The lead item on the very smart blog WitnessLA.com, a project of the Justice and Journalism Fund, blasts Garrett Therolf's misreporting of the child welfare story - and the failure of his editors at the Los Angeles Times to correct it.
Citing Daniel Heimpel's column in The Huffington Post, WitnessLA editor Celeste Fremon writes that
Heimpel’s research and reporting-on-the-reporting—including re-interviewing people quoted by the Times— is much too solid and detailed to ignore. ...
Listen: I realize that all of these articles-–Daniel Heimpel’s included—can seem like so much inside baseball to those unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the foster care politics.
But much is at stake when the state’s largest newspaper starts using some high profile tragedies to push—without adequate factual basis and no visible thoughtful consideration—for a change in policy that would result in more kids snatched unnecessarily from non-abusive families into the trauma that is foster care.
“In the name of helping children,” said Heimpel when we talked on Tuesday about the Times’ coverage, ” it may very well result in a lot more children to be hurt.”
Hmmm. First The Huffington Post, then LA Weekly, now WitnessLA. Maybe it's time to start calling Garrett Therolf the embattled reporter for the beleaguered Los Angeles Times
