Newsweek publicly apologizes to Palmer Report
Dear Palmer Report readers,
Many of you are aware that a rogue anonymous Wikipedia editor added the words “liberal fake news website” to the very first sentence of Palmer Report’s Wikipedia page several years ago, and since been blocking all other Wikipedia editors from removing this absurd and libelous claim. Even as we navigate the confusing legal process of trying to force an international entity like Wikipedia to correct the matter, various larger competing news outlets have used it as an excuse to falsely accuse us of being “fake news.” For instance, Newsweek published an article a few days ago which quoted Palmer Report as a source but then casually referred to us a “liberal fake news website.”
After we took up the matter with Newsweek’s top brass, they’ve now added this public apology to the article: “A prior version of this article incorrectly referred to Palmer Report as a fake news website. We regret the error.”
This comes after Forbes also falsely accused Palmer Report of being “fake news” awhile back, and also ended up having to publicly apologize for it. Prior to that, an international news outlet called Media Update was also forced to publicly apologize for falsely accusing Palmer Report of being “fake news.”
With these dishonest attacks, the mainstream media merely keeps revealing its own willingness to dishonestly punch down at any smaller independent outlet like Palmer Report that gets in its way. It’s also utterly embarrassing for the mainstream media that we keep catching them lazily copy-pasting from Wikipedia while attacking us. If the mainstream media is this sloppy and dishonest in covering Palmer Report, it suggests the mainstream media is being this sloppy and dishonest when covering politics in general. If anything it demonstrates how vital is it that Palmer Report continue to exist.
Just as importantly, when we’ve reached a point where multiple major news outlets have had to issue public apologies after quoting the false claims that Wikipedia has made about Palmer Report, it’s well past time for Wikipedia to correct this problem. Wikipedia’s lies about Palmer Report are causing problems not just for us, but for the entire mainstream media.
In addition, now that Forbes and Newsweek have both publicly confirmed that they do not consider Palmer Report to be fake news and that they were mistaken in using that phrase, why on earth is Wikipedia still sticking with that false claim about us? We’re calling on Wikipedia to take immediate action by removing the rogue anonymous editor who has spent years forcing Palmer Report’s Wikipedia page to continue displaying libelous false claims about us. This is a willful ongoing act of actual malice by the Wikipedia editor in question, which goes directly against Wikipedia’s stated policies. We’ll be pursuing every legal avenue available to us in order to make sure this happens. In the meantime, Palmer Report will continue its longtime mission of working to keep the mainstream media honest.
Much thanks,
Bill Palmer
