Lucy Morrow Caldwell: Distorted Journalist

Update 8/13/07:
A spokeswoman for Caroline Hanover gave an explanation: "Before the presidential campaign got underway, Caroline added herself to a list on Facebook as an expression of interest in certain principles. It was not intended as an indication of support in a presidential campaign and she has removed it. Caroline is not commenting on the 2008 election."

The semester is about to start at Harvard and I wonder if the Crimson staff are planning to give their take on the Caroline Giuliani story in their first semester issue.

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First things first, nothing is safe on the internet. If you post a blog entry, picture, comment, or any document, anyone can see it and use it. For most college students, the fun idea of posting photos and videos on Facebook, MySpace, or College Humor comes with possible but likely consequences.

With that said, we often say that public figures such as government leaders, celebrities, and sport athletes are fair game to the media and everyone else. You got private detectives, paparazzi, bloggers, celeb sites, and even regular fans trying to find any information that can be used for either good publicity or "dirt."

Yet, there was a recent media blitz on the life of Caroline Giuliani, a 18-year-old student who will be attending Harvard in the fall, and is the estranged daughter of Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. She was born when Rudy was married with his second wife, Donna Hanover. Rudy and Donna divorced in 2002. He is currently married with his third wife, Judith Nathan.

Now why haven't we heard about Caroline before? Well, Rudy hasn't really kept in touch with his children from his second wife. We learned that Caroline now uses her mother's surname, Hanover. She also got into Havard University, but Rudy did not know that.

This is where Lucy Morrow Caldwell enters the fray. She is also a fellow student at Harvard, and is a columnist for the Harvard Crimson. On Monday, August 6, she posted an article on Slate.com called "Daddy Dearest: Rudy Giuliani's Daughter is Supporting Barack Obama" alleging that Caroline was a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate. What was her source for this information? Facebook.

How was Ms. Caldwell able to view her facebook profile? Since Caroline listed herself as a member of the Harvard network, she was able to view it. (Note that anyone who is a member of Harvard and Trinity School networks would be able to find Caroline's profile.)

I would assume that through some investigative work, Caldwell managed to find Caroline's relation with Rudy. In her article, she stated that "the future Harvard freshman and recent graduate of Trinity School in Manhattan uses a slight variation of her name" to avoid detection. How slight was it? There is a graphic copy of Caroline's Facebook profile on the story web site with Caroline and the rest of her username blurred out. The actual username was Caroline Rose G. I think that is more than slight. I believe that the columnist had to dig deeper to draw out the connection between Caroline and the presidential candidate. The blurring was done intentionally by Lucy to cause deception.

Next is that we are basing everything on her support for Barack Obama on the fact that she was a member of the group Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack). After Slate.com sent Caroline an inquiry on that, she removed herself from the group. Of course Lucy chooses to hype it up by saying that Rudy's daughter was "proclaiming" about her membership in that liberal group. Yet we do not know whether she joined the group to keep track of what's going on. We do not even know if she really is a die-hard supporter for Barack Obama. It seems we are only interested in just the membership itself, and not the reasons behind it.

Of course Lucy ends the article by saying that the girl "does not reveal why she doesn't want her father to win the White House. She has not responded to e-mail questions from Slate." First, there is nothing in her profile that states that she does not want Rudy to win. I would bet that she tried to ask those questions to Caroline, but she refused to answer them. So Ms. Caldwell chose to draw her own distorted facts.

This was a cheapshot to get the quickest headline, especially on a national level. By choosing to write a sensationalist and speculative article and breaking privacy rules, she is unfit to be a journalist. I wonder if she tried to submit it to the campus newspaper but I guess she needed a place to maximize the impact and publicity so she chose Slate.com, and the rest is history.

Here's another thing: payback's a bitch.

Facebook's Terms of Use (under "User Content on Site"):
You may not post, transmit, or share User Content on the Site or Service that you did not create or that you do not have permission to post.

As a result of violating Facebook's privacy rules, Ms. Caldwell's account was suspended. Of course, she says she has no regrets violating her own agreement with Facebook and invading the privacy of this girl.

She also violated the Journalistic Code of Ethics:
Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence, or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone's privacy. Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.

On CNN's American Morning (see video), it shows Caldwell "bragging" that her time on Facebook "really paid off." If you watch the video, you will see that when asked if Giuliani's daughter endorsed Obama, as her own article stated, she can't actually say she did. It goes to show that she did not have any more conclusive evidence.

It is also sad to see every other media jumping on the bandwagon creating sensational headlines.

Chicago Sun-Times: "Giuliani's daughter jumps onto Obama bandwagon"

Boston Herald: "Sorry, Dad, I Like Obama"

NY Times: "Is Giuliani's Daughter an Obama Supporter?"

Gothamist: "Giuliani's Daughter Must Really Hate Him"

CNN too:

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By gaining the national spotlight for a few days by dragging Caroline with her, we should take a look at Ms. Caldwell's information.

She currently lives in Adams House C-42 and her email is caldwell@fas.harvard.edu. Since she sent questions to Caroline, so surely it is fine for people to send questions to her. Note that this information is public without restriction.

Correction:
At least I acknowledge my mistakes rather than for others that choose to ignore it. According to this link, Caroline was born July 22, 1989, so yes you are correct that she is 18 years old.

Response to Anonymous comment #2:
Fine, I shall act decent and remove her phone number, but her e-mail is public knowledge so anyone can choose to protest and share their feelings over her actions. Also, Ms. Caldwell is a '09 graduate so that would make her 2 years older, but her journalistic experience requires much more improvement. If she wants to present a well thought-out analysis on why Caroline wants to support Obama, get the facts and sources to substantiate it. Don't do a one-sided piece.

Also, Ms. Caldwell should know the consequences. She put her own neck out there. She does not get a free pass. The point is that she presented a piece of gossip news as a good journalistic article which is utter crap. Then she goes on CNN and brags about it. She was even happy that she broke Facebook rules to do this. Who's more ignorant? Also, bare in mind that many online news outlets do publicize their e-mail addresses and contact information. I would be happy to publicize the Crimson newspaper main line so visitors can voice their discontent.

Another thought on privacy violation:
Yes, Caroline's profile was not exactly private. Only those that went to Trinity High School, Harvard University, friends, and members of the Obama group can see it. Caldwell went beyond and somehow found a connection to Rudy Giuliani. She probably checked other sites and found photos matching both, or she confirmed her suspicions by trying to ask Caroline and got no answers, and assumed that this was Rudy's daughter. The way Facebook verifies user information is not that perfect. Also, the violation is copying the entire Facebook profile over to another network. Not really a huge no-no, but Facebook did not want to take any chances.

Do we really know Rudy's daughter?
Some blogs have applauded Caroline for speaking her mind. A well independent-minded daughter they cry. But did they talk to Caroline? Nope. Then how do they know? They don't, it's all speculation. Just by listing as a member of Barack's group, she must possess the qualities of a Democrat, so that's it. Quite a stupid way of finding out the truth.