On Tuesday, The Occasions of London retracted a narrative important of Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York Metropolis, after it was revealed that the paper printed phony quotes purporting to be from former Mayor Invoice de Blasio.
The retracted story, which is archived at this hyperlink, ran with the headline “Zohran Mamdani ally Bill de Blasio says his policies ‘don’t add up.’” It purportedly quoted de Blasio voicing issues about Mamdani’s coverage proposals—however the quotes had been pretend.
“The story in the Times of London is entirely false and fabricated,” de Blasio posted on X after the story was printed. “It was just brought to my attention and I’m appalled. I never spoke to that reporter and never said those things. Those quotes aren’t mine, don’t reflect my views.”
Former Mayor of New York Metropolis Invoice de Blasio, proper, proven in 2019.
The paper then pulled the article and claimed in an announcement that “our reporter had been misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor.” The story was written by Bevan Hurley, described by the Occasions as a “senior reporter” for the U.S.
Hurley has written a number of articles on the New York Metropolis mayoral race, with a lot of them important of Mamdani.
The anti-Mamdani marketing campaign doesn’t seem like working. Polls present Mamdani main within the race towards Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who’s working as an unbiased after he misplaced to Mamdani within the Democratic major.
The embarrassing episode exhibits simply how keen Murdoch’s media machine is for destructive tales about Mamdani, and the way that push for smears has now backfired.
