In the latest example of press criticism apparently producing results, a reporter at The Washington Post who was hit hard last week from the blogosphere -- and his own paper's editorial cartoonist, Tom Toles -- for a front page story that unfairly depicted rumors about Sen. Barack Obama, produced a story with an entirely different tone for the print edition today.
Perry Bacon, Jr. came under fire for the story that covered continuing allegations from rightwingers that Obama is actually a Muslim in disguise. Some accused the paper of not knocking down the rumors as entirely false very clearly, and upfront, in the piece. Others at the Post, such as Howard Kurtz and Toles, have said that the story was not properly edited, while Bacon and some editors replied that they produced the story in the first place to tackle the rumors.
In any case, Bacon's story today on a related matter shows that the criticism certainly did have an effect. Notice the use of "false" and "falsely" in the first two sentences. Here is the opening graf: "Hillary Clinton's campaign asked one of its volunteer county coordinators in Iowa to step down after reports surfaced indicating the person forwarded an e-mail falsely stating that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Obama is a Christian and attends Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, but chain e-mails have been circulating that falsely describe him as a Muslim."
5 comments:
I missed this article in question but I'm thinking it must surely have explored in detail how Hillary's staff member could get away with what he or she did. Or, at least,finger pointing by Hillary at the staff member who was probably, afterall, a likely subversive from the vast right wing conspiracy to begin with.
Poor Obama! While he is feeling hurt by it all, perhaps he could permit his white grandmother to issue a condemnation of Hilary's campaign tactics. It's not going to happen.
Whereas Rosa Parks was asked to sit in the back of the bus because she was black, evidently Barack's white grandmother isn't going to even be allowed to be seen on the campaign bus at all because she is white? Skillful players of the race card either way could win the presidency!
In the immortal words of the esteemed Clarence Thomas: "Whooptee fucking Do!"
Wing-Nuts will be citing the first WaPo article forever. The damage has been done.
I think you got the motivation wrong as to why Perry Bacon is suddenly describing the Obama's being Muslim rumor as "false."
One of the juiciest MSM themes going this season is Hillary's attacks on Obama. Too juicy for the Washington Post to pass up. Not one syllable of apology when one of their own, Bacon, smears Obama on the front page. But when one of Hillary's people is caught, of course they emphasize "false" as many times as they can cram into one sentence.
It's more of the same, mark my words. Hillary-bashing (especially when her campaign is targeting Obama) will trump Obama-smearing every time.
On the other hand SO WHAT if any candidate's religion is Muslim? It is a shame that embracing the Muslim faith is fuel for slander in this country. On the other hand, it might be helpful to have government dignitaries and "senior administration officials" who have first hand knowledge of a religion that has fostered so much hate in this country because of EXGTREMISTS.
I called and left Bacon a message the day that story appeared - there is a nasty rumor going around that Mitt Romney once bit the head off a baby.
I don't know if it's true, but I'm sure we'll read about it on the front page of the Post. Biting the head off an innocent baby! Unlike the Obama smear, I've never heard Mitt deny these rumors so I guess that means there's a good chance they're not unproven.
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