The New York Times unloads a devastating story about the alleged New York City snowplow slowdown that became a big story in the right-wing media.

Naturally, the rabidly anti-labor Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post led the charge, helped by a Republican City Councilman, Daniel Halloran, who happens to also be a little, well, off.

But the more that investigators look into Mr. Halloran’s story, the more mystifying it becomes.

Mr. Halloran said he had been visited by two supervisors in the Transportation Department and three workers in the Sanitation Department. But the two transportation supervisors did not back up his story in interviews with investigators, according to two people briefed on the inquiries. And Mr. Halloran has steadfastly refused to reveal the names of the sanitation workers.

Here’s the background on Halloran:

He is an adherent of Theodism, a neo-pagan faith that draws from pre-Christian tribal religions of northern Europe, and he led a branch in the New York area.

My favorite bit is that last month Halloran requested a building permit for a $60,000 expansion of his house, which Wells Fargo began foreclosing on a year ago. Meantime, his wife, whom he is divorcing, has filed for bankruptcy. Oh, also: They say they’re selling the house.

But there’s a media angle here, of course. What doesn’t have one these days?

There is no question that the account has brought unusual attention to Mr. Halloran, who was a fixture on both national and local news networks for a week and a half after the blizzard.

In a letter published in The Chief-Leader, which focuses on municipal labor issues, Mr. Halloran seemed to feel conflicted about all the uproar. In the letter he defended his original assertions about the slowdown, but also suggested it might have been small in scope, involving “a few bad apples.”

“My goal was never to make headlines or anger people,” he said.

So let’s look at how this thing bounced around the mostly right-wing echo chamber.

Murdoch’s Post, on December 30, started the story, naturally:

Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts - a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency-services vehicles, The Post has learned…

“They sent a message to the rest of the city that these particular labor issues are more important,” said City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens), who was visited yesterday by a group of guilt-ridden sanitation workers who confessed the shameless plot.

Investor’s Business Daily, which makes Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal editorial page look like Marxists, said “But in casting blame, look for the union label.”

Dagen McDowell of Murdoch’s Fox Business Network, pronounced that “It illustrates to some the stranglehold that unions have over taxpayers, state and local and state and local governments.

CNN got into the act, saying:

Here is what we have just learned. CNN has learned of this possible slowdown, an intentional slowdown, by transportation and sanitation workers, a slowdown ordered from high above. CNN has learned that five workers have admitted to one city council member that their supervisors ordered a slowdown to protest impending budget cuts.

Great journalism, CNN. Not only were you apparently relying on the word of “one city council member,” and you pretended like it was you who got the scoop. Cool.

Later that afternoon, Fox News’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto” brought on Councilman Halloran to push the “evil unions” story. Meantime, CNN pushed the story all day. Randi Kaye teased it at one point like this:

And just ahead: If true, it’s an outrage, allegations that snow removal workers in New York City were slow removal workers, a deliberate slowdown. Workers say their supervisors ordered them to take it easy, leaving the city crippled, and you won’t believe why.

The next morning, Investor’s Business Daily wrote, and I am not kidding here—this lede for its editorial headlined “Bloody Snow”:

A New York City councilman has exposed that labor bosses don’t need “On the Waterfront”-style corruption to kill innocents. Sometimes all it takes is a snowstorm.

The Post got more outraged, too:

There was a method to their madness.

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Ryan Chittum , a former Wall Street Journal reporter, is deputy editor of The Audit, CJR's business section. If you see notable business journalism, give him a heads-up at rc2538@columbia.edu.