Should Doug Ross pay Matt Gertz the $1,400?

[bluefrog]

Conservative blogger Doug Ross issued a "One Krugerrand Fox News challenge" earlier this week.

...I've got a 1-ounce Krugerrand from my Y2K bunker* (today's spot price: $1,400) waiting for Keith Olbermann or any 'progressive' who can provide me with a documented lie repeated by Fox News reporters.

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Matt Gertz from Media Matters answered:

In response, I pointed out that Fox's reporters had repeatedly claimed that then-Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan had "barred" or "banned" military recruiters from Harvard Law School's campus when she was dean. This was false; while Kagan had briefly banned the school's Office of Career Services from working with military recruiters, she never banned those recruiters from Harvard's campus.

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It seems though it has come down to semantics:

The crux of Ross' position appears to be that the words "banned" and "stonewalled" mean the same thing. They do not. Military recruiters were "stonewalled" by Office of Career Services officials -- they received no help from them. They were not "banned" from campus, as Fox claimed; they could still come on campus, and recruit through the Harvard Law School Veterans Association. Did they receive the same treatment as other recruiters? No -- but that's not what Fox reported. What Fox reported was that they were banned from campus, and that's not true.

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Did Matt Gertz prove that Fox News repeated a lie?

 

[Natebishop3]

Well, if you want to get into semantics, he could also argue the word "Lie". Were they "lying" about the recruits at Harvard? The whole thing is open to debate, and I'm sure that's exactly what the guy wants.

 

[bluefrog]

Well, if you want to get into semantics, he could also argue the word "Lie". Were they "lying" about the recruits at Harvard? The whole thing is open to debate, and I'm sure that's exactly what the guy wants.

True, it's so petty when it gets down to a "poTAYto" vs. "poTAWto" kind of thing. Here are the rules Ross set out:

• Typos don't qualify ("ooh, the news ticker used a 'D' after his name, not an 'R'!").

• The lie must have been reported by at least two Fox News reporters (not analysts, reporters).

• The transcripts and/or video clips must be available on a suitably trustworthy site for verification.

• The real news story, refuting the Fox News lie, must have been correctly reported at around the same time by at least one news reporter from CNN or MSNBC (with similar links and/or transcripts from their sites).

I think Gertz satisfied the spirit of the challenge if not the letter of the challenge.

 

[Ed O]

I don't know if recruiters are allowed onto the campus without help/support, so I don't know if there was a ban or not.

Could I just show up, unannounced, and set up a recruiting station on Harvard Law School's campus? Or would I need to get a permit or some sort of permission?

Ed O.

 

[Natebishop3]

I don't know if recruiters are allowed onto the campus without help/support, so I don't know if there was a ban or not.

Could I just show up, unannounced, and set up a recruiting station on Harvard Law School's campus? Or would I need to get a permit or some sort of permission?

Ed O.

Knowing you, you'd be recruiting college co-eds for dates

 

[Ed O]

Knowing you, you'd be recruiting college co-eds for dates

Yummy! Haha.

Although, to be fair to me, it IS law school we're talking about here.

Ed O.