WP admits being part of the Right Wing conspiracy chain

[John_H]

Franken, Conason, and nearly every other media watcher have pointed out that the RW media begins w/ drudge, moves to rush, then to wingnut papers and ends up on the front page of the Washington Post.

Big time media whore outlets like the post have steadfastly denied falling victim to this scheme, and even ridiculed in print the Clinton press office for pointing it out.

Welp, on the font page of today's Washington Post, there's a story that unwittingly lays it all to rest.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46369-2004Feb16.html

"The rumor surfaced last Thursday when Drudge reported that several news organizations were looking into the matter....Drudge's report was promptly picked up by conservative radio hosts Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh ...by the Web sites of National Review and the Wall Street Journal...catapulted the story onto the front pages of the New York Post and New York Daily News. ABC anchor Peter Jennings reported Kerry's denial that evening, as did CNN. The New York Times mentioned the senator's denial in a campaign story Saturday."

If this weren't so pathetic it'd be hilarious.

[maddezmom]

1. and the British press was aiding and abetting the RW agenda

Several British newspapers, meanwhile, named Polier and ran her photo. The story was prominently featured by the Times of London ("Dirty tricks row hits race for President") and the Sun ("New JFK Hit by Scandal"). Like the New York Post, those papers are owned by conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch.

[einniv]

3. Also the Telegraph

The telelgraph who just so happen to have Kissinger and Perle on their boards if I am remembering correctly.

[NashVegas]

4. British Press Will Jump on Anything LIke This

They enjoy a good sex scandal. Remember the MP who got found out as a cross-dresser?

[mac2]

2. RW message spreads like a plague..

Drudge, the propaganda maker for RW media? Ever since the black dress, Drudge is the best gossip monger in the country. Not a pleasing title is it?

You see the "pipeline for their lies"...

How does this man sleep at night?

He's not worried about the gangsters that are in power right now or the devious plan they have to take over the world Jan. 2005. He'd rather be in the "gutter of politics".

Do you think Ann Coulter and Mat Druge have something going on?

[AVID]

5. cruelty to a minor . . .

could someone morph ann coulter's face onto that of drudge and present to us the epitome of irresponsible parenting / gutter baby

[peacetalksforall]

7. Drudge is a tool.

He just sits there and they feed it to him to break, plant, or test. He is just a part of their well-oiled operation. They funded him to break - but he only breaks Hollywood and Dem dirty stuff, he never breaks Pub dirty stuff...watch the timing of something on the Pub side to see how long it is before it appears on his site.

TOOL - first line. Don't forget Lucianne - a piranha feeding Dem-eating piranhas.

Coulter is there to try to make it all sound as though it's against the law or against the 'U.S.' ethics.

[BeFree]

6. Knowledge is power

And these jokers think they have knowledge. In reality, they hardly have a clue, eh?

Too many times 'knews' people try to make news instead of reporting the simple facts. I guess it is a disease. A disease all too prevalent these days. A disease which invades the fourth estate's brain, resulting in the passing along of mere gossip dressed up as news.It is no more than a cosmetic rendering of garbage that has been left outside too long.

Meanwhile most real news is ignored for as long as possible in the hope it'll just go away. It's almost as if they fear reporting the truth. They'd rather spread stinky gossipy garbage than do the hard, needed work of real investigations.

[spooky3]

8. I'm not sure how the Kerry story is an example of the chain.

To their credit, WPost did not say ANYTHING about this until the woman's denial. They then published a story about her denial and Kerry's. That seemed fair to me.

How would you have preferred that they handle it? Not publish the denial stories?

I am not saying that there is no chain--I'm more convinced than Franken is that media bias is a big factor. I am just not clear on how this is an example of bias or bad behavior by the Post.

[John_H]

9. A "story about the story's coverage" puts "the story" on the front page.

For all intents and purposes the Post has done exactly what the GOP intended--take a Drudge slime piece and put it on their front page.

Even though the story is about the media's coverage, the fact that one of America's leading newspapers even addresses it gives the story credence and perhaps even ensured that people who hadn't even been subjected to it are now.

They may not have intended to complete the cycle (I guess my headline is a little unkind in that regard) but they did. They should have done what many other news outlets have done--refuse to participate in the unfounded smear chain altogether.