James Holmes’s mother insists that ABC News purposely mischaracterized her statement in a phone call made to her the morning of the Colorado massacre.
Arlene Holmes, the mother of Colorado theater shooting suspect James Holmes, has suggested that ABC News mischaracterized her when it reported that her initial statement to the reporter, “you have the right person,” was a reference to her son. ABC News, in its latest example of journalistic malpractice, has once again twisted facts to fit it’s own agenda.
“This statement is to clarify a statement made by ABC media. I was awakened by a call from a reporter by ABC on July 20 about 5:45 in the morning. I did not know anything about a shooting in Aurora at that time,” Holmes said in a statement this afternoon, read to the national press by attorney Lisa Damiani. “He asked if I was Arlene Holmes and if my son was James Holmes who lives in Aurora, Colorado. I answered yes, you have the right person. I was referring to myself.”
“I asked him to tell me why he was calling and he told me about a shooting in Aurora,” she continues. “He asked for a comment. I told him I could not comment because I did not know if the person he was talking about was my son, and I would need to find out.”
In the first paragraph of its initial report on Friday, ABC News reported that it had identified the correct James Holmes because his mother “told ABC News her son was likely the alleged culprit, saying, ‘You have the right person.'”
If Arlene Holmes’ latest statement is true, it means that she did not tell ABC News her son was likely the alleged culprit, calling into question the reporting of a network that has already been marred by one inaccuracy.
In the very same article, published on Friday, ABC News initially suggested that the suspect might have connections to the Colorado Tea Party Patriots. The report, based off a single web profile of a man with the same name, was inaccurate. ABC News and one of the reporters, Brian Ross, later apologized for the “mistake” in a statement that now tops the very same article in question.
Sources tell POLITICO that on an editorial conference call this morning, ABC News SVP James Goldston said the network is taking steps to ensure that incorrect reports such as Ross’s do not happen again.
A spokesperson with ABC News told POLITICO that it will address Arlene Holmes’ statement in a forthcoming blog post later this afternoon.
UPDATE: ABC News is standing by its reporting and rebutting Arlene Holmes’ claim in a new article about the family’s decision to stand by its son:
ABC News reporter Matthew Mosk said today that he awoke Arlene Holmes and informed her that a man, he believed was her son had been arrested in Aurora and asked to confirm their relationship.
“You have to tell me what happened… You have to tell me what happened,” the woman on the phone said, according to Mosk. Mosk said he told her that ABC News had learned the 24-year-old had been identified by police as the lone suspect in the mass killing in Aurora, Colo and that the details of the events were still taking shape.
Just prior to the press conference, Damiani contacted ABC News to determine whether there existed a recording of the pre-dawn conversation between Mosk and her client, according to Mosk.
One hour after learning there was no audio recording, Damiani held the conference and read Arlene Holmes’ statement.
Mosk’s version of events contradict those of Arlene Holmes, who claimed not to know about the shooting prior to stating, “You have the right person.” clearly referred to her confirming that when asked to identify herself, that was her reply. To mistake that for anything else is pure journalistic malpractice. ABC News has done this now at least 3 or 4 times in past couple of months. The Trayvonn Martin shooting where they doctored the 911 tapes, insinuating that James Holmes was a member of the Tea Party and George Stephanopoulos’ purposeful ginning up of the phony war on women issue by implying that States want to ban contraception
