WABC Scrubs Alleged Corzine Campaign Aide's Drug Arrest From Website

Photo of Noel Sheppard.
  • Bookmark and Share

Early Saturday morning, 7Online.com, the website for ABC's New York affiliate WABC-TV, reported the previous night's arrest of Jason Shih, an alleged campaign worker for Governor Jon Corzine (D-NJ) charged with "possession of a controlled narcotic and paraphernalia that is used for distribution."

Although the headline "Corzine campaign worker arrested" shows up in a Google News search, the page is no longer available: "We are sorry, but the URL you requested could not be found. The page you are looking for may have been renamed, moved, or deleted."

A search of "Jason Shih" and "Corzine" at 7Online.com did not produce a new article concerning Shih's arrest.

[UPDATE, 1pm EDT: According to the New York Post: "Corzine spokeswoman Elisabeth Smith said Shih is not on the payroll of the campaign or the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, and that the campaign doesn't know who he is."]

Fortunately, the website Drug Policy Central captured the 7Online report for its readers (h/t Twitter follower NYfitter):

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

US: Corzine campaign worker arrested

Found: Sat Oct 31 06:33:06 2009 PDT
Webpage: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=...
Newshawk: http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/

Corzine campaign worker arrested Corzine campaign worker arrested - 10/31/09 - New York News and Tri-State News - 7online.com

WABC-TV New York, NY

Eyewitness News

Politics & Elections

Corzine campaign worker arrested

New Jersey Senate President Richard J. Codey, right, D-West Orange and Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr., D-Camden, listen as Gov. Jon S. Corzine, center, delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Assembly and Senate in the Assembly chambers of the Statehouse Tuesday Jan. 13, 2009, in Trenton, N.J. During his annual address, the Democratic governor also braced the Democratic-controlled Legislature for a new round of budget cuts on top of $1.4 billion already cut this fiscal year. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ (WABC) -- Jason Shih, an Assistant Deputy Director to the campaign of NJ Gov. Jon Corzine was arrested last night on drug charges.

East Rutherford police say they pulled over the 25-year-old on Route 17 for driving while using a cell phone.

Police say they found 19 ecstasy pills and several hundred glassine envelopes.

He was charged with possession of a controlled narcotic and paraphernalia that is used for distribution.

Story continues below

He was released on $15,000 bail.

(Copyright (c)2009 WABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

For the record, the New York Post has also reported Shih's arrest, with a denial from a Corzine spokeswoman of his employment by the campaign:

Corzine spokeswoman Elisabeth Smith said Shih is not on the payroll of the campaign or the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, and that the campaign doesn't know who he is.

The 7Online report said Shih was "an Assistant Deputy Director."

If that's not the case, should they have removed the article completely or issued a correction?

Stay tuned. 

*****Update: Someone posted this 7Online piece at the message board of the website Broker Outpost. 

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.


Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

ABC - Do your job and REPORT

ABC - Do your job and REPORT THE GODDAMNED NEWS!

google didn't link directly

google didn't link directly to its cache, but it's there anyway: http://209.85.229.13...

___________________________________________________________
Graphical conservative commentary - animations & pictures for posting on forums: http://ubama.org/chu...

here's the

here's the screenshot

___________________________________________________________
Graphical conservative commentary - animations & pictures for posting on forums: http://ubama.org/chu...

Isn't it amazing how the

Isn't it amazing how the media manipulates the people and the information they present. 

"DumbAssity of Dope"

Look at the picture of

Look at the picture of Corzine. Now, i believe people are free to present themselves physically any way they may choose, but, as for me, I wouldn't want my governor to look like some old hippie stoner in a suit. 

The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.

"They decide If to

"They decide If to report"

___________________________________________________________
Graphical conservative commentary - animations & pictures for posting on forums: http://ubama.org/chu...

Wow. Check out the probably cause behavior

Driving while celling! Whoo! Maria, are you paying attention?

i smell a FIX

why?

1. 150,000 mail-in ballots

2. decision made to allow ballots that have a signature that doesn't   match the recorded signature

3.a new jersey democrat made the decision

4. who thinks i might be wrong

Given that it's New Jersey,

Given that it's New Jersey, only a very foolish, naive, or disingenuous person would bet against your supposition. 

The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.

→ All bets are off

The only bet left up in the air is whether the Voters of New Jersey will again choose to have their existences further cheapened by a party label.

Those who can afford it will move out to friendlier states.

LYDSEXICS UNTIE!

More than smell

retspook

I think there is more than smell here.  They are wading in doo doo all the way up to their nostrils.  Never did like New Jersey politics, matter of fact not much I do like about New Jersey since I got a ticket on the Garden state for going past the last toll booth.  Got caught in the wrong lane and couldn't get over.

Crash Dummy

Maybe the officer who pulled you over--assuming it was a state trooper--was the same one who was acting as Corzine's chauffeur a few years ago when his patrol car crashed doing 91 in a 65mph zone. The trooper was speeding with his red lights on because the governor was late for an appointment. Corzine was in the front seat and not wearing a seat belt, so he was seriously injured in the accident. If I remember correctly, after he recovered he made some public service announcements about the importance of buckling up. Which I think is also NJ law.  

Liberals & the Law

"Corzine was in the front seat and not wearing a seat belt, so he was seriously injured in the accident."

After that, he started pushing legislation for stricter driving laws.  That's a typical liberal for you.  Breaks the law and then pushes for laws to restrict people's freedom on the laws they broke.

Jason Shih, Corzine staffer, busted on Drug charges near Public

From NJ.com:

several tickets to tomorrow’s rally with President Obama at Newark’s Prudential Center were found in his car.

Also, the article notes that Shih admitted the car was "rented by the campaign."

 http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2009/10/jason-shih-corzine-staffer-busted-on.html

 

"Among the Ecstasy packets

"Among the Ecstasy packets found, four were marked "Payment for rally tix."

fox's pseudo conservatism

i find it difficult to understand why fox is considered a consevative news source. i read the ny post daily.aside from the editorial page its as liberal as they come. rupert murdoch has held fundraisers for hillary clinton and even fox mobile gets in on the mix...fox news has that trio in the morning,who for all intents and purposes act like katie couric with the vapid "news" stories and espouse the talking points of the rNC occasionally pausing to sneer at obama. other than that...what? geraldo? o'rielly?(c'mon. you really dont think hes conserrvative do you? think lou dobbs if he thought himself a tough guy.an empty suited populist.)) other than that you have glenn beck.a fine man through and through...but was cnn considered conservative when he worked there? i mean thank god for fox just for a difference of opinion...but alas, like our party leaders,a RINO.

Hey Noel

I noticed the NYT also pulled the story after being on for only a few hours. No integrity at all at least they should run the story as is and let the chips fall if he wasn't a staffer how is it he was reported as one?

If it moves like a snake it is most likely a snake or a worm.

Here's a fact that's worth the knowing, So treasure and mark it well.  When the mind is through with growing, the the head begins to swell.             Sir Nosmo King

Hello?

Wasn't it just a short time ago that "our side" was decrying the viral media distribution of bogus Limbaugh "racist comments'?

Now some likely looney-tune alleges affiliation with Corzine's campaign and we berate ABC, the Post et al for pulling this alleged "story"?

Sometimes I wonder...

Bingo its the fact the

Bingo its the fact the published a valid story then pulled it.  Why was it not true and if not why did they not fact check it?  And if it was how about a correction.  The Rush quotes were viral because the SCM hates Rush and most conservatives and try to discredit them at every oportunity.

Keeping our own skirts clean

Bingo its the fact the published a valid story then pulled it.

 What they "pulled" was an apparently blatant representation of shoddy "journalism" at its worst.  

 Why was it not true...

It "might" have been true...but a bare minimum of journalistic fact-checking (duh...a response from a Corzine rep perhaps?) would have placed this story into journalistic "limbo" (if not into file 13).  As the apparent initiator of this "story", WABC-TV "News" has embarrassed itself...and I suspect the internal memos there would make for a most interesting read.

...and if not why did they not fact check it?

I think we were mulling that over not too long ago with the Limbaugh smear.  Feel free to choose one of those rationales.

My guess in this case...incompetent/inexperienced editorial oversight and staffing of a "weekend" crew at a local news affiliate...and the NY Post just ran with it...a mistake they're not likely to make again. 

 And if it was how about a correction.

A "correction" might be appropriately applied to a story with even a nano-fragment of "substance".  This "story", in all probability, should never even have seen the light of day...and further trafficking in it is just not ethical.

I like "pulling" it better. 

 <i>What they "pulled" was

 [[What they "pulled" was an apparently blatant representation of shoddy "journalism" at its worst.]]

And that is an assumption. And if it was wrong, there is NO reason for them to pull the story, unless they were AFRAID (see NYT, BBC, and others). They apologized for the Limbaugh quotes days later, but they didn't pull them.

Here's a much more plausible storyline. They ran the story. Corzine made a few calls to higher ups. The story disappeared. 

[[further trafficking in it is just not ethical]]

How do you know that it has no substance? Where is your proof? The Limbaugh quotes were easy to disprove -- a few hours using Google. 

This is a real-life event, so no amount of searching for something that just happened would reveal anything.

My geez, man. Don't compare apples and oranges and expect to snow folks. 

-----
Random-jumbled-thoughts.blogspot.com