Breaking News From 1941

Daily Best of the Web   —   Posted on November 1, 2016

The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal’s “Best of the Web” at The Wall Street Journal written by the editor, James Taranto.

Breaking News From 1941
“Germany to Send Tanks to Russian Border”—headline, Deutsche Welle website, Oct. 27

Question and Answer

• “How Early Voting Helps Hillary Clinton”—headline, Time, Oct. 25
• “FBI in New Hillary Clinton Email Investigation 11 Days Before Presidential Election”—headline, Independent (London), Oct. 28

Look Out Below!
“Millennial Support for Clinton Falls in Final Days of Election”—headline, Washington Examiner, Oct. 30

Bottom Story of the Day 
“Pentagon Won’t Use Robots That Decide on Their Own When to Kill”—headline, McClatchy, Oct. 28

Other Than That, the Story Was Accurate
“An obituary on Wednesday about the pilot Bob Hoover referred incorrectly to his escape from a prisoner of war camp in the final days of World War II. While he escaped from the camp with a friend, only Mr. Hoover then flew a German aircraft to freedom; his friend was not with him on the plane. The obituary also misstated the name of the Ohio airfield, now part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where Mr. Hoover was based after the war. It was Wright Field, not Wilbur Wright Field. In addition, the obituary misidentified the Bell Aircraft X-1, which Mr. Hoover trained to fly. It was a rocket plane, not a jet. The obituary also misidentified the company with which North American Aviation, for which Mr. Hoover worked as a test pilot, merged. It was Rockwell-Standard, not Rockwell International. And the obituary referred incorrectly to the P-51 fighter. It was a propeller plane, not a jet, and Mr. Hoover did not test it at Wright Field. In addition, a picture caption with the obituary misidentified the plane shown with Mr. Hoover. It is an F-100D Super Sabre, not an F-86 Sabre. And because of an editing error, the byline for the obituary misstated the surname of the reporter in some copies. He is Craig H. Mellow, not Bellow.”—New York Times, Oct. 28

Journalists Against Journalism
“FBI leaking info that could influence an election a week out,” tweeted Politico’s Glenn Thrush yesterday, with a link to the Wall Street Journal scoop we cited atop today’s column. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes tweeted: “It is totally insane that warring anonymous leaks from the FBI is how we’re getting details on the email situation.”

Guys, it’s called journalism. Our favorite tweet along these lines comes from David Ignatius of the Washington Post, the paper whose main Watergate source turned out to be the deputy FBI director: “Note to Comey: In news business, you wouldn’t publish story so thin 10 days before election, w/o providing details.”

Ignatius links to the New York Times, but the Post itself published the very same “story so thin” on Friday.

For more “Best of the Web” from The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto click here.