Quote of the Day

"Identifying lies told by powerful political leaders -- and describing them as such -- is what good journalists do, by definition. It's the crux of adversarial journalism, of a 'watchdog' press. 'Objectivity' does not require refraining from pointing out the falsity of government claims. The opposite is true; objectivity requires that a journalist do exactly that: treat factually false statements as false. 'Objectivity' is breached not when a journalist calls a lie a 'lie,' but when they refuse to do so, when they treat lies told by powerful political officials as though they're viable, reasonable interpretations of subjective questions. The very idea that a journalist is engaged in 'opinion-making' or is 'taking sides' by calling a lie a 'lie' is ludicrous; the only 'side' such a journalist is taking is with facts, with the truth. It's when a journalist fails to identify a false statement as such that they are 'taking sides' -- they're siding with those in power by deceitfully depicting their demonstrably false statements as something other than lies."

-- Glenn Greenwald, attacking the almost comical hackery of James Rainey and Howie Kurtz, who seemed to mock Anderson Cooper for having the temerity to call out the Mubarak government for its lies

I'm certainly not Greenwald's biggest fan, but credit where credit is due -- he's absolutely right on this.

Quote of the Day: Unreliable Sources Edition

"When I conducted the telephone interview for my Nov. 27 article on California Rep. Darrell Issa, my unambiguous understanding was that I was speaking with Rep. Issa. I subsequently learned that I was speaking to his chief spokesman, Kurt Bardella. None of the views ascribed to Issa are inaccurate, but the attribution throughout the story should have been to his spokesman, not to the congressman. We have since corrected the article. The earlier version also mentioned Darrell Issa’s 'tendency to refer to himself in the third person.' In fact, that usage was appropriate because the interview was with his spokesman."

-- Howard Kurtz, formerly of the Washington Post and currently of the Daily Beast and CNN's Reliable Sources

Jesus, I wonder why nobody takes political journalism seriously anymore.

Darrell Issa's "tendency to refer to himself in the third person" -- just hilarious.

You know, in Howie's defense, he was actually trying to get a date with the guy working out next to Darrell Issa.

"Darrell's gonna get you, Howie! Darrell holds grudges!"

Quote of the Day

"The notion that the blog culture has rendered critics redundant is ultimately an argument against specialists. And that debate stretches from the world of culture to the nature of journalism itself -- and whether its practitioners, who poke and probe on the public's behalf, have outlived their usefulness."

-- The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, on the decline of the formerly all-powerful newspaper critic