Monday I wrote about a lengthy exposé of the Women’s March published by Tablet magazine. The piece featured a number of threads but I focused on the anti-Semitism of the group’s co-chairs and how that revealed itself from the beginning of the organization in a number of awkward encounters. Wednesday, a PR agency called Megaphone Strategies sent out an email to a number of reporters. The PR email offered to share fact-checks and evidence that the Tablet story was rife with errors but suggested reporters should first consider deleting their tweets sharing the Tablet story. From Mediaite [emphasis added]:

A couple days after the Tablet piece came out, which detailed the alleged anti-Semitism of Women’s March co-chairs Carmen Perez and Tamika Mallory, Megaphone Strategies staffer Inarú Meléndezsent out a lengthy email to numerous reporters who shared the article, claiming that Tablet planned to correct the piece soon and she could prove it — but only if they deleted their tweets…

“Before we share the fact-check: Can you confirm that what I am sending you is off the record, and will not be published? If you are interested in publishing any parts of the fact-checks below that you will contact us first to secure our agreement? You will let us know if you intend to delete your tweet pushing an article that includes sources/allegations, which were not vetted properly and in line with journalistic ethics? Once I receive your reply, I’ll send over the corrections.“

The Free Beacon’s Stephen Gutowski was one of the first people to highlight this very unusual attempt at damage control:

Who else got this weird email claiming to have contradicting information on @TabletMag's story on the Women's March but requiring an off-the-record agreement to share any of it? I've never seen anything quite like this before. pic.twitter.com/dWqyg23XtT

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) December 12, 2018

This is the weirdest attempt at damage control I've ever seen. If you have information that supposedly clears your client then you should share it publicly instead of trying to go off-the-record with every reporter who tweeted (or even RTed) the story. It makes no sense.

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) December 12, 2018

Numerous other reporters chimed in as they noticed the email.

I did https://t.co/XBHJ5nfBnN

— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) December 12, 2018

I also received this https://t.co/jTaKrpX3uk

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) December 12, 2018

Uh what pic.twitter.com/fDvIu77Cgq

— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) December 12, 2018

https://twitter.com/erinbiba/status/1072955371088740359

Hi Inarú,

Saw you’ve sent this threatening email to other journalists who shared @Tablet’s piece exposing anti-semitism in the @WomensMarch.

No, I won't be blackmailed to delete content with promises of *secret off the record facts.*

*That* would violate journalistic ethics. pic.twitter.com/XgaupKJTQS

— Kelsey Bolar (Harkness) (@kelseybolar) December 12, 2018

And there was some evidence the PR strategy backfired. A few reporters shared the story simply because they were irritated by the attempt to bully other reporters into deleting their tweets:

https://twitter.com/ByronTau/status/1072948095967789061

I really want that PR firm to email me and tell me to take down this tweet https://t.co/48zLxNngaq

— Zachary Kussin (@zacharykussin) December 12, 2018

After seeing this awful email from dozens of journos on my timeline, I'm now reading the original @TabletMag story, which would have otherwise slipped right past me. I had never heard of nor read Tablet before. Way to go, PR team.

— Michael Hanisco (@michaelhanisco) December 12, 2018

Eventually, Tablet did make some corrections to the piece but those changes fell far short of undercutting the piece. In fact, Tablet senior writer Yair Rosenberg argued some of the corrections actually strengthened the piece:

So you may have heard a PR firm claiming Tablet was going to correct our 10,000-word Women's March expose. Well, here are all 4 changes. They do not substantively change the piece, but they do strengthen it! (e.g. We understated how many local marches had already broken away.) pic.twitter.com/jj1q7KiDlP

— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) December 12, 2018

The NY Times Nick Confessore noted that left-leaning outlets seemed curiously disinterested in the story:

There are left-leaning outlets that will aggregate a ham sandwich that don’t seem interested in this Tablet story—even to criticize it.

— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) December 12, 2018

So who is this PR group that sent out the email? Apparently, Megaphone Strategies was started by CNN commentator Van Jones. The group’s Facebook page describes them as “Solutions by the movement for the movement.” Their website lists a whole host of progressive clients including Black Lives Matter, CAIR, Indivisible and, not surprisingly, the Women’s March. I wonder who hired them to send out this email?