At NewsBusters yesterday, P.J. Gladnick justifiably went after the over-the-top hackery pervading Alexander Burns's Politico story on how "Scott Walker limps toward 2016." Burns bitterly criticized Walker's "divide-and-conquer strategy," and the governor himself as "confrontational" and (of course) "polarizing."
Given that his column was allegedly updated this morning, I expected Burns to revise his writeup to react to two recent newsworthy campaign developments. Incredibly, he didn't mention either.
I expected to see Burns revise his reference to the Oct. 9-12 Marquette poll. That poll showed Walker tied with Democratic challenger Mary Burke. But the group's Oct 24-26 version shows Walker with a seven-point, 50%-43% lead.
I also completely expected that Burns would mention the bombshell developments reported at Watchdog.org's Wisconsin Reporter site surrounding the circumstances of Democratic challenger Mary Burke's departure from the family business's European operations in the 1990s. In a word, she was "fired."
As if operating out of a hermetically sealed cave, Burns struck out on both counts. Some "update," pal.
What's the point of the Politico claiming to be the best news source for Washington insiders if one of its reporters won't relay such basic, critical facts? The answer is that the site's claim to be "delivering nonpartisan news, fast, fair and first" is a joke.
News consumers are figuring that out. Politico's traffic ranking has steadily slid during October, at the height of midterm election season. Its US ranking is 456, miles behind the 216 ranking of Glenn Beck's TheBlaze.com, which many people criticize as being just a niche, right-wing site.
Hardly. It's more like the Politico is a niche, left-wing site whose purpose, even in the face of obvious contrary facts, is to confirm and affirm the biases of the political class.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
