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   Dan Gillmor (dangillmor@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 03-Nov-2025 09:15:34 JST Dan Gillmor

   The New York Times still hasn't corrected its BS headline about what it calls a De Blasio "Impersonator" -- a man who has the almost-same name as the former NYC mayor and was quoted in another newspaper's story.

   The entire episode exemplifies journalistic malpractice, in two cities.
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     Dan Gillmor (dangillmor@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 03-Nov-2025 09:15:28 JST Dan Gillmor

     in reply to

     The New York Times, meanwhile, published a super-snarky story with a headline that is at best grossly misleading (I think it's obviously false given what Semafor reported). The story, with the BS headline, is still there. One label that perpetually, and accurately, applies to the NYT: arrogant.

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     Dan Gillmor (dangillmor@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 03-Nov-2025 09:15:29 JST Dan Gillmor

     in reply to

     Once the error was embarrassingly public, the Times of London did what it had to do: It pulled down the story. Needless to say, as you might expect from an arrogant Murdoch family property, it dumped on the man its reporter mistook for the former mayor, trying to deflect responsibility.
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     Steve's Place repeated this.
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     Dan Gillmor (dangillmor@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 03-Nov-2025 09:15:32 JST Dan Gillmor

     in reply to

     In any event, contrary to the NY Times' scolding headline and story, the interviewee was NOT an impersonator or imposter -- at least not as most people would understand those words. He wasn't instigating the fraud on readers. The newspaper did that to itself, and its readers.
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     Dan Gillmor (dangillmor@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 03-Nov-2025 09:15:33 JST Dan Gillmor

     in reply to

     As the news site Semafor explained, the "impersonator" did not instigate the call leading to a Times of London debacle. He never claimed to be the former mayor. He just answered the questions asked by a (lazy?) reporter for the Times of London.

     Semafor's story: https://www.semafor.com/article/10/29/2025/british-newspaper-spoke-to-the-wrong-deblasio-not-an-imposter

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     Dan Gillmor (dangillmor@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 03-Nov-2025 09:15:33 JST Dan Gillmor

     in reply to

     Should the not-former-mayor De Blasio (spelled slighly differently from the mayor's name) have warned the London paper's reporter? Arguably. But he figured the paper would do, you know, actual reporting and move on.

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