July 20, 2012

Drudge, Breitbart.com, and ABC on the Dark Knight Rises Theater Shooting: #Fail

At least 12 people were killed in a mass shooting at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado. The name of the suspected gunman, now in custody, is James E. Holmes. What we know about him this morning: He’s a white male, mid-20s, with an apartment in Aurora.

Here’s Matt Drudge tweeting a thinly sourced Joel Pollak report at Breitbart.com: 

The James Holmes tracked down by Breitbart.com is 25 years old and registered at an address in La Plata County—roughly a six-hour drive from the alleged shooter’s apartment, according to Google Maps.

And now, here’s ABC News’ Brian Ross earlier today, irresponsibly speculating on the shooter’s possible Tea Party link (ABC later withdrew the claim and apologized):

There are a lot of people in Denver and Aurora with the legal name of James/Jim Holmes.

Dozens of people are injured. At least 12 people are dead. The body count could rise. Even the 2012 attack dogs are taking a siesta from the partisan mudslinging in the wake of the tragedy. If you’re going to publish a story about an alleged mass murderer’s politics, you had better get it right.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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