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Controversies
journalismism
LAT Tupac Hoax Story Author Gone
Chuck Philips, the LA Times reporter who wrote a huge front page story in March tying Puff Daddy to the shooting of Tupac Shakur—only to find out that this main source was a serial con man and the story was wrong—has been laid off from the paper, along with 150 colleagues. On one hand, Philips once won a Pulitzer; on the other hand, he tended to write things that turned out not to be true. Perhaps journalism's just not his field. Pinkberry franchisee maybe? He'll find something. [MTV News]
kevin powell
The Real World: Congress
Is America ready for a Real World cast member to serve in Congress? Don't worry, it's just Kevin, from season one! Back then Kevin Powell was sporting a high top and being the serious guy in the New York house with Heather B and the southern girl and the model guy and the other guy. Now, Powell has shaved his head and declared his candidacy for Congress from Brooklyn. And if young people can't relate to this guy, all hope for political engagement is lost. Observe Powell's stellar set of pop culture credentials: More »
LA Times Tupac Reporter To Stay
Despite retraction: "A spokeswoman for the newspaper said [Chuck] Philips, a Pulitzer Prize winner, would remain with the newspaper as an investigative reporter. She would not comment on whether any disciplinary measures had been taken." [Times]
embarrassing
On Pulitzer Day, A Retraction For The LA Times
It had already apologized, but now the LA Times has formally retracted its story about how producer Puff Daddy knew in advance that rapper Tupac Shakur would be gunned down in 1994. The paper retracted not only the story but statements from two chats and a blog post. The article is coming off the website. Specific names are formally cleared (lawyers were obviously involved in the writing of this thing). The worst part? The retraction and publicity around it come on the day Pulitzer prizes are set to be announced at noon. Some are already predicting a shut out for the paper.
journalismism
LAT's Tupac Hoax Reporter Has Documented (Ha) Issues
What time is it? Time to pile on the LA Times for its fictitious Tupac shooting story! When one of the nation's top four papers (or, one that once held that position) splashes an investigative story this big that turns out to be based on forged evidence from a lifelong con man, you can expect a lot of tsk-tsking from the journalism establishment. But actually the reaction has been pretty muted. The reason: most reporters know deep down that they could be done in by fake documents just as easily. Slate's Jack Shafer has a rather gentle column today on what LAT reporter Chuck Philips could have done differently—mainly, don't trust con men, and always vet your documents. Your sympathy for Philips (those were convincing forgeries, after all) might be diminished, though, by this quote he gave in a recent web chat, defending his 2002 story that alleged that Biggie "Christopher Wallace" Smalls was involved in Tupac's murder—he sure was sensitive about forged documents back then: More »
Burn
The LA Times has now apologized for its story last week asserting that Puff Daddy knew in advance about the 1994 shooting and robbery of Tupac Shakur. It looked bad since The Smoking Gun ran its debunking of the Times' evidence yesterday, but this was a very quick collapse of a very big story. The paper's own investigation is ongoing. And one of the guys named as a conspirator in the story is promising an "epic lawsuit." [LAT]
The LA Times has now apologized for its story last week asserting that Puff Daddy knew in advance about the 1994 shooting and robbery of Tupac Shakur. It looked bad since The Smoking Gun ran its debunking of the Times' evidence yesterday, but this was a very quick collapse of a very big story. The paper's own investigation is ongoing. And one of the guys named as a conspirator in the story is promising an "epic lawsuit." [LAT]
journalismism
Wu-Tang Fan Trapped At New York Times
NYT reporter Mike Nizza was toiling away on the LA Times' fraudulent Tupac story beat yesterday, explaining to racist elderly Times readers what went wrong, and who all these hip hop people are. Then, like a ray of sunlight piercing the clouds over Shaolin, a reader made a joke about Wu-Tang in the comments. Mike was all over it! It really brightened up his day, we think, to know that somebody else out there is available to discuss how cool it is that Raekwon dropped that "I grew up on the crime side, the New York Times side" lyric on "C.R.E.A.M." Unlike the dorks in the Times cafeteria who don't appreciate it at all. Somebody rescue this man! Click to enlarge the key exchange of internet musical acknowledgments.
jimmy sabatino
LAT's Tupac Source: Serial Con Man
The Smoking Gun has a treasure trove of incriminating information on Jimmy Sabatino, the incarcerated serial con man who the site says forged documents that the LA Times relied on in its (now doubtful) scoop associating Puff Daddy with the 1994 shooting and robbery of Tupac Shakur. Sabatino's shady and unreliable nature was well known; back in 1999, the Miami New Times published a long feature story titled "Con Kid" that detailed Sabatino's history of outrageous scams that he used to hobnob with celebrities and land free stuff. TSG also says that Sabatino's father is a restaurant manager, not a mobster as the LAT reported (and we repeated). The LAT's story today on the launch of its own internal investigations notes that the paper "has not identified the source of the purported FBI reports," but that would presumably change if it turns out Sabatino was the source, and the documents were false. After the jump, a screengrab [via TSG] of Sabatino's MySpace page—the entire "About Me" section is apparently fiction: More »
scandals
LAT's Tupac Shooting Scoop Based On A Hoax?
The Smoking Gun says that the LA Times' big investigative scoop last week implicating Bad Boy records chief Sean "Puffy" Combs in the 1994 shooting and robbery of rival rapper Tupac Shakur was based on fabricated evidence. The site says that James Sabatino (pictured)—an incarcerated con man who appeared as a player in the shooting in the LAT story—is actually a fabulist who forged the FBI reports that the paper relied on to build its investigation. More »
who shot ya?
Puff Daddy Denies Tupac Ambush Charge
Rap mogul Sean "Puff Diddy Daddy" Combs has denied yesterday's LA Times report that he had advance knowledge of a 1994 ambush on rival Tupac Shakur that left Tupac with five bullet wounds. Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond, the music manager that the Times named as the mastermind of the attack, also denied the charges. The Times is standing by its story so far. Below, Puffy's and Rosemond's statements—as well as (BONUS!) the lyrics to two verses of "Who Shot Ya?," the 1994 Biggie Smalls/ Puffy song that was widely believed to be an allusion to the Tupac shooting in question. More »
rap
