Bad journalism 101

Matthew Hoy
By Matthew Hoy on September 28, 2007

MSNBC's David Shuster is a jerk. In an apparent effort to win kudos from Media Matters for America, Shuster earlier this week went after Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) over her support for the Iraq war. So far, so fair -- though not exactly a sterling example of unbiased journalism.

Shuster decided that he'd throw in a little pop quiz that some in the media delight in giving to GOP politicians. He asked Blackburn the name of the last soldier from her district killed in Iraq. She didn't know the soldier's name -- and it turns out Shuster didn't either. (Or maybe he did, tough to tell.)

In what passes for "logic" with the mainstream media, a politician is a hypocrite if they support the continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq and don't know the name of the last person from their district killed there. Seriously, here's Shuster's terse response to a blogger regarding the incident:

the story was about blackburn's hypocrisy... it wouldn't matter whether the soldier's name was David shuster or Crazy Water [the email name of the reader]. she didn't know the name, period.

Regards,
D

If journalists still wonder why they have a bad reputation -- well, they're stupid. Did you see journalists challenging politicians who opposed the war to name the last Iraqi fed through a plastic shredder feet first? Or the name of the last woman Uday or Qusay raped? Is that really relevant to their votes?

0 comments on “Bad journalism 101”

  1. We've got Congressmen who don't even know what is in the bills they are voting on when they've had time to study them.

    That's the scandal, not being unable to name the last soldier/sailor/airman/Marine to be killed in the war.

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