Media Matters: Howie Kurtz quotes conservative bloggers on Sebelius...without facts.

[madfloridian]

Well, isn't that what Howie K. often does? This is inexcusable. Governor Sebelius is being made a target of the right wing bloggers.

Where are the left wing bloggers when a Democratic governor is being attacked?

Kurtz reprinted right-wing attacks on Sebelius, omitted evidence in her favor

Summary: In his "Media Notes" column, Howard Kurtz uncritically reprinted responses by conservative bloggers to Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' (D) assertion that the Kansas National Guard was not able to respond quickly to the Greensburg tornado because much of its equipment is deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kurtz did not cite statistics reported in a New York Times article that support Sebelius' claim -- an article he had previously mentioned -- much less try to sort out the merits of the competing claims.

...."In his May 10 Washington Post "Media Notes" column, Howard Kurtz uncritically reprinted responses by conservative bloggers to Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' (D) assertion, reported in a May 9 New York Times article, that the state was not able to respond quickly to a tornado that leveled the town of Greensburg because much of the Kansas National Guard's equipment had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Kurtz said the Times article "gave heavy weight to the argument of Democratic governors," and then quoted conservative bloggers asserting that the facts refuted Sebelius' claims. However, the Times article itself included statistics that back up Sebelius' position -- but Kurtz did not report those in his column, much less try to sort out the merits of the competing claims.

Howie, it is called lazy journalism.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Goddammit.

This was something that started on that bastion of raving lunacy, FweePeeVille. Has Howie sunk this low? Is that what he is now using for source material?

[madfloridian]

3. Sebelius is their target.

They are not going to let up.

[Bitwit1234]

2. It is worst than that

Howard Dean's lawyers have sent a cease and decease letter to the originators of the post. Since Kurtz re-printed it without verification I think they should do the same to him and make him print a retraction or they will sue him and the Post also.

[snowbear]

4. Kinda makes me sick to hear people call him "Howie"

It's just WAY too chummy for a lowlife like him.

[bklyncowgirl]

5. Especially since Brownback has said it's not true. Bad Reporter, Bad! nt

[Toots]

6. Howie, it is called lazy journalism

No it is called Propaganda....There was no journalism involved at all..

[ljm2002]

7. "No it is called Propaganda"...

...right you are, and the sooner we all realize it and call it by its true name, the better. While Americans continue to congratulate themselves on their "free press", and point to the many articles critical of the rich and powerful to prove that it is so, the facts say otherwise. The facts say that agendas are pushed through the media, and that in some cases our government has paid so-called "journalists" specifically to promote some position or other, and since this is technically the definition of propaganda, and since propaganda as such is actually illegal in the USA -- then why, oh why, in this land where the "rule of law" reigns supreme, have we not seen a single charge brought against the propagandists? Then of course there is the unpaid-for propaganda, which is even more pervasive, and that we here all rail against: the slanted coverage, the shared narrative based on Republican talking points sprayed out in fax blasts to news organizations around the country and used uncritically -- adoringly, even -- to promote outright falsehoods.

Sorry, pet peeve, propaganda. Either there's a lot more of it right now than when I was younger, or I'm just better at spotting it these days. Probably both.

We need as a people to get to the point where we recognize our Pravda-ized media for what it has become.

[madfloridian]

8. Yes, you are right.

And I noticed that the radio show and Free Republic...have not taken their stuff down at all. Not even after Brownback's campaign spoke out.