Last night, I blogged about the Associated Press\’s disgracefully constructed hit piece on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, which was, in my opinion, designed to leave readers with the belief that Walker was exposed as being involved in illegal campaign activity when, in reality, two judges have thrown the allegations out as unfounded and prosecutors haven\’t even filed charges against him.
Now John Hinderaker, of powerlineblog.com, checks in and shows us that the AP was far from the only one: USA Today and the Washington Post, among others I am sure, put up similarly misleading headlines which would lead casual readers to a similarly wrong conclusion. I urge you to use this link and read every word of Hinderaker\’s blog, which includes key parts of the actual judicial ruling which make these so-called journalists look like DNC operatives.
This is his overview…
Ifyou didn\’t know better, you might think this is a big story, highlydamaging to one of America\’s most successful governors. In fact,the current frenzy merely demonstrates the laziness and bias ofreporters who don\’t understand the events they write about.
Hereis what is going on: a group of partisan local prosecutors launched anever-ending “John Doe investigation” into essentially everyconservative group in the state of Wisconsin. The “investigation”is a scandal, a naked effort to shut down conservative speech.
…and his conclusion…
Thehysterical accusations against Scott Walker that the AssociatedPress, the Washington Post and others are now gleefully celebratingare simply the unfounded assertions that the prosecutors made in afailed effort to justify their partisan investigation. They areprecisely the allegations that have been resoundingly rejected by thefederal judge who has presided over the case and who has found thedefendants\’ investigation to be a naked violation of theconservative groups\’ constitutional rights.
Sothe reporters who are now trumpeting the discredited prosecutors\’assertions either have no understanding of the case, or they are partof the partisan witch hunt that gave rise to the unconstitutionalinvestigation in the first place.
…to which I reply, “yep”.
But not to worry. The network news shows will be all over this travesty of journalistic integrity. I expect major stories any day now. Or maybe year. Or millennium….
The latest Gallup poll shows that the public\’s confidence in news sources has dropped to 18% – its all-time low for the 21 years they have been asking this question. Do you think performance like this just might be the reason why?
