Assume... It's an unassuming word, to be a little cute about it. It's also a very powerful word. Assuming can be lucky and hit the truth or, more often, assuming can miss the mark spectacularly and offend if not deeply enrage some people in having done it. In some cases...assuming can even end a career. Such was the case here, with a monster assumption that no one let slide...this time. Good, too.
QuoteA former Associated Press editor sued the news organization and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll, who fired her and two others over an erroneous October 2013 article about then-Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe.
It starts out like any other political romp into the bad details of a candidate..but this is not a political story and the target of the assumption is of no interest to me whatsoever. Governor who? Where? It really makes no difference in that detail. The circumstances of the assumptions here mean everything.
QuoteIn a lawsuit filed in the Richmond, Va. circuit court, Dena Potter charges Carroll acted with actual malice and made false statements about her after the AP was forced to retract a report that McAuliffe had lied to federal investigators in a death benefits fraud case.
Uh oh.... lies and more lies suggested with actual testimony to write about! Indeed.. There must be fire under that smoke! (<--- Assumption)
Why think it's legit?
QuoteLater that night, Potters says, Lewis received a tip from the campaign of Ken Cuccinelli, McAuliffe's Republican opponent, that pointed him to a federal document in which someone identified only as "T.M." is described as having lied to investigators.
Ahhh... Get it? T.M. matches the name of the candidate. This matters because.....
Quotethe journalists agreed that with only a month to go before the election, any story about the candidate's involvement in a federal criminal case "was a very important story that required attention."
<---- Source of many bad assumptions = misguided ambition
So.... what happened here?
QuoteBut she says, "Given that Lewis had confirmed that the "T.M." listed earlier in the indictment as an investor was in fact McAuliffe, and there was no indication in the indictment that the "T.M." accused of lying was a different person ... Lewis understood that the "T.M." who was accused of lying to investigators was in fact McAuliffe."
There was only one problem, Potter says: "Lewis' understanding was incorrect; the 'T.M.' accused of lying to federal investigators was not McAuliffe."
Source: Courthouse News (http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/10/24/72782.htm)
Oh.. Ermmm.. Golly... can we say OOOOOPS?????
Actually, Associated Press didn't say oops. The DID retract the story, but they also said 'You're FIRED!!' to at least 3 people over that, including an editor out of Atlanta.
So the moral of the story is a simple one.... When it looks like you have something juicy and just a small leap of faith and logic is needed (err.. an assumption) where confirmation can't be had for some reason? Sloooooow your roll and remember, there is one rule to go by, and its a golden rule.
Assume = Making an
Ass out of
U and
ME since man came to care about who made themselves an ass for all to enjoy. So.. Don't assume!
(Obviously, I cherry picked quotes for space and to convey the core of the story within the fair use guidlines we all live with. I recommend reading the whole story, as there is a lot more to it.)
I went to a movie with daughter and grandkids last weekend. I asked what theater. She told, but added that she thought that was assumed. I countered with the ass of u and me. She replied that it's always a particular theater unless otherwise specified. I can live with that.
Shasta