KRUGMAN: Smear Without Fear

[dw]

Published: April 2, 2004 in The New York Times

A funny thing happened to David Letterman this week. Actually, it only started out funny. And the unfunny ending fits into a disturbing pattern.

On Monday, Mr. Letterman ran a video clip of a boy yawning and fidgeting during a speech by George Bush. It was harmless stuff; a White House that thinks it's cute to have Mr. Bush make jokes about missing W.M.D. should be able to handle a little ribbing about boring speeches.

...snip...

But here's the really interesting part: CNN backed down, but it told Mr. Letterman that Ms. Kagan "misspoke," that the White House was not the source of the false claim. (So who was? And if the claim didn't come from the White House, why did CNN run with it without checking?)

In short, CNN passed along a smear that it attributed to the White House. When the smear backfired, it declared its previous statements inoperative and said the White House wasn't responsible. Sound familiar?

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[Leilani]

1. Totally amazing!

I love Krugman & he should know about smears...they did it to him.

[The Zanti Regent]

2. We need to stand with Paul Krugman

EVERY DUer should send a e-mail thanking Paul for standing up to the liars at CNN, and we should all mail CNN demanding that Wolf the Überwhore apologize to Paul Krugman!

Thank God there is SOMEONE who has INTEGRITY remaining at the New York Times!

[bigwoody]

3. Just e-mailed him. Being a nightowl is the best!

:hippie:

[Merlin]

4. Another chapter in this story coming up tonite on Letterman.

Hope somebody records & posts it.

[jpgray]

5. Excellent, excellent article. All should read this

The level of spin and outright campaigning the cable news channels get away with is appalling.