t supporting Weiner with their statements because TC wrote their statements….?

Someone anonymously posted this on Ace’s site, in the comment section. It sure seems like the kind of *evidence* B&V claimed to have on Weiner – private DMs about girls and Weiner.

http://www.shareimages.com/image.php?58429-rJuWmpeek5.pnpyVnKs-gennette_weiner.jpg
gar

slickerwick said:
Moulitsas, judging from his email to you and his role in this, sounds like a real dick. But anyone who is familiar with his m.o. knows that already.

And I guess reading the liar Christopher’s tweets with the salty language makes him an angel. At least Moulitsas doesn’t hide what a dirtbag he is. Still haven’t answered who schooled the girls on their responses to Tommy. Why is Tommy protecting liars? Because it’s Tommy or somebody Tommy knows. If it isn’t Tommy then he didn’t exercise his due diligence and comes off as a crass hack blogger which I already knew.
Pablo

How did this story come to be? Whoever this person/people are they came to you and lied to you, is that right, Tommy?
BatBoy

Gotta get those stories out fast…Facts to come later.
Bodhi

It amazes me how many of times Tommy has made stories that he is “covering” about himself.
david r

This is about as stale as the T-shirt stories. Judging by that photo, if fashion law is ever adopted, Tommy will get a life sentence without hope of parole.
http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

Comment from Lee and Ace sites:

My prior post stuck in “moderation limbo” for too many links, I think.
So “seattle545? posted 5 links of supposed cached twtter exchanges. It’s early…so anyone want to figure out if this is a ruse or ?
http://patterico.com/2011/06/20/betty-veronica-solved/comment-page-1/#comment-806864

that looks like Gennette is Betty and Veronica. She was working with Weiner to throw people off the trail, or something (or get more twitter followers? hha) ? They were working together to dismiss rumors that he was tweeting with girls/women…

If those DM’s are real, that’s exactly what that looks like.

That would explain the B&V statements of denial – they were coming from Gennette or Weiner.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Dronetek-Bulk-Vanderhuge/100000918732763 Dronetek

Cripes you’re a creepy looking dude.
BatBoy

Bodhi said:
It amazes me how many of times Tommy has made stories that he is “covering” about himself.

His theme song ==> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH9Y5Wnn4hM
Cecelia

It seems to me that what Mrs. Betty, Betty, and Veronica said exonerated Weiner.

The girls talked about how they had been stalked, pressured, and harassed by the conservatives who had been monitoring Weiner’s twitter account. Mrs. Betty made a point of defending Weiner’s friending of the stripper by saying that her family followed her too because the site dealt with the stripper’s battle with lupus.

Mrs. Betty also went to emphasized that her daughter’s contacts with Rep Weiner were wholesome and rigorously monitored by she and her husband.

In order to put forth the information that Weiner was cordial but professional with underaged followers, Betty and Veronica HAD to say that they had personal twitter contact with him. After that the story then turned to how these underaged girls had been inappropriately contacted and harassed by the conservatives Patriot and company.
http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

sarainitaly said:
Comment from Lee and Ace sites:

I mean Patterico, not Ace.

http://patterico.com/2011/06/20/betty-veronica-solved/comment-page-1/#comment-806864
http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

Dronetek said:
Cripes you’re a creepy looking dude.

be nice. don’t be like those mean trolls.
brownsound

david r said:
This is about as stale as the T-shirt stories. Judging by that photo, if fashion law is ever adopted, Tommy will get a life sentence without hope of parole.

I didn’t know the WH had a troll
slickerwick

Dronetek said:
Cripes you’re a creepy looking dude.

He’s kind of cutsey, in a Little Rascals-Our Gang kind of way.
Hey, Tommy–say hi to Alfalfa, Darla and the gang.
david r

brownsound said:
I didn’t know the WH had a troll

Didn’t mean for it to sound so harsh. Tommy and Frances are my favorite writers on this site.
Cecelia

david r said:
Didn’t mean for it to sound so harsh. Tommy and Frances are my favorite writers on this site.

Me too, though I rarely agree with Tommy.
LOGICandREASON

Hey Tommy, was that a Ward Coat you had on or a white suit?

Frankly the first thing that came to mind when I took a first glimpse at your photo, was the photo-op with physicians at the lawn of the White House during the period of the healthcare debates. The photo made you look more like Tommy Christopher M.D.

http://www.nypost.com/f/mobile/news/politics/item_KOV0zdZCzeTSczGWcTVsyK

Your tie looks good by the way.

Weinergate is an old story methinks, but perhaps you felt obliged to clear the air on the ‘Betty’ and ‘Veronica’ issue. I can understand that.

Greetings!
Cecelia

sarainitaly said:
http://www.shareimages.com/image.php?58429-rJuWmpeek5.pnpyVnKs-gennette_weiner.jpg

Man! I hope that girl has gained some insight into people through this ordeal, because goodness knows she needs it.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ryan-Witt/100001002047975 Ryan Witt

I can accept a journalist who makes mistakes. If you cover stories long enough it is bound to happen. What I cannot accept is a “journalist” who is unwilling to admit his mistakes, or one that shamelessly tries to cover up his mistakes after the fact. Any half-objectionable can see that this is exactly what is going on here.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Marjorie-Hall-Snook/1034797975 Marjorie Hall Snook

I call BS on this. I contacted you over Twitter and told you that my own investigations (I am a professional researcher) indicated that these girls were NOT minors, that they were 20 years old. You showed ZERO interest in what I said, and just kept insisting that they were minors. Sure, you don’t know me from Adam, but you didn’t seem at all interested in evidence of a fraud, and simply barreled on libeling Moulitsas.
http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

Marjorie Hall Snook said:
I call BS on this. I contacted you over Twitter and told you that my own investigations (I am a professional researcher) indicated that these girls were NOT minors, that they were 20 years old. You showed ZERO interest in what I said, and just kept insisting that they were minors. Sure, you don’t know me from Adam, but you didn’t seem at all interested in evidence of a fraud, and simply barreled on libeling Moulitsas.

there was a post on Daily Kos about that, but they were reportedly not the right girls. Now it has been revealed that they don’t even exist. TC was aware of the theory that they were 20, he didn’t believe it. He believed them to be minors, but you were both wrong, being that they are fake people.
tatboy

Markos is the lowest of low to risk what at the time he thought were underage girl to score political points. He will stoop to the lowest of the low. He is bile.
OxyCon

Tommy…you really screwed this entire story up! You shouldn’t have named the girls “Betty” and “Veronica”. You should have named them “Daphne” and “Velma” because this whole story is like a Scooby Doo mystery. Jinkies! =P
OxyCon

LOGICandREASON said:
Hey Tommy, was that a Ward Coat you had on or a white suit?

Frankly the first thing that came to mind when I took a first glimpse at your photo, was the photo-op with physicians at the lawn of the White House during the period of the healthcare debates. The photo made you look more like Tommy Christopher M.D.

http://www.nypost.com/f/mobile/news/politics/item_KOV0zdZCzeTSczGWcTVsyK

Your tie looks good by the way.

Weinergate is an old story methinks, but perhaps you felt obliged to clear the air on the ‘Betty’ and ‘Veronica’ issue. I can understand that.

Greetings!

There’s a bit of a tradition for men to wear light colored seersucker suits in Washington during the summer months. I think that’s a good photo of Tommy and it looks like he’s alot leaner, which is a good thing.
Harry Flashman

Meh.

You were had. Simple. And not your fault.

Many, many other reporters would have run with this story with less verification. I’m not always your biggest fan, Tommy, butb in this case it looks like you were operating in good faith, which is more than many out there can say, including “Kos”. Who, by the way, doesn’t know the meaning of “good faith” and slings accusation and innuendo around as fact n a regular basis.

His opinion in this matter is worthless.

By the way, your criticisms of the story were valid, whether the story turned out to be based on fact or not. You called it as presented.

Stick to standing on principle. It’s easier in the long run and that person looking back at you from your shaving mirror will like you a lot better.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Catherine-Coy/1207016798 Catherine Coy

So, Tommy Christopher, you’re the jeernalist who broke this “story?” Congratulations. I hope you enjoy your position at the bottom of the steaming garbage heap of so called “reporters” who have nothing better to do than tattle about people’s sexual pecadilloes. BFD. If I was you, I’d rather commit ritual suicide than look in the mirror every morning to face yet another day as a muckraker, hell bent on destroying high profile people for nothing more than ratings or to draw attention to your own insignificant puny life.

Adolescent Anthony is no role model, to be sure, but moral transgressions are not the exclusive province of any political party, profession, religion, race, gender, nationality, income level, social status or lifestyle. Our malicious media bask in, exacerbate, and promote public humiliation for profit, entice us along for the ride, and we gleefully jump on board to enjoy the show. While we’re taken for a ride, the press waves the First Amendment in one hand to distract attention from its own questionable practices like deliberately suppressing vital facts that people need to make important decisions, manipulating public opinion, paying shoddy sources for information, repeating stories from tabloid gossip sites without fact checking, etc. Arnold, Maria, The Woman and her Child and now Anthony Weiner and his pregnant wife are just the latest lives reduced to junk food and fed to the crowd, bit by bit, like colored jellybeans. We gorge ourselves on others’ pain and move on—each time a little less human than we were before.

“Tiger Woods’ marital woes were GREAT for Yahoo’s bottom line.” ~Carol Bartz, CEO, Yahoo
http://www.facebook.com/people/Marjorie-Hall-Snook/1034797975 Marjorie Hall Snook

“TC was aware of the theory that they were 20, he didn’t believe it. He believed them to be minors, but you were both wrong, being that they are fake people.”

Clearly they are not ‘fake’ people. It wasn’t androids typing those twitter messages.
gar

Hate to disagree with you Harry but can you find any credibility with this?
”That is some coincidence, to be sure, and one that hasn’t been explained by Weiner or Ms. Cordova, and it was the piece of circumstantiality that gave me the most pause. The tweet itself isn’t that difficult to explain, if anyone could get to ask Weiner to his face about it. For example, Weiner is a famously ardent Yankees fan, and his beloved team was playing in Seattle on Friday. Cordova’s retweet would be the natural reaction of a fan to a mention of her hometown.”
First off, Weiner is a Met fan. Even then Tommy stuck with his moronic theories. Truth is he wanted an angle to stick it to Breitbart or some conservative bloggers. His BS got thrown back in his face and when he figured out he was in deep shit he threw in an article showing support for Breitbart. That happened after 4 days of silence.
He’s a liberal hack blogger who’s always looking to stir the pot by making individuals defend themselves for no wrong doing. This helps deflect from the poor job this administration has done. Don’t you get tired of defending whether you’re a racist because you disagree with this president? This POS Christopher CONSTANTLY puts out articles that attack on race versus substance. So give Tommy props,most of us Know exactly the kind of scum he is.
gar

slickerwick said:
He’s kind of cutsey, in a Little Rascals-Our Gang kind of way.Hey, Tommy–say hi to Alfalfa, Darla and the gang.

More like Cluricaun.
Harry Flashman

Catherine Coy said:

“If I was you, I’d rather commit ritual suicide than look in the mirror every morning to face yet another day as a muckraker, hell bent on destroying high profile people for nothing more than ratings or to draw attention to your own insignificant puny life.”

My, my…..

I strongly suspect Ms. Coy to be a fan of Mr. Weiner or, at the very least, a far left ideologue whose balloon popped a little louder than many others when the indefensible was clearly shown to be, well, indefensible. Mt. Holier-Than-Thou has rocky slopes when you’re tumbling down them.

I’m not in the habit of defending Tommy Christopher – he’s capable of that himself even when he’s wrong – but in this case I don’t see where reporting on a subject that every single news agency and tabloid in the English speaking world was also reporting on, and then getting taken with a deliberate falsehood complete with documentation, justifies the huge steaming pile of bitter indignation Ms. Coy is heaving in his direction.
http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

Marjorie Hall Snook said:
“TC was aware of the theory that they were 20, he didn’t believe it. He believed them to be minors, but you were both wrong, being that they are fake people.”

Clearly they are not ‘fake’ people. It wasn’t androids typing those twitter messages.

they were aliases. Nikki and Marianela are fake names for people that do not exist.

It’s a comment section, not a school term paper.

Do you have anything of value to contribute?
http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

Catherine Coy said:
If I was you, I’d rather commit ritual suicide than look in the mirror every morning to face yet another day as a muckraker, hell bent on destroying high profile people for nothing more than ratings or to draw attention to your own insignificant puny life.

wow. keeping it civil, i see.
winning

I believe that Tommy was easily suckered as a result of his eagerness to make himself part of the story. The saga of Betty and Veronica stunk from the beginning, right down to Betty’s mom claiming she knew about all of her teenage daughter’s online activity. That comment alone should have tipped off anyone with even a hint of logical reasoning that what was being sold was not real.
Cecelia

winning said:
The saga of Betty and Veronica stunk from the beginning, right down to Betty’s mom claiming she knew about all of her teenage daughter’s online activity. That comment alone should have tipped off anyone with even a hint of logical reasoning that what was being sold was not real.

The earnest bit about how the Betty family was following Ginger Lee’s travails together has to be the funniest moment in the whole charade!
Cecelia

Catherine Coy said:
Arnold, Maria, The Woman and her Child and now Anthony Weiner and his pregnant wife are just the latest lives reduced to junk food and fed to the crowd, bit by bit, like colored jellybeans. We gorge ourselves on others’ pain and move on—each time a little less human than we were before.

“Tiger Woods’ marital woes were GREAT for Yahoo’s bottom line.” ~Carol Bartz, CEO, Yahoo

Where’s the love for Chris Lee, Catherine?
Tedderman

Though it may appear T.C. looks more like “Jughead” now, Marcos Moulitsas looks like a complete cartoon character himself. While I’ve never had a great deal of respect for Mr. Moulitsas and I question if he is indeed the biological father of his own children,he’s shown his true colors here anyway. T.C. on the other hand had nothing but the highest standards and ethics on full review when he wound up in what must have seemed like the journalistic equivalent of the movie “Inception.” But with all the references to those with names of cartoons characters, it seems only fitting, we bid this whole Weiner story a farewell with an old goodbye, “see you in the funny papers.”
Prom Night Dumpster Baby

Also just a stupid observation: white suit, great, very Lex Luthor. That tie? Ugh, Color Me Badd 90′s style. And no more pink shirts, we are beyond that as a society.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Catherine-Coy/1207016798 Catherine Coy

Harry Flashman (and other idealogues) wrote: I strongly suspect Ms. Coy to be a fan of Mr. Weiner or, at the very least, a far left ideologue whose balloon popped a little louder than many others when the indefensible was clearly shown to be, well, indefensible. Mt. Holier-Than-Thou has rocky slopes when you’re tumbling down them.

I object to jeernalism of personal destruction of members of EITHER PARTY. Every politician, sports personality, entertainer or other high profile person who has been victiized by members of today’s jeernalism has my sympathy.

Don’t know Mr. Weiner. Didn’t vote for him, either. However, the Weiner incident would not have been a scandal if media had no made it so–aided and abetted by Andrew Breitbart and other scandalmongers of his ilk–for nothing more than sensationalism and drawing eyeballs to garish headlines. It’s none of our business, as Chris Lee’s behavior is none of our business, as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s indiscretions are none of our business, as no one’s sexual behavior is any of our business. If any of these elected representatives were engaged in graft or other criminalitythat actually affected me, I’d be grateful for Timothy Christopher’s efforts, but that’s not what happened. Sniffing inside someone’s tent is so icky, especially when half the world is sexting–even the married sexters.

Aren’t you yet sick of sexual “scandals” when there’s so much more important business to attend to?
koam

Except that NYT & Mediaite reporters on this story, who previously assumed that “Betty & Veronica” were anti-Weiner (and reported their assumptions as facts) now concede that they don’t know “Betty & Veronica’s” motivations. The “girls” turned out to be rabidly pro-Weiner…see first Mediaite piece. Almost so pro-Weiner that you’d think Weiner himself had written their statements.

http://patterico.com/2011/06/21/journalists-christopher-and-preston-finally-admit-they-dont-know-a-thing/