Fox News Gets John Edwards Filing Wrong

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Sat Mar 03, 2012 at 05:42:57 PM EST
Tags: John Edwards (all tags)

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Update 8:00 pm: Good for Mediaite -- It has updated with WRAL's correction. I've removed them from the headline of my post. Fox has yet to correct its headline. And now the Washington Post runs with the inaccurate story and speculates there must be something on the tape that helps his defense. How about reading the pleadings that set out his defense instead of writing things like "His defense strategy seems to be... " This is journalism?

Original Post: Fox News has an article today with the headline"John Edwards asks judge not to destroy sex tape." The article begins with:

John Edwards has asked a judge not to destroy a sex tape he made with his former mistress Rielle Hunter that was slated for destruction under a settlement reached last week, WRAL-TV reported.

Fox did no checking.[More...]

Either did Mediaite, which also inaccurately reported "John Edwards Asks Judge Not To Destroy His Sex Tape With Rielle Hunter." Mediaite even sent out a tweet which has already been retweeted numerous times. A quick check of filings on PACER shows this is false. WRAL has since corrected its article.

Editor's Note: WRAL News initially interpreted court documents incorrectly and reported that John Edwards asked for a delay in the court-ordered destruction of a sex tape he made with Rielle Hunter. In the order returning the tape and other items to Hunter, Judge Carl R. Fox allowed Edwards or other parties to delay that destruction, but specifically exempted the tape from any stay.

John Edwards did not ask any court to delay destruction of the "sex tape" depicting him and Rielle Hunter.

On February 23, 2102, the judge in the North Carolina state court lawsuit between Rielle Hunter and Andrew and Cheri Young over numerous items of property, including the sex tape, entered a 19 page set