Fox News Watch: Jonathan Alter, Paul Krugman and Markos Moulitsas 'Villains' for Terrible Tucson Reporting
Fox News Watch panelists on Saturday named some villains concerning last week's tragedy in Tucson.
Aside from the shooter himself, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, and Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos were mentioned for their terrible coverage of this awful event (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JON SCOTT, HOST: The media is always looking for heroes and sometimes villains in a case like this. Who made the list?
LYNN SWEET, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Well, number one the only one on my list of villains is the shooter, and his motivations are still being looked into.
SCOTT: And he deserves to be there. Bill?
BILL MCGOWAN: I would also say the shooter, but I’d also say that Paul Krugman in introducing to the media bloodstream the idea that this was political before any facts were known was a disservice to the broader understanding of the story. Even though he's an opinion columnist, he should not have been putting that out there that quickly.
SCOTT: Judy?
JUDITH MILLER, FOX NEWS: And in that same category, Markos Moulitsas at the Daily Kos, who announced immediately without any facts at all, “Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin.”
JIM PINKERTON, FOX NEWS: And I would add Jonathan Alter of Newsweek who wrote a very crude column advising President Obama on how to take maximum political advantage out of that speech that he gave in Tucson. All columnists like to give advice, but this is a little too much based on blood and tragedy.
SCOTT: But there are lots of columnists who, you know, speculated on what the President should say, the nation needed healing, that kind of thing.
PINKERTON: Yeah, I mean, just read the column and decide yourself if he went over the board of saying, “Look, this is a tragedy, but here’s how, do what Clinton did, but only do it better.”
We at NewsBusters agree with this assessment, as we chronicled the misdeeds of all three media members:
- Newsweek's Jonathan Alter Gives Obama Advice on Exploiting Tucson Tragedy for Political Gain
- Paul Krugman Blames Giffords Shooting on Palin, Limbaugh and Beck
- Moulitsas's dishonor can be found in the above-referenced Krugman piece
On the other hand, one could make the case that it's wrong to only mention these three as the coverage of this event was universally atrocious.
- Noel Sheppard's blog
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Comments
There was no "reporting" involved here...
Submitted by PrairieSky on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 5:49pm.
All we saw and heard from Alter, Krugman and Moulitsas was ideologically based hate, bitterness and lies intended to trash the right and pretty much anyone associated with it.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction...It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them (our children) to do the same." ~President Ronald Reagan
NS
Submitted by well99 on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 6:04pm.
"On the other hand, one could make the case that it's wrong to only mention these three as the coverage of this event was universally atrocious."
Damn straight!
Couldn't agree more
Submitted by Seashell on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 6:42pm.
And thankfully many of the guilty have been outed here at NB for all to see!
When it comes to these three
Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 6:05pm.
When it comes to these three it's, just the fags ma' am.
Barack_Must_Go.....
Lynn Sweet Didn't Agree
Submitted by NC Boy on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 6:15pm.
At :47 seconds in, they cut to a wider shot and Lynn Sweet, Washington Bureau Chief, Chicago Sun Times can be seen shaking her head in disagreement at what Judith Miller has just said. It shows up very well in the HD broadcast. They still don't get it.
NC Boy
Submitted by Noel Sheppard on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 6:40pm.
NC Boy,
I think Lynn is shaking her head in disgust not disagreement. That was my take. ns
Noel
Submitted by well99 on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 9:51pm.
There is a longer version on Fox and she seemed to be making excuses for msm.
You're giving Lynn Sweet too much credit!
Submitted by NC Boy on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 10:30pm.
I still have the recording and looked at it again. It's worse than I thought!
At the first discussion of the subject, Sweet defended the early statements saying (among other things), "in the very beginning, I think people are very smart out there and they know that reporters are just trying to figure out what happened and they want to share with people what they know and make it clear that they are sorting it out." So she was saying don't worry about whatever the reporters said initially.
Then Jim Pinkerton responded "but to say - oh, by the way, of course Palin (as the AP did) belongs in here, that's clearly a political reach pulling it out of their back pocket." Sweet responded "well, no there was a fact base on that, and you may disagree that it had deserved the placement, but there was that map, the woman was somebody who was politically in the eyes of Sarah Palin. Was it a reach, yeah. Was it part of the background of talking about the background of talking about the tough campaign . . . . I think it was legitimate, but not in the same way." Jim Pinkerton looked on in bemusement.
Later, she said things like "she walked her way into the story", referring to Palin. Then emphasized how hurtful the phrase "blood libel" was, but conceded it was probably a mistake instead of an intentional hurtful remark (sort of a "probably too ignorant to realize" defense).
Then she defended the students for cheering at the Pep Rally. "This was not a funeral, it was a Memorial Service".
Now take another look at that head shake!
The list is endless
Submitted by Walker01049 on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 6:18pm.
of the people who were immediately flapping their chops before any facts were know. Don't waste a good crisis. They don't! Krugman should crawl in a hole with the rest of the vermin like him.
These three are only relevant
Submitted by dr-go on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 6:54pm.
to their simple minded followers. For the rest of us they are merely an irritation.
Wo wo wo........Jonathan
Submitted by killa37 on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 7:01pm.
Wo wo wo........Jonathan 'bowing at the ' Alter.........Krudman......the Daily Gross.....and 'terrible' - all in the same sentance?? Who wouldda thunk??? Actually, the list could be a helluva lot longer.....................morons all!!!!
Markos is still
Submitted by Deep Sky on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 10:04pm.
Markos is still doubling down on his assertion that it was all Sarah Palin's fault according to his Twitter feed. It would be generous to say that Markos is a poor excuse for human being.