May 19 2010
Statement About a Letter Supposedly from WSB-TV in Atlanta
UPDATE: WSB-TV FedExed the letter in question to our office on May 19, two days after Wayne Pacelle reported "receiving" a copy of it at HSUS's factory-fundraising headquarters (May 17). We're convinced that HSUS's people wrote the letter. The "original" copy we received wasn't even signed in ink. It's printed with a (very sloppy) scanned signature. Click here to see the FedEx waybill.
This afternoon Wayne Pacelle blogged about a letter our Executive Director supposedly received from WSB-TV in Atlanta. We say "supposedly" because we first saw it on Pacelle's blog. (He got it and we didn't, which should tell you all you need to know about this whole episode and how it was arranged.)
Moreover, the letter itself -- assuming it's genuine -- wrongly suggests that we have re-broadcast the fantastic piece of investigative journalism that WSB broadcast last year. We never uploaded it to YouTube or any other online service. Many, many others did.
Pacelle seems especially perturbed by the fact that the video in question is still widely available on a file-sharing service in the Islamic Republic of Iran. If he's really interested in curtailing people's rights to free expression in that country, we suggest that he take it up with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Given that Iran is now apparently a nuclear nation, we recommend that he ask nicely.
In the mean-time, WSB-TV did publish an online "clarification" -- not a "correction" or a "retraction" as Pacelle has claimed at various times. (Yes, Wayne, there's a difference.) The news station basically said that HSUS disagreed with its reporting, but that the station stood by it:
We have a clarification to make about our story on the Humane Society of the United States. WSB-TV reported that HSUS spent almost $7 million for victims of Hurricane Katrina. HSUS says all $34 million of the funds raised in the wake of Katrina are tracked on its web site in a detailed report. [emphasis added]
Of course, what "HSUS says..." isn't the same as "it's true that..."
If WSB-TV's management now wants to change its mind and scratch Mr. Pacelle's back and put their faith in his self-serving spin, instead of trusting the judgment of its own award-winning reporters, that's their business.
We have to wonder how much HSUS paid them. But we'll just keep reporting the truth. Someone has to.
Posted on 05/19/2010 at 02:32 PM by the HumaneWatch Team
Announcements • Audio & Video • (19) CommentsComments
I can’t stop laughing…nicely done…PLEASE, confront Iran, I dare you!
Great Job! With any luck Wayne will keep talking about this issue so YOU can keep talking about it. HSUS must be getting desperate - they are making more and more PR and communication strategy mistakes.
ALL MY DOGS LOVE HUMANE WATCH!!!
WOOFS AND WAGS!!!
Did anyone else but me notice the change of fonts and line spacing in the letter allegedly written by Cox? Looked pretty amateurish. But what do I know?
Wow. That touched a nerve.
My only thing (being the devils’ advocate here) is how would we know if you guys HAD gotten that letter? It’s not like you would tell us.
However, that was a very good story and that was an objective report as well.
So is this letter real?
Why do I ask?
1. It’s not dated.
2. Why would a VP/General Manager write the letter when he could just farm it out to his legal department.
3. Why would he go into this long explanation including web links if he wanted CCF to cease and desist (which isn’t mentioned using those legal terms)
4. The letter is not CC to their legal department just HSUS. Why would they copy HSUS especially if they are concerned about their intellectual property rights?
“but it’s actually just a gathering place for dogfighters, cockfighters, puppy millers, sealers, trophy hunters, factory farmers, furriers, keepers of exotic wildlife as pets, and zoophiles, among others.”
OK which one am I?/ which one are you? Wayne is not only losing it.. he is libeling all of us… hmm
zoophiles….?/ He is one who follows Peter Singer.. lead zoophiler” of them all!!!!
excuse me now.. I must go out and feed the tiger..LOL.. I wonder what wayne feeds the paper tiger??
I’m trying to stop laughing at old WW….I’d say we should take up a collection to donate a TICKET for WW to go visit Iran <G> but he may get us all blown sky high and I already saw 2 videos from WSB-TV about THE BORDER and its not just Mexican Citizens crossing there soooo…..that station does a good investigative job when they aren’t FIRING? good reporters, I think.
If you do get a letter, I’m curious whether the post mark will be from DC or from Atlanta. I have a guess…
The letter says “To view the full report, “click”“, which to me means it is an e-mail. Not a hard copy.
Can you stamp an e-mail as received? Honestly, I don’t know the answer to that one LOL.
Just like a cornered dog that’s scared witless, Wayne and HSUS are barking and growling a lot. Their teeth are showing!
Do horse slaughter proponents support your group? It will be interesting to see if my question is moderated - may just have formed my own answer then.
If HSUS actually had a leg to stand on, they would have already sued the news station. It’s cheaper for the news station to possibly hand WW a letter and then not send it to HW. We like to see WW whine, it means he has to work harder.
I can remember when I lived in the Atlanta area, that tv station has uncovered a lot things that us
consumers need to know. Good job again!!!
I found the accusation that CCF was behind the Vidoosh posting hilarious… because I put it there! They have some pretty strong ideas about free speech…
Had they just kept their mouths shut it all would have blown over, but now thousands more will hear about it and see it! HILARIOUS!
So where are all the letters of apology to the 100’s of people continually defamed on the HSUS’s youtube “channel”? Video propaganda from dog breeders’ operations, veal farms, dairy farms, and etc. The dog “raid” they were involved in South Dakota has since been determined illegal, yet their propaganda video from that incident is still on youtube, calling it a “barbaric” business. What about all their “undercover” video posted on youtube?
There are so many odd things about that letter, not the least of which are the spacing issues that Barbara mentioned. There is no date on the letter, which does not make any sense for a letter of this kind (unless someone wrote the letter not knowing how long it would take to bully their target into signing it), and it keeps making references to information from HSUS’ web site, which also makes no sense in this kind of a letter.
And the part about “HSUS has provided additional information that contradicts CCF’s suggestion… that little to none of the funds… goes to help local shelters” Huh? The reporter got that information from HSUS’ annual report, HSUS’ own Georgia rep, and their own phone calls to local shelters.
I can’t imagine a news station writing a letter like this on their own without getting their attorneys involved, and I can’t imagine a news station’s attorney writing or approving a cease-and-desist letter that puts their own station in such a bad light. The general rule would be to stick to the facts and don’t say more than you need to.
You’d think that with all the high paid attorneys on staff at HSUS, they could do a better job of crafting a letter like this. It reads like it was written by one of their PR interns (or maybe Wayne himself).
P.S. I am on Mac Safari and keep getting an error that I haven’t typed in the captcha, even though I have.
WHO IS TRUDY BEDFORD? I googled the name and found several things, one in Metro Atlanta but Linkedln did not seem to show any connection to the station.
who is she is right.. and why would this letter not be sent from the person who (supposedly) wrote it… where is the statement from the head of the station? smells as fishy as a vegan’s old socks
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I have the transcript posted on my website.