UPDATED 3X - NY Daily News Reporter: It Seems I Created ‘Friends Of Hamas’ Hagel Rumor

Source: TPM

Dan Friedman, a reporter in the New York Daily News' Washington bureau, has reason to believe he is the source of a rumor claiming that defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel gave a speech to a shadowy group known as "Friends of Hamas." It started when he called a congressional Republican aide, Friedman wrote in a column published Tuesday:

Hagel was in hot water for alleged hostility to Israel. So, I asked my source, had Hagel given a speech to, say, the “Junior League of Hezbollah, in France”? And: What about “Friends of Hamas”?

Friedman thought the names of those groups were so ridiculous that they would never be thought of as actual organizations. But on Feb. 7, Breitbart News published this report: "Secret Hagel Donor?: White House Spox Ducks Question On 'Friends Of Hamas.'" From there, the story spread on the right.

One problem: as Dave Weigel at Slate wrote, "Friends of Hamas" almost certainly does not exist. Still, Ben Shapiro, Breitbart News editor-at-large, stood by his story," telling Friedman that his piece uses "very, very specific language."

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Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/ny-daily-news-reporter-it-seems-i-created

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Update:

Breitbart’s Ben Shapiro: NYDN Reporter Was Not Source Of ‘Friends Of Hagel’ Rumor

DAVID TAINTOR 10:42 AM EST, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 20, 2013

Breitbart News editor-at-large Ben Shapiro on Wednesday disputed the claim that New York Daily News reporter Dan Friedman started a rumor claiming defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel had ties to a shadowy group known as "Friends of Hamas."

"Sadly, for Friedman, that isn’t true," Shapiro wrote. "In fact, Friedman knew it wasn’t true when he wrote the piece."

Friedman wrote in a column that he sarcastically asked a congressional Republican aide whether Hagel had ever given a speech to a group called "Friends of Hamas." (All evidence has suggested that the group doesn't exist.) But Shapiro on Feb. 7 published an article under the following headline: "Secret Hagel Donor?: White House Spox Ducks Question On 'Friends Of Hamas.'" The story quickly spread in the conservative press.

Shapiro added on Wednesday that the Senate source for his story denied that "Friends of Hamas" came from Friedman. "I have received this information from three separate sources, none of whom was Friedman,” the source said, according to Shapiro.

Shapiro concluded that the whole ordeal is a ploy by the mainstream media to protect President Obama and his nominee for defense secretary.

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http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/breitbarts-ben-shapiro-nydn-reporter-was-not-source

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Update 2:

NYDN Reporter Defends ‘Friends Of Hamas’ Column: ‘What I Wrote Is Correct’

DAVID TAINTOR 11:41 AM EST, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 20, 2013
New York Daily News reporter Dan Friedman on Wednesday defended his column claiming that he started the rumor that defense secretary Chuck Hagel had ties to a shadowy group known as "Friends of Hamas." His defense came after Breitbart News editor-at-large Ben Shapiro disputed Friedman's claim that he inadvertently started the rumor.

"I don't want to get into a debate with Ben. What I wrote is correct," Friedman told TPM in an email.

Shapiro wrote Wednesday that a Senate source for his story on Hagel's possible ties to "Friends of Hamas" -- a group that almost certainly doesn't actually exist -- denied that the information came from Friedman.

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http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/nydn-reporter-defends-friends-of-hamas-post-what

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Update 3:

Breitbart: NYDN Reporter Admits Our Story Is Accurate

DAVID TAINTOR 4:05 PM EST, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 20, 2013

The fallout over the "Friends of Hamas" rumor continued Wednesday afternoon with Breitbart News claiming that New York Daily News reporter Dan Friedman admitted the conservative news site's story on the matter was accurate.

Friedman gave an interview to HuffPost Live on the "Friends of Hamas" rumor, which he claims he unintentionally started. Breitbart News focused on the following quote from Friedman: "I talked to (Breitbart's Ben Shapiro), and what he said was that if you read his lead as caveated, that he didn't directly say this group exists. He said this person told him that they were asked if this group exists. So you can say that that, if you look at it, and read it that way, yes, it's accurate."

On Feb. 7, Shapiro reported that Senate sources told Breitbart News that Hagel had ties to a shadowy group called "Friends of Hamas." Friedman has said he made the group up while asking a congressional Republican aide about Hagel's positions on Israel.

Asked about Breitbart's reporting on the nonexistent group, Friedman told TPM he didn't want to get into a debate with Shapiro. "What I wrote is correct," he said in an email.

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http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/breitbart-nydn-reporter-admits-our-story-is-accurate