OT: Atlanta Jounal-Constitution apologizes to UGA over corrections in story.

Submitted by Angry-Dad on July 19th, 2023 at 4:07 PM

https://twitter.com/ajc/status/1681721973355708417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1681721973355708417%7Ctwgr%5E8d0e3ba13a2c6f9f71be00866678b4687943cd1d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthespun.com%2Fcollege-football%2Fatlanta-journal-constitution-issues-official-apology-to-georgia-football

I posted this topic originally a few weeks ago.  Seems fitting to post the correction from the AJC.  Same issue with paywalled, but apparently they did not independently verify all of the details of the original story and the school put the lawyers on them.  Not saying Gerogia does not have it's issues, but if a major paper issues a correction that needs to be acknowledged. 

Amazinblu

July 19th, 2023 at 4:44 PM ^

Please place my wager on "ritual sacrifice".   There's little doubt in my mind of how football is viewed by the population of the state of Georgia and anyone associated with that squad and their success over the past two years.

If any "t" failed to be crossed - that sacrificial offering would be on the altar and ready to go.

BoFan

July 19th, 2023 at 5:42 PM ^

Following an email inquiry sent to Judd and his direct editors, Judd responded and stated his comments were to be off the record. It’s important to note that on-the-record and off-the-record conversations are agreed upon between the reporter and subject, and UGASports.com did not agree nor was seeking any off-the-record comments. 

“The following is off the record: something that happened 35 years ago, during a rough period in my life, has no bearing on anything today. The question you need to ask yourself is whether it is appropriate for a government agency — (In) this case, UGA — to use public resources to try to dig up dirt on a journalist who has published uncomfortable but true stories about that government agency. 

“Obviously this has been fed to you — even my personal telephone number, which is known to a relatively small number of people at UGA. Is your devotion to the “Dawgs” so great that you want to try to destroy a person whose work over the past century has exposed atrocities in the state mental hospitals, saving countless lives; helped expose a cheating scandal in the Atlanta Public Schools that had life-altering detrimental effects on thousands of poor African-American children; spurred legislative changes to protect children in the state’s foster care system; and much more.

“So do whatever you want to do to ingratiate yourself with Coach Smart and others at UGA. Drag up the worst moment in someone’s life from 3 1/2 decades ago, and ignore everything since then. 

“I hope whatever momentary advantage you gain with UGA is worth the personal degradation you put yourself through. 

“Again, every word here is off the record. I might consider talking to you next week. Right now I’m too busy dealing with threats from Georgia “fans” — making sure that my family and I are safe — to deal with you any more.”

They, UGA, dug up 30 year old dirt but, per the AJC’s statement, there were only two minor corrections in the UGA story and they found zero fabrications.  

dragonchild

July 20th, 2023 at 9:20 AM ^

Is your devotion to the “Dawgs” so great that you want to try to destroy a person whose work over the past century has exposed atrocities in the state mental hospitals, saving countless lives; helped expose a cheating scandal in the Atlanta Public Schools that had life-altering detrimental effects on thousands of poor African-American children; spurred legislative changes to protect children in the state’s foster care system; and much more.

I mean. . . yeah.  That's America for you.  What country did you think you lived in?

bronxblue

July 19th, 2023 at 6:14 PM ^

You know, if you're going to post this same link multiple times in the same section you'd at least read the thing first.  

The vast majority of that UGA article comes from an attorney who remembered working on the aforementioned redacted stories by Judd back in 1988.  The attorney apparently was "moved" to say something to Georgia after he read about their 9-page letter to AJC complaining about all the falsehoods in the article (shockingly the only two they could find were a combination of 2 quotes into one and not being able to pinpoint the exact number of players who were kept on the team despite accusations of violent incidents with women, not that it didn't happen or that the specific players highlighted in the article weren't part of that total).

Also, the fact Judd admitted to the mistake from 35 years ago, asked for it to be off the record and the UGA blogger ignoring that request, kind of points to the bias in that article.  A bias, again, you'd have picked up had you tried reading the article instead of just copy-pasting a link.  But hey, good on you for carrying Georgia's water.  Maybe some Dawg fans will welcome you into their brotherhood.

SalvatoreQuattro

July 19th, 2023 at 6:51 PM ^

I did read it. It’s funny that you react so strongly to an article that at the very least shows that Judd was fired from a previous job because of shoddy journalism.

But sure, lash out without actually understanding what you read.

It’s remarkable that you dismiss so casually his previous controversy. It’s almost like you have a bias or something.

bronxblue

July 20th, 2023 at 12:23 PM ^

Again, I know you think you're being clever here but a guy leaving a place 35 years ago because of irregularities with his reporting of a story doesn't mean everything he does afterwards is assumed to be biased.  I don't see you or the UGa fanboys combing through his various other reports about abuses of power in Georgia politics, sexual abuse by physicians, or abusive slumlords.  Those seem way more ripe for potential mistakes, mis-reporting, etc., and yet not a peep about those.  But a guy says "11" when perhaps it's only 8-9 current and former Bulldogs with abuse claims against them and combining two quotes into one and the knives are out.

It's more remarkable that you dismiss the mountains of evidence in that and other reports about the Georgia culture, but then again you went on various racist rants defending Glenn Schembechler so maybe not a huge shocker.

MgoBlaze

July 19th, 2023 at 5:30 PM ^

That's a funny thing to claim, because the word "fired" doesn't appear in that article. Which you would know if you'd done the bare minimum of reading to back up your claim and bothered to make your summary of events accurate.

For a guy that likes to argue as much as you do, your reading comprehension is hot garbage. But I guess that's what happens when a person cherry picks media and only listens to the parts of it that agree with their internal biases.

MgoBlaze

July 19th, 2023 at 6:19 PM ^

I think him getting banned for being racist in the Shemy thread and then popping up everywhere to derail threads with misinformation, personal attacks, and hyperbole is actually pretty funny.

Like how sad does a person have to be to get banned from the message board of a college football blog, effectively being told that nobody wants him there, and then to keep posting on it? It's Maizen all over again. He must live a lonely life.

Dude's opinions are less valuable than a malformed penny. I love how he even repeated his lie about the reporter getting fired down the thread, despite that being a work of pure fiction. If nothing else he's entertaining in the "Grandpa Simpson Yells at Clouds" way.

SalvatoreQuattro

July 19th, 2023 at 6:59 PM ^

I wasn’t banned. That is a lie.

You spread misinformation, personal attacks, and hyperbole. You literally are doing that in this thread. Lol.

Your opinions matter less than dogshit. Do you think people want your dumbass here? Do you think people come here to read your imbecile takes on everything under the sun?
 

You are an absolute moron and a liar. A guy who “resigns” after a controversy can be said to have been fired or forced out. How stupid can you be?

SalvatoreQuattro

July 19th, 2023 at 7:08 PM ^

I was never banned. I don’t know where you got the idea that I was, but I wasn’t.

Seth sent me an email and I sent one back. The thread was deleted. That was it.

You have been personally attacking me. I am going to respond in kind. Especially to liars who somehow think a guy resigning after a controversy over his work isn’t a soft firing.

Anyways, I shared the link because I felt it provided some background on the writer however biased the source might be. I truly do not care about this.

 

MgoBlaze

July 19th, 2023 at 7:15 PM ^

Who's attacking you? I'm just observing your actions and commenting on them. You've given us a large enough sample size of your unhinged, uncorroborated ramblings that I don't need to distort your views to make them seem ludicrous. You've done that yourself. Meanwhile, everyone on here that discussed anything in good faith with you is met with disingenuous whataboutism, bootlicking, or insults because you refuse to discuss things like an adult.

Unlike you, I don't see people that disagree with me as my enemies. You're just a sad, angry, old, brainwashed man who attacks everyone that disagrees with you.

You hate me. I pity you. Genuinely, seriously asking: Why don't you move back to Italy now that your party is in power?

SalvatoreQuattro

July 19th, 2023 at 7:21 PM ^

You literally are doing that. You have lied and insulted me personally throughout this thread,
 

All of your responses here are indicative of a hostility towards me that dates to the argument in the Shemy. It’s so obvious. You are a bitter, sad, old, brainwashed putz.

You should go back to Mother Russia where you can cry at the grave of Vlad and Josef.

 

Bootlicking? Whataboutism? Haha, you are a literal bot, aren’t you? You repeat all the buzzwords of your Party because you have no ability to formulate a coherent argument of your own that is based on logic and facts.

I just linked two links that people think are reputable sources. Yet your response is downvote me. Hilarious.

MgoBlaze

July 19th, 2023 at 7:25 PM ^

"Everyone that disagrees with me is a communist"

Yawn. Thanks grandpa. Let's get you back to the home before you get too worked up.

Also, you've proven to us repeatedly that reading isn't your strongest suit by posting links that corroborate that he wasn't fired, as you claim, but resigned.

Outstanding. Please, keep going. You're doing great at embarrassing yourself.

MgoBlaze

July 20th, 2023 at 5:28 PM ^

Thanks! That was exactly what I was referring to. I thought I remembered him having another username with only one T, but the cleaning up of the past threads here made it difficult to find.

So yes, dude was banned (but won't admit it) and then came back, like, the next day with an alt account. Outstanding.

MgoBlaze

July 19th, 2023 at 7:36 PM ^

Right. And you know this how? You were there in the room?

That's what those of us in the "reality" business call "speculation."

There's a huge difference between baseless speculation and facts. Not that you'd understand that, since the source you seem to trust most is chain emails sent by Steve Bannon and everything that doesn't immediately stoke your confirmation bias is decried as communist propaganda like it's still somehow 1965.

And yet you're too lazy to change your wording to "was likely forced to resign," and instead keep trying to assert that he was fired because you're too insecure to admit that you're wrong. The rest of us know those are not the same thing.

But you're right, it's everyone else that's being disingenuous. You're a perfect paragon of humility and the rest of us are just lucky to be basted in your voluminous illiterate wisdom.

SalvatoreQuattro

July 19th, 2023 at 7:42 PM ^

Ah,  the logic of the mulishly arrogant! Wonderful.

The guy was forced to resign/fired because he did something not a few young journos(remember that kid from the New York Times?).That’s beyond dispute.

You are arguing semantics because you cannot substantively counter what I linked.
 

What does that mean for this specific case? I don’t know. Clearly the AJC thought it was significant enough in addition to the errors in the UGA piece to force him to resign.

It might be a good idea for an independent source to fact-check his piece.

BoFan

July 19th, 2023 at 5:24 PM ^

I read the AJC statement. The corrections were minor and in no way exonerate Georgia.

https://www.ajc.com/news/ajc-issues-corrections-in-uga-football-program-story/KH7YTUBWXJDNFHMFXRKYVGDYQA/

AJC editors and attorneys investigated each complaint raised by university officials in the letter and found two elements of the story that did not meet the news organization’s journalistic standards, Editor-in-Chief Leroy Chapman said in a statement.

The AJC review found no instances of fabrications in the story, as the university’s letter had alleged, Chapman said.

In a statement, the AJC said the article’s author, investigative reporter Alan Judd, was terminated for violating the organization’s journalistic standards.

Yet, the rivals UGA site article focused on his issues from 30 years ago.  Not the fact that UGA still sucks