Friday, September 25, 2009

NBC 'Bite Me, Jew Boy' E-mail and ALG

Did Jane Stone, a producer for NBC's Dateline, send this anti-Semitic e-mail to Alex Rosenwald, the Americans for Limited Government Director of Media Outreach?

ALG Statement in Response to NBC "Bite me, Jew Boy" Email

Bill Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government

Americans for Limited Government is appalled that an employee of the NBC news network apparently felt it was appropriate to send an email to an ALG employee, in response to a standard news release, saying, "Bite me, Jew Boy."

According to ALG records, the email came from the Blackberry and email address of Jane Stone, a producer for NBC's Dateline. The email was sent to Alex Rosenwald, the ALG Director of Media Outreach. The news release to which Ms Stone apparently responded was one in which ALG called upon Congress to defund ACORN.

Americans for Limited Government does not contend that NBC or its parent company GE, are anti-Semitic. What is highly disturbing, however, is that there clearly is a culture at NBC that has allowed this person who clearly has issues to go unchecked.

Ms Stone claims she did not send the offensive email. If that is not the case, we at ALG call upon her to help ascertain who did send it using her Blackberry and her email address. If Ms Stone did, in fact, send it, we at ALG call upon Ms Stone to apologize to Mr. Rosenwald, and we call upon the NBC hierarchy above Ms Stone to join her in issuing that apology.

Jane Stone and NBC have some explaining to do.
____________________

UPDATE, from Politico:
NBC News president Steve Capus fired back at Americans for Limited Government Friday, after the conservative group published an email allegedly from NBC producer Jane Stone to its director of media outreach Alex Rosenwald, with one line: “Bite me Jew Boy.”

“I’m still in shock, and outraged that this reckless organization would go out with such a defamatory, irresponsible statement,” Capus told POLITICO. “We have done a complete email analysis, all of our IT, all of our records.”

Here's what both sides agree on: Stone responded yesterday to a mass email from ALG.

But Stone’s response email—provided to POLITICO—did not have any anti-Semitic comment. In fact, it had just one line: “Take me off this list!” (There are also subtle differences, including number of dashes, between the two emails).

“Somebody, on the other end, I’m assuming, took the return stamp from the email and then put in this hateful message,” Capus said. “I don’t know who did it. It’s outrageous to suspect that somebody from NBC News would do it.”

Capus said he contacted the group and asked them to rescind the press release that accompanied publication of the email. He said that ALG would not agree, and the instead responded with a “politically-fueled rant against NBC, and a completely irresponsible diatribe."

Stone is a 15-year employee at NBC, and also teaches at NYU. (In full disclosure: I took her class on “Press Ethics" in spring 2004, and was therefore shocked by the allegations made by ALG).

It shouldn't take too long to determine the truth here.

There's an e-trail. There's evidence. It's e-mail. There's proof in the technology that cannot be denied.

More than anyone, Jane Stone should want to find out who sent the anti-Semitic e-mail using her Blackberry, if, as she claims, she did not.

One thing is certain, the individual responsible for the message is reprehensible.

Jane Stone should make a statement immediately. I question why she is not personally stating that she did not send the anti-Semitic e-mail.

If my Blackberry and e-mail address were hijacked, I would be horrified and demanding to know what happened. I would fear that my personal information had been compromised. First and foremost, I would state unequivocally that the message was not sent by me.

Because of the e-trail, we'll learn what happened here.

____________________

ALG responds to NBC's response:
ALG Response to NBC Accusations on Politico:
"We did our due diligence."

Carter Clews, Director of Communications, Americans for Limited Government

We at Americans for Limited Government are saddened that instead of helping us to get to the bottom of the hateful email that was indeed sent from NBC's server, and this can be verified, and was not tampered with, which can also be verified, that NBC President Steve Capus has instead chosen to circle the wagons and protect what is indefensible with hysterical, frantic accusations.

This email has left a digital footprint that is undeniable. We did our due diligence. We have confirmed that it indeed came from NBC's server and Jane Stone's email address.

As before, we renew our offer that we made to both Ms. Stone and NBC President Capus over the phone today to get to the bottom of who sent this email from Ms. Stone's Blackberry email address. That offer remains open, and we would like it very much if both Ms. Stone and NBC would issue an apology to both Americans for Limited Government, and Mr. Alex Rosenwald, who was the target of this hateful email.

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