Feature
Media Smears: One Man’s Experiences
A noted economist fires back.
In the movie, Absence of Malice, lives are damaged and even destroyed by irresponsible reporting — and the law offers no real protection. In real life as well, the most damaging, unsupported, and inaccurate statements about an individual can be written and broadcast coast to coast, without the law’s offering any meaningful recourse. Judges have so watered down the laws on slander and libel that only in special cases can you nail those who are being irresponsible, vindictive, or even outright liars.
I know. As one who has taken controversial stands on various issues, I have been the target of a smear campaign for more than a year. Demonstrably false statements have been made about me in the media and positions attributed to me that are the direct opposite of what I have said for years in my own published writings. And yet a lawsuit would probably do nothing but waste months of my time, at the end of which the smear artists could slip out through one of the many loopholes — and proclaim themselves vindicated and their charges substantiated.
Instead, let me submit some examples to the court of public opinion — some merely irresponsible, and others more vicious.
Wrong “Facts”
The most staggering of many false charges was made by CBS
correspondent Lem Tucker on that network’s morning television
program. According to a broadcast by Tucker on October 13, 1981, my
viewpoint “seems to place him in the school that believes that
maybe most blacks are genetically inferior to whites.” For a charge
as sweeping and inflammatory as genetic inferiority of a race —
my race — you would think there would have to be some
speck of hard evidence. But you would be wrong. For ten years, I
have repeatedly and extensively argued against the genetic
inferiority theory — in four books, two newspapers, two magazines,
and various lectures. These included a feature article I wrote on
I.Q. in the New York Times Magazine of March 27, 1977.
There I pointed out that European immigrants had the same I.Q.
scores as blacks when they lived under conditions similar to
blacks, and cited massive amounts of data I had collected on the
subject.
Anyone who wanted the facts about my position could easily have found them. Lem Tucker chose instead to broadcast sensational rhetoric coast to coast. The closest thing to factual evidence that he had was a newspaper interview in which another reporter had asked where my personal “stubbornness and isolation” came from, and I suggested that these traits were probably inherited, since some of my relatives had similar personalities. How one gets from this to genetic inferiority is a mystery only Lem Tucker can solve.
False statements in the press can have serious consequences, even when they are not smears. In the Washington Post of February 5, 1981, Herbert Denton reported that I had formed an organization “which was incorporated this week in California under the name Black Alternatives Association, Inc.” This organization never existed, even though the Washington Post story was carried coast to coast in other newspapers. It is a matter of public record when an organization is incorporated, so anyone can check the incorporation records for that week — or any other week — and find no “Black Alternatives” organization incorporated by Thomas Sowell.
Although the organization was nonexistent, the results of the story were quite real. For weeks an avalanche of mail and telephone calls came to my office and my one secretary. We struggled day in and day out to get our regular work done, to organize a conference that was scheduled, and to proofread the galleys for my book, Ethnic America — all the while being interrupted every few minutes by phone calls from people wanting to join the nonexistent organization, or from reporters wanting a detailed blueprint of its far-flung operations, as reported in the Washington Post.
In order to try to keep up with our regular work despite incessant interruptions, my secretary and I began coming in to work earlier and earlier in the morning, and leaving later and later at night. We still fell behind. Eventually exhaustion caught up with us. She took a week off. My doctor put me on medication and I stayed home for two weeks. Our conference was cancelled, and other commitments and deadlines had to be left unmet.
What was the basis for the Washington Post story? Some friends and I were thinking of establishing an organization, but its specific activities had not been worked out, nor any money collected, nor an “office rented or stationery printed. One of my associates reported his own speculations to Denton, who turned them into “facts” — and headlines — about my plans. When Denton phoned me for verification, I told him that there was already enough misinformation in the world, without his printing such a story. Apparently he disagreed.
Ironically, my staying home led to another fictitious story. Jet magazine reported that I was hospitalized in Palo Alto. Actually, I have not been hospitalized in more than a decade, and do not even know the location of a hospital in Palo Alto. But again, a fictitious story had real consequences. A member of my family on the East Coast read the Jet story and became alarmed. Having heard nothing about hospitalization from me, she concluded that I must be so gravely ill that the family was keeping the news from her because of her own serious heart condition. Her worst suspicions seemed to be confirmed when she phoned my home while I was out. I was at a local pool, swimming 500 yards while supposedly “hospitalized.”
Among the many false charges in the media, the one that most piqued my curiosity was that I had “castigated” Vernon Jordan. Dorothy Gilliam of the Washington Post was the source of this charge, later repeated by others. I could not for the life of me remember mentioning Vernon Jordan, much less attacking him. I first went through two articles of mine that Gilliam was denouncing. No Vernon Jordan. Then I started going through the indexes of my books. Still no Vernon Jordan.
Finally, I wrote to Vernon Jordan. He had never heard of any such attack either, and advised me to “pay it no mind.”
Not all demonstrably false statements can be attributed to political bias or personal animosity. Some media statements have been miles off base without being either favorable or unfavorable. For example, I have been repeatedly identified as a Republican, on television and in newspapers. In reality, I have never been a Republican, nor even addressed a Republican gathering. It has been a decade since I was a registered member of any party: and then I was a Democrat. The only partisan gathering I have ever addressed was an informal luncheon sponsored by the Libertarian Party.
Unsupported Insinuations
After the 1980 election, stories began to appear in many newspapers
that I was going to become a Cabinet member in the Reagan
Administration. Some papers said Secretary of Labor, others
Secretary of Education, or of Housing and Urban Development. Some
said Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. They all sounded
very sure of their facts, though obviously one man could not be
holding all these jobs.
I of course knew all along that I was not about to go to Washington for any job. I had declined offers of presidential appointments in previous administrations, and saw no reason to change now. But since no one in the new administration had asked me, it would have been a gratuitous insult to the incoming President to have said so. Finally I was asked, declined politely, and figured that was the end of that.
About the Author
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com. To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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OregonBuzz| 5.18.12 @ 9:51AM
As always, good deeds rarely go unpunished.
Alan Brooks| 5.18.12 @ 6:46PM
If Sowell is so good, why can't the GOP run him for POTUS? Because he is too old?
Abu Nudnik| 5.20.12 @ 12:26PM
Because he is an academic, not a politician. As stated in the article above which you didn't read, he has rejected more than one offer to be in government. He has, as stated above in the article you didn't read, opted to be an academic.
Dave Bowman| 5.28.12 @ 11:09AM
In light of your awesome debating skills have they considered next year letting you skip the 4th grade?
A. C. Santore| 5.18.12 @ 10:01AM
In a way, Professor Sowell, you might take a bow.
The more hysterical, ferocious, and blatantly false the left's attacks become, the more they fear you, your values, and your ideas.
You're in good company.
Alan Brooks| 5.19.12 @ 10:13AM
He'll be in good company at Forest Lawn too, in a few years.
Butch| 5.19.12 @ 6:43PM
So will we all, my friend, including you.
Abu Nudnik| 5.20.12 @ 12:31PM
Perhaps not the super-moral, who distinguish themselves by wishing for the deaths of men with whom they disagree. The jury is out. Wink.
Alan Brooks| 5.20.12 @ 6:10PM
Obama's death would not cause you to shed hot tears on your pillow.
One point on which Sowell is right is his saying if Germany and Japan could be defeated in '45, so can America. But I don't want America defeated, I want the GOP defeated, and if such should mean Sowell's death then so be it. I'll write this over 'n over: if Romney should be elected president-- and he has got a 50- 50 chance-- he will be treated as badly as Obama is being treated today; which is a guarantee not a promise.
Jay Dee| 5.20.12 @ 7:03PM
How odd you somehow work GOP defeat and the death of Dr. Sowell into one sentence.
We are also well aware Romney will be treated the same way Obama has been treated - you cut your teeth by making mincemeat of Bush.
Alan Brooks you really are a nasty man.
Alan Brooks| 5.21.12 @ 2:49AM
"you cut your teeth by making mincemeat of Bush."
no, after 9-11,
I got caught up in the anti-Arab, anti-Shiite frenzy; it wasn't until '08 I realized his administration (Bush was a figurehead) was a nothingburger.
Alan Brooks| 5.21.12 @ 2:51AM
...
"Obama's death would not cause you to shed hot tears on your pillow."
BTW, you didn't deny the above- it was totally predictable. You hate Obama and would not mind his death.
Lawrence| 5.21.12 @ 9:44AM
"But I don't want America defeated, I want the GOP defeated, and if such should mean Sowell's death then so be it."
And what if the GOP's defeat and our nation's salvation depends on your death? Maybe you should drop dead, just in case.
Or would you argue that the party's defeat and your demise are wholly unrelated events? So too is Sowell's eventual passing, and it takes a morbid and even a murderous mind to think that the death of an academic like Sowell is a necessary precondition for anything good.
Von Mises Jr| 5.18.12 @ 10:34AM
I have read two-dozen tomes by Dr. Sowell and wish to thank him for being the most influential person in my thinking after the Bible and my family. I have learned more from his diverse books than any other writer by far.
Great men such as Dr. Sowell always enrage socialist. Von Mises and Hayek both fled the Nazi's for their lives. It speaks to the greatness of America that both found refuge in America to continue their brilliant economic work. America also made it possible for the world to know and love Dr. Thomas Sowell. God blesses you good Doctor.
spike59| 5.18.12 @ 12:13PM
30 years later, the MSM has, if anything, become even more brazen
Dropping By| 5.18.12 @ 2:23PM
I have a signed copy of one of Dr. Sowell's books, and have read 4 of them. He is a national treasure.
podbaydoors| 5.18.12 @ 3:12PM
Dr. Sowell's Basic Economics remains a most treasured book of mine. I have greatly admired his steadfast commitment to intellectual rigor in the face of such vile hatred. Interesting how the attack dogs have never changed. The yapping has become somewhat more hysterical, though.
Mike| 5.19.12 @ 1:18AM
I worked with a black man who refused to discuss any writings of Dr. Sowell. His justification was that Dr. Sowell is not an "authentic black man" and did not understand black poverty. This man had grown up the child of a corporate vice-president in the automotive business thus he had no first hand experience, yet he dismissed Dr. Sowell's background.
I pointed out to this black man that his bigotry toward Dr. Sowell had little to distinguish it from the white bigotry of the Ku Klux Klan. He became enraged that anyone would point out his bigotry since he was on the company's diversity committee.
In a fit of anger he later quit after being passed over for promotion since it was in his mind due to his color rather than his inability to work with people of differing opinions.
Suzyqpie | 5.19.12 @ 8:40AM
Dear Dr. Sowell, Make sure that you never remove the tags on a new mattress or pillow. Suddenly that infraction would become a felony. Seems the bullseye on your back is a permanent feature that you continue to manage with great skill.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.19.12 @ 9:43AM
Dr. Sowell's piece from 30 years ago tends to support the notion that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Concurrently, though, one also sees a significant shift in the position of the race industry in America. At the time of the 1982 article, Derrick Bell is listed as one of Dr. Sowell's fellow academics outside the accepted mainstream. He went on to Harvard, was embraced by Obama, and his critical race theory seems to be the mainstream of thought for many in the administration.
Dr. Sowell continues to put forth his wisdom, though, in a way that undermines the race baiters.
Abu Nudnik| 5.20.12 @ 12:24PM
It is wryly amusing that you have been accused of these things by people who call themselves "liberal," "tolerant" and "inclusive" when your words above are almost the definition of liberalism:
"No single individual or set of "leaders" has a monopoly on understanding. Even the truth may be an incomplete truth, and need additional perspectives that lie beyond one person's vision. In short, the process of airing different perspectives is even more important than the question of which is closest to the truth."
Pelleas| 5.20.12 @ 5:32PM
"Actually, I have not been hospitalized in more than a decade, and do not even know the location of a hospital in Palo Alto."
YOU ARE "A senior FLLOW at The Hoover Institute, (located at the CENTER of Stanford University, IN PALO ALTO.. and YET-- "You don't know the location" of ANY hospital, in a city that has more then its fair share of Medical Facilities?
That wins, hands down, for lamest statement , of the hour....!!
Jay Dee| 5.20.12 @ 7:07PM
Hey Ding Dong - the article was written in 1982. He wasn't at the Hoover Institute then.
Pelleas| 5.20.12 @ 7:13PM
Hey, cupcake-- he clearly states he was living on the WEST COAST, at the time...!!-HOW DO YOU KNOW WHERE HE WAS?, EH?
Pelleas| 5.20.12 @ 7:40PM
Sowell has also worked at The Hoover Institute SINCE 1980, BTW....
Peregrin Took| 5.21.12 @ 12:25PM
Wait wait. A three page article, and this is the only thing you find worthy of comment? Wow.
Pelleas| 5.21.12 @ 12:36PM
It is the ONLY thing of interest, that I could muster up, in this (Sowell) blow-hards horrible writing-- if this is the BEST the Right -Wing can produce-- the Left surely has no worries...!
Sacramento Observer staff| 5.28.12 @ 11:05AM
Hey, we were wondering whatever happened to you! How's your life been the past 3 decades?
Dave Bowman| 5.28.12 @ 11:03AM
The greatest thing about this column is that Sowell's still here, while these random careerists he puts on blast--Carter's HUD sorority sister, that hack in Pittsburgh--have all long since slipped into easy oblivion. In fact I just finished reading it now and already can't remember their names...