Simone Wilson of the LA Weekly unleashed a diatribe this morning about how terrible the paper’s coverage of the LA riots was back in ’92. She claimed that, “two full issues went by without any mention of the riots,” and that the first article on the subject didn’t appear till May 15. Worse, Kevin Roderick of LA Observed fell for it.

In truth, the May 8 issue of the paper was dedicated to the riots. Staffers worked long hours covering the story, breaking curfew and risking arrest to do so.

According to the correction, Wilson “lost” the May 8 issue of the paper, so she just assumed the worst of the earlier incarnation of the LA Weekly.

Wilson issued a correction to the story at 4:45 p.m., over seven hours after the article went online. The erroneous passages have been re-written, but the harsh tone hasn’t changed much. “One issue went by without any mention of the riots,” Wilson says, as if the weekly paper was neglecting the issue.

But the reason the previous week’s paper didn’t have mention of the riots was that it had already gone to press when the riots broke out.

Despite suggestions to the contrary, LA Weekly journalists were on the ground covering the story. The Frying Pan News has an interview with one such staffer, Ruben Martinez, about his work as an “‘on the scene’ reporter in the Latino neighborhoods” for the paper during the riots. Maybe someone at the LA Weekly should read it.