The Leo Webb saga wrap-up

NSOM sent us a link that’s about a month-and-a-half old from Poynter.org in which they reported on how Leo Webb, the sniper/baseball pro, got his fabricated story on the air. We first wrote about Leo when two observant readers heard his bullshit story on their local public radio station. Then again when the media outlet took the story down.

But the Poynter folks went back and asked the producers at Marketplace and KQED how Leo slipped through their obviously rigorous vetting process. Basically they answered what we expected they would; he said the things we wanted to hear;

“We have a mission and big push on right now to make sure that voices that aren’t always heard on public radio are heard,” he said, noting this can include people who are marginalized or disenfranchised by society.

Deborah Clark, the executive producer of Marketplace, said her program also has a goal to “bring in a diversity of voices that aren’t heard very often.” (Walton and Clark also spoke with Erik Wemple today.)

This drive to find untold or ignored stories helped Webb get on the air. Clark said in the case of her program, Webb’s tale “didn’t receive the standard editorial vetting from us that it should have.” She said it would be standard procedure for the program to contact the military to verify Webb’s claims prior to airing his words. That didn’t happen.

Walton said KQED also didn’t contact the military prior to airing the piece, nor did it check any databases of minor league baseball players to confirm Webb’s account that he played Double A ball for the Chicago Cubs.

“There is a [vetting] process and part of it is that the person does work worth the editor of the piece quite a bit, so you generally have an idea that person is who they said they are,” he said.

Yeah, there is a “big push” for “a diversity of voices”. That’s a good excuse. In other words, we’re in a hurry to push the “crazy vet” image on the public and we’ll put anyone on the air who facilitates that meme.

Just looking for the shitbag on Facebook might have raised a few flags, since the only mention of the military on his page is the fact that he likes NCIS, but he lists the two semesters he spent at community college.

So Marketplace got their “diversity of voices” that they were seeking. A lying POS poser. And just because he’s a lying POS poser outed by people who would recognize a lying POS poser when they see one, there are still people out there who would prefer to believe him. Why let the truth get in the way of a generally accepted meme.

And clearly others are disappointed that his story isn’t true.

Category: Phony soldiers