Dec 16th, 2010
by F. Grey Parker
There is a reason legitimate conservative commentary is dying; Andrew Breitbart, along with The Murdoch Device and people like Jospeh Farah, is killing it.
First, a little background; Sarah Palin went to Haiti. Pictures were taken of her on the trip. In one photo, transmitted by the AP and picked up very widely, Mrs. Palin is having her hair done. Put aside the obvious questions of both the world media's motives in using this photo over all others AND the lack of judgement on Mrs. Palin's part by getting photo-ready in public during a cholera epidemic.
“Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, center, has her hair done during a visit to a cholera treatment center set up by the NGO Samaritan’s Purse in Cabaret, Haiti, Saturday Dec. 11, 2010. Palin arrived Saturday in Haiti as part of a brief humanitarian mission. Dieu Nalio Chery / AP.”
Now, it seems to be fairly accurate. Mrs. Palin is indeed having her hair done. Note that the word "hairdresser" appears nowhere in the caption. Incidentally, it is clearly Bristol Palin attending to her mother. It really isn't news.
At least, it really, really should not have become news. Alas, if you'll indulge me, here is the sequence of events that followed.
The far-Right Free Republic lashed out at what they called "rabid attacks" from the media: "That's right, what the Palin-hating AP and others fail to report is that the "hair stylist" is Bristol Palin."
Media Matters, quite justifiably, corrected them: "The AP never reported Palin brought a “hair stylist” or a “hairdresser.” Those phrases came from Free Republic."
Yesterday, Breitbart's "Big Journalism" section published an article charmingly titled, "Like Dogs to Vomit, Media Matters Cleans Up Liberal Media Messes." In that piece of... let's just call it "analysis," co-authors Kristinn Taylor and Andrea Shea King raged against Media Matters for their response.
Taylor and King's rebuttal to the correction of the rant states: "Free Republic never made that claim about the AP."
I believe this is where the appropriate internet response would be, *facepalm*. Any first year journalism student will tell you plainly that Free Republic owes a correction, if not an apology, for the clear declaration that AP had referred to a "hairstylist."
Unfortunately, in the land of Mr. Breitbart, that sort of bare minimum standard simply doesn't exist. What's more, the author of the Free Republic article is Kristinn Taylor.
Yes, the same Kristinn Taylor who co-authored the Breitbart "Vomit" story.
No, there is no disclosure in the Breitbart article of this fact.
Don't legitimize these guys. Freepers are known by reputable internet bloggers as nuttier than their political counterparts. Don't count them as some legitimate journalistic source, even by the Right's standards. They're not even geeky, and they're incapable of political analysis. They're the internet echo machine for the Murdoch Device, pretty much.
ReplyDeleteYou mention nothing of the post's actual point, which is what the press did with a seemingly benign photo.
ReplyDeleteThe AP itself issued a correction to the caption to clarify, so they must have thought it was an important clarification to make.
Coincidentally, the clarification was made after numerous other outlets, without the knowledge that the person in the photo was Palin's daughter, managed to intentionally twist that benign photo into irresponsibly misleading and negative press, obviously meant to smear Palin. Bad press that multiplied as more and more outlets picked up those snarky stories.
The authors provided some of that coverage as examples:
[The Huffington Post: Reading the Pictures: Palin Does Haiti Cholera: How’s My Hair (and, Did AP Lend a Curl?). ”Damn right it’s revolting seeing Sarah getting her hair made up like this field hospital is her movie set…”]
[The Daily Mail: Ready for her close-up… Sarah Palin lands in Haiti (well, she wants to look just right for those poor cholera-stricken residents). The Mail snarked their caption of the AP photo, “So long as she brings the cameras: Sarah Palin has her hair fixed during a visit to a cholera treatment center set up by the NGO Samaritan’s Purse in Cabaret, Haiti, on Saturday.”]
[The Guardian led its article with the AP photo captioned, “Sarah Palin gets her hair fixed during a visit to a cholera treatment centre in Haiti,” followed by the lede, “Earthquake. Cholera. Political strife. And now Sarah Palin.”]
I'm by no means a fan of Sarah Palin, but that's just wrong, irresponsible, and flat-out mean.
So, if you want to challenge the activist commenetariat on the Left and the Right, it helps to show BOTH sides. Not just the side that benefits your own opinion. Makes you no better than all those outlets who propagated bad information to try and smear someone's reputation.
@Anonymous - I have a dog in this fight, it is true.
ReplyDeleteHowever, to begin your critique by saying I "mention nothing of the post's actual point" is to ignore my second paragraph in which I clearly state: "Put aside the obvious questions of... the world media's motives..."
The valid arguments in FR's original article were lost not just in their venom and hyperbole, but in their simple refusal to issue a correction where due and instead lie while resorting to adolescent stylings and the use of "vomit" 5 times in the Breitbart rebuttal.
Also, the lack of disclosure on authorship is an ethical lapse of the very worst kind.
The point of my article is NOT what was done to Palin by the MSM, but rather the vicious, dishonest and ridiculous extremes of her defenders which have ruined the debate.
You simply do not find Media Matters calling their opposition "vomit lickers."
Period.