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Course Material for Media & Politics Professor Susan E. Gallagher, UMASS Lowell Page Four: The Fallout In line with his slippery accusations, Robinson's targets generally never recover even after his reports are found to be inconclusive or misleading. For example, in deciding to present Paul Parks with an award for distinguished service during World War Two despite Robinson's efforts to impugn Parks's military record, B'nai B'rith observed, ""Although there is no eyewitness support for Parks's claims, neither is there any eyewitness refutation, and his US military records are not inconsistent with his account." Parks, however, is still maligned on the Internet in pages such as Uncle Remus Goes to Dachau, a site devoted to fomenting hatred between Blacks and Jews. Joseph Ellis, who was suspended from teaching for a year and removed from his endowed chair at Mount Holyoke, has suffered a similar fate. A Google search on "Joseph Ellis" produces Joseph Ellis Vietnam War Wannabe as the first hit, and a little further down the list, before any hits on Founding Brothers, his widely celebrated history of the men who led the American Revolution, surfers find the following biographical entry from Infoplease:
Gore and Flynn have not paid quite as dearly, that is, they have at least provoked media critics of Robinson's work to come to their aid. Gore's friend and ally, Bob Somerby, has devoted many pages in his Daily Howler to correcting Robinson's misleading reporting on the former Vice President. And Robinson was also taken to task for his screeds against both Ellis and Flynn by Jack Beatty in a piece in The Atlantic Unbound. Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist v. Clergy Sex Abuse Victim Edwards, in keeping with the heft of Robinson's campaign to destroy him, has, at least to date, been almost entirely vanquished. Thanks to the Globe's misreporting, Edwards was not only forced to withdraw his lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Boston, his undeserved reputation as a liar cost him his business, drove him into suicidal depression, and obliged him to leave his home state. While Edwards, like Robinson's other targets, has gathered many defenders, none has made any headway with the Globe and, as a result, Edwards' reputation remains in ruins. In order to convey the facts of the situation, it necessary to summarize what's happened so far in the aftermath of Edwards' accusations against Foster and Cummings: First, relying on the Globe's attacks on Edwards' credibility, the Boston Archdiocese pressured Edwards' lawyer, Eric Parker, into dismissing his lawsuit with prejudice, which means that Edwards cannot sue the Church again no matter what new facts come to light. Then, even though all of the evidence unearthed in the course of the Archdiocese's internal investigation of Edwards' charges shed more doubt on the accused than the accuser, Foster was cleared and returned to ministry in October 2002. At that point, the Globe had published over a dozen articles that falsely portrayed Edwards as a pathological liar. Nevertheless, in December 2003, after months of pressure from victim advocates, and after two more lawsuits had been filed against Cummings, the Archdiocese finally gave up trying to malign Edwards' credibility and settled with him on the Cummings claim. However, the Archdiocese continues to stonewall on Edwards' charge against Foster. Now, having yet to specify any reason for Foster's reinstatement other than the Globe's groundless assault of his accuser, the Archdiocese responds to ongoing inquiries from advocacy groups by simply insisting that the Foster case is closed. Since recounting all of the ins and outs of the Globe's bulldozing of Edwards would be far too tedious for most readers, here are just a few examples:
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