Laurence Darmiento, a journalist for the Los Angeles Times, reached out to OMG for comment regarding our latest undercover investigation, “The State Farm Tapes.” The subject of the investigation, Haden Kirkpatrick, claimed OMG’s footage was “selectively edited,” and Darmiento emailed OMG seeking James O’Keefe’s response. However, OMG later learned that the LA Times had decided not to update the story with Kirkpatrick’s claims, thereby eliminating the need for O’Keefe’s response altogether.
When O’Keefe questioned the LA Times’ inclusion of a 2013 settlement he was involved in, Darmiento deflected, claiming he was “in the middle of something” and would call back. O’Keefe then pointed out the irony: the Los Angeles Times itself settled a $3 million pay disparity lawsuit brought by a multi-ethnic group of journalists who alleged they were paid less than their white male counterparts. In its own reporting, the LA Times carefully noted that the company “denied the allegations and did not admit any wrongdoing.” Yet, in referencing O’Keefe’s past case, Darmiento conveniently omitted that O’Keefe also admitted no wrongdoing.
O’Keefe also pointed out that Darmiento’s article failed to acknowledge his multiple legal victories over the years, referencing a New York Times ombudsman who reviewed O’Keefe’s ACORN raw footage and confirmed that “the most damning words match the transcripts and the audio and do not seem out of context.”
O’Keefe called out Darmiento for engaging in precisely the type of selective editing it accused him of, concluding, “You project onto me everything that you are and everything that you do. It’s a willful disregard of the truth, and that’s why you’re going to print a retraction.”
