It was a few days ago when the British outlet The Times of London entered the fray of the New York Mayoral election. Given that there is so much heat surrounding the hyper-left-wing candidate Zohran Mamdani, you cannot expect a news outlet to shy away from covering the Democrat-Socialist who is not at all a communist. (Tim Miller of The Bulwark has declared that Zohran has somehow “deprogrammed himself” from such thinking, you understand.)
So, the Times of London decided to get in on the act, and they made something of a splash this week – which quickly became more of a belly-flop, and now has become a head-first gainer into an empty pool. This is a story that just will not quit.
To start, the outlet commissioned one of its top D.C. correspondents, Bevan Hurley, to reach out to former Mayor Bill de Blasio for his impressions on the candidate and to assess the proposals in Mamdani’s platform. De Blasio, as reported, questioned the financial realities of many of the proposed plans for New York City. Most stirring was de Blasio pointing out that Mamdani was falling prey to “optimistic assumptions” about the tax revenue he could generate to support his numerous social giveaways.
This caused quite a stir in the media realm and was amplified by Andrew Cuomo’s campaign. But then it was seen that the ToL rather quickly took down the entire article. This was due to Bill de Blasio going public to say those were not his words, that he never spoke with the outlet, and that he fully supports the Mamdani campaign with no qualifying critiques.
(We initially covered the ToL report here, but elected to take down the story once the details behind it were made clear.)
So what took place? It seems that after de Blasio claimed that it was a fraudulent report/interview, the belief was that the outlet had been on the receiving end of a hoaxer. It was detailed that the reporter had been duped by an individual claiming to be the former mayor. The paper declared in a statement, “Our reporter had been misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor.”
And now that explanation may also be in trouble of being inaccurate. At Semafor, Max Tani has an exclusive that his outlet has tracked down the source of this “fraudulent” interview – and it was from Bill DeBlasio. If you are twisting your head at this revelation, there is a very subtle difference: the spelling of the last name.
Semafor sent a reporter to the home of Bill DeBlasio – a wine importer, who lives on Long Island. Yes, there are, in fact, two such named individuals in the metroplex. While speaking from his location in Florida, the non-former-mayor conducted an interview with Semafor reporter Brendan Ruberry through his Ring doorbell camera. He explained that he did not deceive Bevan Hurley; he simply did not take the effort to clarify things.
Hurley, it is now being reported, sent an email to Bill DeBlasio (not, Bill de Blasio, as the former politician prefers), asking for commentary on the election, and the vino dealer complied with said request. He simply did not elaborate that maybe he was not the intended source for comment.
“I’m Bill DeBlasio. I’ve always been Bill DeBlasio. I never once said I was the mayor. He never addressed me as the mayor,” DeBlasio told Semafor. “So I just gave him my opinion. I could have corrected him. It was all in good fun. I never thought it would make it to print,” DeBlasio said. He assumed the reporter would “have all his people check it out.”
So what we are left with is not a news outlet falling victim to an aggressive trolling effort, but a case of either mistaken identity or journalism sloth, leading to a man having some mirthful fun at the expense of the paper.
It is a hard lesson to be learned in being comprehensive in the execution of our journalism. It may also be a good time to reflect on the importance of vetting your contact lists and being sure you are in contact with the proper officials in your correspondence.
As it stands, the Bill DeBlasio of Long Island could hardly be faulted if he nabs a champagne bottle from his delivery bay and celebrates the free publicity he has managed to generate for himself this week.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals.
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