News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch took to the Twitter-sphere today to tweet out a dubious defense of his New York Post's false identification of the Boston bombing suspects. After receiving criticism for having published a photo of a high school track runner as the bomb suspect, Murdoch claimed that the information had come from the FBI. OK, fine. But then Murdoch made the ridiculous claim that once the FBI "changed direction," the pics were "instantly withdrawn." But as many of the retweeters pointed out, there's no way to "instantly withdraw" thousands of papers in print. (H/T Eric J.)
From Mediaite:
News Corp. headRupert Murdoch delivered a seriously belated defense of his New York Post‘s controversial Boston Marathon bombings coverage early Saturday morning, saying succinctly on Twitter, “All NYPost pics were those distributed by FBI. And instantly withdrawn when FBI changed directions.”
...No one expected the New York Post to offer a sincere and heartfelt apology, but Murdoch’s halfhearted defense was clearly unsatisfying, so really, why did he bother?
All NYPost pics were those distributed by FBI.And instantly withdrawn when FBI changed directions.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) April 20, 2013