Remember Renee Dudley?
She’s the former Charleston Post and Courier investigative reporter who broke open a big transparency scandal involving S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley – who later slammed her as a “little girl” – and a major ethics scandal involving S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell.
What did Dudley get for being the only mainstream media reporter in the state willing to challenge these “Republican” leaders? Easy – she was belittled and smeared by the politicians she exposed, and basically run out of town by her editors (who then repeated the same spineless accommodation with her replacement).
Anyway … Dudley is ruffling feathers again in her new position with Bloomberg. In fact the 27-year-old newsbabe is currently in the midst of a major spat with America’s largest retailer, Walmart.
Earlier this week Dudley reported Walmart was cutting supplier orders for the current quarter due to declining sales.
Walmart – which watched its stock price tank in response to Dudley’s story – quickly dispatched a spokesperson to CNBC, who labeled her reporting “completely false.”
“Renee’s article was wildly inaccurate and irresponsible journalism,” a company spokesman later tweeted.
Wow … them’s fightin’ words.
To its credit Bloomberg – unlike the Post and Courier – has stood by Dudley. And why not? She’s right.
Walmart has been experiencing declining sales. Last quarter it reported an unexpected 0.3 percent decline in U.S. sales – its second consecutive quarterly decline. As a result the company lowered its sales outlook for 2013.
More importantly, Dudley didn’t pull the “cutting supplier orders” story out of thin air, either. She was quoting directly from an email sent by an ordering manager at the company’s Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters.
Not only that, Walmart was given an opportunity to respond to the email in Dudley’s story – and did respond.
This website has dealt with Walmart’s press office – and Dudley – in the past. Bottom line? We trust the “little girl” implicitly on this one – and suspect Walmart’s rebuke was more about doing damage control with antsy investors than honestly critiquing Dudley’s journalistic integrity.
Finally, we’re still waiting on Walmart to tell us definitively whether the company will make good on its promise to create “4,000 new jobs” in South Carolina by the end of 2016 (a.k.a. Nikki Haley’s single biggest jobs announcement since taking office).
Last time we checked (which was before the company’s recent struggles) that promise was still very much up in the air …
30 comments
4,000 low paying jobs that will cost taxpayers in federal entitlements.
And what type of entitlements would they consume if they didn’t have those jobs?
What jobs, the invisible Haley Promised jobs.
Or, the vast number of real lost textile jobs Walmart caused in NC (Cannon Mills, Burlington Mills, etc.) and South Carolina.
That wasn’t my point. My point was addressing the ridiculous assertion that somehow the economy would be better off without the additional 4,000 low paying jobs.
Looks like they would be on food stamps
And they’d probably be better off working somewhere else.
They are still on food stamps while they work at WalMart. People who work there don’t get enough hours to exceed the federal poverty level and are still eligible for food stamps for the most part.
I remember when federal entitlements were few and poverty was about 10%, now when federal entitlements abound it’s 15%. The government is here to help.
I quit eating mangos 15 years ago and automobile accidents have decreased. Must be some connection there.
Did you have gas that bad it caused people to loose their sight while driving?
The “War on Poverty” has had much more dismal results than the “War on Drugs” (my opinion) plus they keep changing the definition of poverty. Now people in “poverty” have AC, a car, a refrigerator, a TV, a roof over their heads, clothing, etc. No, I’m not saying there is no “poverty” but there are an awful lot of able bodied people getting government assistance living better than what “poverty” was when I was a kid.
Smart and Pretty!
No time to read. Is she a hot lawyer?? Come on Sic. It’s been MMMOOOONNNTHS.
WE NEED BIKINI’S
… or better yet, do as Hustler Magazine did and show us “pink”!
Nice, Fits. Walmart is legendarily full of sh*t and this is no exception. You can bet Dudley knows more about their stores and sales than they do, because the Bunglers of Bentonville never actually set foot inside a Walmart. They live in fairy land.
Guys — Renee is a fearless grownup WOMAN!
Sam Walton is rolling in his grave like a blender.
Wally world had ruined Walmart.
It’s a job destroying, traitor to America.
I hope it is eventually shut down and run out of the USA.
Wally World is the Commissary of the People’s Army of of the Republic of China. Yes Sam, that’s what happens when your heirs turn over the company to Ivy league trained Chicago skool MBAs.
Wal-Mart will go away when people quit shopping there, but even while angry Mrs. Folks still shops there, as do most of you, so Wal-Mart continues to generate profits and stay in business. No one is forcing you to shop there.
I still remember the video clip of Renee asking Gov. Haley a tough question as Haley exited a meeting and waited for arrival of an elevator.
Good reporter that she is, Renee kept rephrasing the question, Haley kept silent, and eventually Haley’s aides started to surround Haley to “protect” her from the intrepid reporter. One aide firmly told Renee to get lost.
For the governor, on the spot, I’m sure that elevator seemed to take forever.
The tension among Haley and her protectors was palpable: an undercurrent of emotional violence. These are tough people with skins of leather. Not nice or champions of transparency in government.
Their foil would be State Treasurer Curtis “Mr. Transparency” whose daily calendar is accessible on the web.
It’s no wonder that the supple Post & Courier ran her off and that Bloomberg, an unflinching, first-rate, national paper, grabbed her.
Renee, Keep up the good work.
Renee: +1
Bloomberg: +1
Haley: 0
Post and Courier: 0
Jock Stender
Charleston
Yup … too bad the local FOX affiliate has removed that clip from the web. That was the nadir of Nikki Haley’s first term for sure.
Good one Jock. That Post & Courier must be the most craven, ass-kissing newspaper in the country. A dump heap for dinosaurs and duffers who curry favor for tax breaks.
You’re right: calling her a “little girl” is a slam. But so is calling her a “newsbabe”. Neither shows much respect for a very good reporter.
ok, what about good looking & smart
Sounds better!
Can’t agree with you more! Nikki Haley, he’s a dolt to labeled her that, he is next to his communist/falun gong counterparts.
Wallmart, through their suppliers, has given Haley a fortune. She has attended and spoken to their suppliers conference in Florida and there were many on hand at he infamous NC donor conference where the SLED SUV was wrecked. She is closed to the Wallmart governmental affairs lady from DC.
Why? Because Commerce, through its affiliates, is giving millions in utility work to Wallmart stores. Invisible subsidies that cost the taxpayers millions and gains Haley tens of thousands in fundraising money.
It is a simple and wonderful plan and one she has used in variations over and over again.
Very interesting. I was unaware of this invisible hand-washing between Walmart and Haley. Sickening.
A couple of years ago I exchanged emails with Renee about an article concerning our local Goodwill. It was little more than a PR release from this bogus charity. This was an all encompassing article about various local charities. Turns out she was not responsible for the Goodwill portion of the article despite the fact that her’s was the only name on the internet byline. She was very courteous and we straightened out the situation amicably. The online article was changed to add two other reporters involved in the article.
The Post and Courier still turns out bogus articles about Goodwill, despite the internal furor that enveloped the organization when I published an article a couple of years ago titled “Did Palmetto Goodwill CEO Lie to the Post and Courier?”
Here is the latest lie:
http://2big2fallphotoshop.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/post-and-courier-reporter-channels-joseph-goebbels-in-goodwill-coverage/
Never will I ever shop at Walmart.
It is the worst turncoat retailer in America.