[At HuffPost] there are guidelines that have to be followed --and they include a prohibition on ... inflammatory claims. [...]
[Glenn Beck] is the latest example of what the great historian Richard Hofstadter called "the paranoid style in American politics," which he defined as angry minds that traffic in "heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy." [...]
- Arianna Huffington, February 1, 2010 (more lies here)
"A lot of the discontent with traditional journalism is because too many reporters have forgotten that the highest calling of journalists is to ferret out the truth, consequences be damned."
- Arianna Huffington, July 29, 2008 (more here)
Wow. Given Ms. Huffington's lofty public pronouncements about HuffPost's ethics and virtues, we wonder:
How in the world could the following two stories have possibly made it past HuffPost's crack team of 53 "editors," and appear near the top of its front page tonight?
Let's take this one by one.
Regarding the first story, you mean that Virginia just picked out a mentally disabled woman at random, and decided to execute her, HuffPost??? WOW!!! What a scoop!!! But wait, isn't there just a bit more to that story, written by one of your own "reporters"? Oh, yes there's the fact that the woman, Teresa Lewis...
pleaded guilty to hiring two men [...] to murder her husband and stepson so that she could collect a $350,000 life insurance policy. Both triggermen were handed life sentences, but Judge Charles Strauss gave Lewis the death penalty, reasoning that she was "clearly the head of this serpent."
Well let's see, what have we learned thus far? That this fresh-faced, kindly looking woman admitted to murdering her husband and stepson; and that HuffPost editors, after failing to "ferret out the truth" for this headline, exposed themselves as having "angry minds" that traffic in "heated exaggeration." The story then goes on to paint a tear-jerking picture of how this poor woman is innocent, why she was set up by the triggermen, etc. Read it here - and bring your hankies.
The truly sad part is that any legitimacy this story may have had was washed away by HuffPost's infantile, misleading headline --- something it has a long, long, long history of generating.
* * *
Regarding the second story, WOW! Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum has "an anal problem," HuffPost? Really? Well, not exactly. From the story --- which HuffPost conveniently positioned just a few steps down from its daily screaming headline...
For voters who decide to look him up online, one of the top three search results is usually the site SpreadingSantorum.com, which explains that Santorum's last name is a sexual neologism for "the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex."
Read the whole story: Mother Jones
Wow. OK, thanks for that, HuffPost. That certainly advances rational, civilized, constructive political discourse in America... lest we become a "third world nation," right Ms. Huffington? (below: Ms. Huffington launches her book tour today)
* * *
Yes, it's OK to chuckle about these things, folks.
But as you do, keep in mind that Ms. Huffington's breathtakingly false public statements aside...
- HuffPost is the #1 most-read blog on Earth, is now one of Ameri
ca's top ten "news" sites, and was recently named "the most powerful blog in the world" by The Guardian (UK). - At 13 million unique visitors per month, HuffPost has more online readers than the Washington Post (the publisher of which recently said her paper "could learn from" HuffPost).
- HuffPost has received preferential treatment in presidential press conferences, and has top members of Congress as official bloggers (article writers). It is also now a reportedly disgruntled member of the White House Correspondent's Association.
- Inc. magazine recently claimed: "HuffPost... consistently breaks important news stories..."
- HuffPost has attracted advertising from many of the biggest corporations in the world.
- HuffPost has become a powerful, influential part of both the "news" media and the political blogosphere
- The types of inflammatory accusations HuffPost makes, framed in the context of "news" stories (as opposed to opinion pieces), are going to have an impact --- especially as "mainstream" news media outlets pick up on its "reporting"
If you'd like to make HuffPost's senior management aware of your thoughts on its actions (politely, please), here's how.
Related:
Beyond hypocrisy: Arianna Huffington accuses Fox of "inciting" hate.
Beyond chutzpah: Arianna Huffington objects to PolitiFact claiming she tells "half-truths"
HuffPost vs the Tea Party: Which one *really* incites and tolerates hate speech & calls for violence?
HuffPost publishes another incendiary libel against the U.S. military (user hate-fest erupts: HuffPost: "Approved!!!")
HuffPost falsely smears the U.S. military, again; User hate-fest erupts (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")
HuffPost publishes incendiary anti-Semitic libels (again) --- this time, from one of its own "reporters"
HuffPost manipulates headline to falsely incriminate Israel in assassination (Users unleash hate; HuffPost: "Approved!!!")
ARCHIVE of false/misleading HuffPost headlines
Posts
dont you think that we jews are also responsible for all this anti-israely propaganda in internet? muslims and terrorists have 1000 blogs, they comment every article proving their perverted truth and we do nothing-just complainb at negative public opinion and lie...
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