The worst media disaster in May

May brought with it more than flowers—it also brought at least one cringe-worthy media blunder.

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But in this case he didn’t go on offense for several days. His lack of doing so was noteworthy, because it was inconsistent with his previous actions—and it led large swaths of the public to reach the conclusion that he’s guilty of at least something.

Here’s the story: On May 16, journalists for an American website and a Canadian newspaper said they had been shown a “secret” video of Rob Ford appearing to smoke crack. The next day, Ford faced reporters and issued this uninspired denial:

RELATED: Toronto’s mayor denies he was caught on video smoking crack

If you were falsely accused of smoking crack, wouldn’t you issue a stronger denial? Eight days later—on May 24—Ford finally spoke to the media again to issue another denial. But trucks could have driven through the holes in his vague statement:

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