The Atlanta Journal-Constitution issued a lengthy correction this month after it published a story wrongly labeling an immigration enforcement group as an “anti-immigration hate group.”
The newspaper said it bungled that description of the Dustin Inman Society, a Georgia-based group battling sanctuary city policies.
For one thing, the paper said, it should have cited the Southern Poverty Law Center as the source of the hate group label.
And the AJC said it should have noted that the Dustin Inman Society is engaged in an ongoing lawsuit against the SPLC, which has admitted in court documents that its hate designations are opinions that can’t be proved.
The correction runs to five sentences.
The Oct. 7 piece in the AJC was about Katy Stamper, a Democratic nominee for Congress. The AJC said party leaders were refusing to back Ms. Stamper, concluding she was really a Republican who misled voters to win the primary.
The AJC said Ms. Stamper was previously “aligned” with the Dustin Inman Society, which the paper called “a Marietta-based anti-immigration hate group.” The paper added that the society’s web page “often linked” to her “activities.”
D.A. King, the DIS president, pointed out that the society doesn’t oppose legal immigration. What it opposes is illegal immigration based on effects on public safety and American workers’ wages. The society’s board includes legal immigrants as members.
The society’s lawyer fired off an Oct. 18 letter demanding an AJC retraction and apology. The story was updated and a correction was published Friday.
Mr. King said the AJC has a history of maligning his group.
“The liberal AJC inserted a paragraph aimed at the pro-enforcement Dustin Inman Society into an unrelated story about a Democrat candidate they do not approve of for the sole purpose of smearing DIS,” Mr. King told The Washington Times.
He urged the AJC to institute “IQ tests for eager-to-slime reporters” or undergo a “rebuild” of the editorial staff.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.