"Witch"-Gate: Binky & WRAL got some 'splainin' to do | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: Brant Clifton strips away the double-standard of hypocrisy in his "bare knuckles" Conservative online publication known as The Daily Haymaker.

    Who Killed JFK? Who shot JR? DID Martin Nesbitt really call Aldona Wos a witch?

    WRAL's Mark "Binky" Binker - Cagney to Laura Leslie's Lacey - has had the North Carolina political world atwitter over his reporting about DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos' recent appearance before a legislative committee. He included a quote attributed to Senate Democrat leader Martin Nesbitt that appeared to suggest Nesbitt was calling Wos a 'witch.'

    Other media outlets ran with the reporting that included that quote. The problem is - video of the hearing (fast forward to 3:25) in question appears to suggest Binker did a bit of creative writing.

    Binker originally quoted Nesbitt saying THIS:

    "I've been sitting in here reading it and digesting it for the past two hours," Nesbitt said. "The second thing is, it's not a witch hunt to try to find out what went on, and all of these changes were made by this administration after they took over ... There's not - maybe the lady who wrote the article was on a witch hunt. I think she found one."

    Now, if you browse over to WRAL's site, you'll see this article has been inexplicably edited:

    "I've been sitting in here reading it and digesting it for the past two hours," Nesbitt said. "The second thing is, it's not a witch hunt to try to find out what went on, and all of these changes were made by this administration after they took over ... There's not - maybe the lady who wrote the article was on a witch hunt. I think she found one - a little."

    Well - as those TV anchors have always said, let's go to the tape. After watching and listening to WRAL's own video, I found that the last sentence in the above Nesbitt quote should read: "I think she found a little." That's a far cry from the original quote.

    WRAL's site shows Binker's original story was posted on Tuesday, and "updated" on Saturday. The update - amazingly, even with the availability of video - STILL got it wrong.

    Did the personal feelings of Binker or the editorial staff ooze into the content of Binker's post? Is this evidence of a political agenda by Binker and / or WRAL? Or is it incompetence? Either way - this inflicts a beating on Binker and WRAL's credibility as a news source.

    WRAL viewers need a serious, credible explanation here. It looks like senator Nesbitt and secretary Wos also deserve an apology.