Harry Reid (not) beaten up by his brother: Creator of fabricated story calls out right-wing media

Source: Las Vegas Sun

A Las Vegas man claims he started a false rumor that the injuries suffered by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid several months ago were the result of an attack by Reid’s brother, not an exercise accident.

Larry Pfeifer, a 50-year-old former nightclub promoter, said he fabricated the story after becoming appalled that right-wing political blogger John Hinderaker published a rumor that Reid’s injuries stemmed from an assault by a Mafia enforcer. Pfeifer said he pitched his fake story about the Reid brothers’ supposed fight to Hinderaker, author of the Power Line blog, to test whether the blogger would publish it, as well. When Hinderaker reported it and the rumor was subsequently spread by others in conservative media, Pfeifer says he began plotting to self-report it as a lie to show the lack of credibility and journalistic standards among partisan media figures.

... The rumor spread quickly after Hinderaker published it April 3, landing Pfeifer on conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham’s radio program six days later when Hinderaker was a guest host, and leading to a conversation between Pfeifer and Rush Limbaugh. Pfeifer said he tried to get on Limbaugh’s show, where he planned to admit he’d made up the story.

... He said he decided to present the truth after Limbaugh rejected him as a guest but repeated the rumor April 15 on his talk-radio show. Neither Limbaugh nor Hinderaker presented the story as fact, and both told their audience to take it for what it was worth. “Is Easton Elliott telling the truth? I have absolutely no idea,” Hinderaker said on Ingraham’s show. (Easton Elliott was the pseudonym Pfeifer adopted.) “He called me and told me this story. He’s related it consistently. Whether he’s right or not, I don’t know.”

But Pfeifer said it was still unconscionable for them to spread it, and now he’s looking to get as much exposure as possible. “Can I set off a domino effect where people say, ‘We’re sick of this,’ and start turning away from this kind of media or maybe boycott their sponsors?” he said.

Read more: http://lasvegassun.com/news/2015/apr/26/big-lie-las-vegan-watches-his-reid-tale-takes/