KHQA Renounces Its Nov. 5 Story, But Reported Obama-Blago Meeting as a Fact on Nov. 8

December 10th, 2008 7:02 PM

This is entering into the realm of the bizarre -- from the web site of KHQA TV (HT LGF), regarding a story I have saved at my web host from November 5 (bold is mine):

KHQA TV wishes to offer clarification regarding a story that appeared last month on our website ConnectTristates.com. The story, which discussed the appointment of a replacement for President Elect Obama in the U.S. Senate, became the subject of much discussion on talk radio and on blog sites Wednesday.

The story housed in our website archive was on the morning of November 5, 2008. It suggested that a meeting was scheduled later that day between President Elect Obama and Illinois Governor Blagojevich. KHQA has no knowledge that any meeting ever took place. Governor Blagojevich did appear at a news conference in Chicago on that date.

That's fine, except for the fact that the KHQA story in my NewsBusters/BizzyBlog post earlier today was from November 8 -- three days later (link again is to a file saved at my web host, obtained from Google cache shortly before it disappeared). It (obviously) talked about the meeting in the past tense (bold is mine):

Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled.

Obama met with Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier this week to discuss it. Illinois law states that the governor chooses that replacement. There's already been speculation about his selection...from Congressman Jesse Jackson, Junior to Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth.

So KHQA is saying it "has no knowledge" that an Obama-Blagojevich meeting it thought in its November 5 story would occur actually did occur.

I suppose the station will also tell us at some point that it "has no knowledge" as to whether the meeting it definitively reported HAD occurred in its November 8 story really DID occur.

Are we having fun yet?

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.