MSNBC's Alleged High Standards for Accuracy Don't Extend to Ed Schultz's Radio Show

... Gee, you'd think they would, seeing how Schultz broadcasts both his radio and cable shows from MSNBC studios in New York City. No such luck.

Here's Schultz on his radio show Thursday complaining about Bill O'Reilly's criticism of MSNBC for the daily frequency of its deceit (click here for audio) --

SCHULTZ: When I was sitting home for a number of years watching Olbermann tell me how bad Fox was, I, OK, I believe it, but now I know it! And I want you to know it! That we don't go on TV and lie! But this is the game that they play across the street.

Schultz then played a clip of O'Reilly talking with Dick Morris and O'Reilly saying that "people on MSNBC lie every day." Schultz's response --

SCHULTZ:  I just want all of you to know that none of us lie on MSNBC. And if any of us ever were caught lying, we would be out of a job because there's this thing called NBC News. We couldn't lie even if we wanted to. We can't bring on correspondents and then turn around and twist the facts and lie to the people. And I know that, we don't! But O'Reilly is just trying to indoctrinate his viewers that we're the evil empire over here and that we lie, he said, every day. And so, who else to ask but a guy who's lied in the past, Dick Morris! No bigger liar than toe-sucking Dick Morris!

After deriding O'Reilly as "an absolute dirtbag," Schultz condemned O'Reilly for not citing examples of MSNBC lies and made these grandiose claims --

SCHULTZ: We don't ever lie! We can't lie! We don't want to lie! ... He's just trying to get those minions who happen to stumble across Fox News to believe everything he says. He's a hate merchant. He said something that simply is not correct.

... Followed by Schultz saying something that simply is not correct, which by Schultz's illogic makes him a hate merchant --

SCHULTZ:  Now, as far as ratings are concerned, you can't deny the fact that Fox has more viewers than anybody else in the cable news industry. Nobody is denying that. They had a head start. ...

No, Fox News did not have a "head start" -- the network's inaugural broadcast was in October 1996 (Oct. 7, specifically), three months after MSNBC first went on the air on July 15 1996. CNN, MSNBC's other major cable news competitor, launched far earlier, running its first broadcast in June 1980. 

Capping it off, Schultz said this minutes later on Thursday (audio here)--

SCHULTZ: I tell you what, I have never lied on the air. Never. And if I've ever made a mistake, I'm ready to correct it.

I'll give Schultz the benefit of a doubt that he's unwilling to extend to O'Reilly and Morris. Perhaps he was just sloppy that day or more irritable than usual. But if integrity matters to you, Mr. Schultz, here's your chance to prove it (and I know you read NewsBusters, as you've frequently said on your radio show). Set the record straight on that Fox News "head start" error. I'll be listening.