Correction Request: Richmond Times-Dispatch

UPDATE: The Richmond-Times Dispatch issued a correction to this story. We thank them for their diligence.

In the column “Gotcha Games: Stung” of February 1, 2010, Staff Reporters refer to a wiretapping plot by James O’Keefe at the offices of Sen. Mary Landrieu:

Now O’Keefe has been stung himself — busted in what looks like an attempt to tap the phones of Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, though a lawyer for O’Keefe and his co-defendants say they were just trying to get some undercover footage. Either way, they’ve landed in the deep sheep-dip.

There are no allegations of any wiretap plot in the FBI affidavit that was released early last week, which your reporters could have easily consulted in numerous places. Also, a law enforcement official has conceded that the four men were not attempting to wiretap or intercept calls. Furthermore, legal representation for the accused has gone on record stating there were no intentions to bug the phones in the Senator’s office.

We consider this error particularly egregious, despite the reporters’ attempt to ameliorate the false claim with the words “looks like,” considering that the Richmond Times-Dispatch published this article several days after the release of the affidavit which confirms there was no attempt to tap phones. We kindly ask you to issue a correction/retraction to the story.

We have been/will be making similar requests of other news sources to correct similar errors. Some, such as the Washington Post, MSNBC’s David Shuster, Talking Points Memo, CBS News, the Associated Press, Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic and TIME have already posted corrections or retractions.