Fake But Accurate?

Powerline nabs them again.

John Hinderaker provides evidence again that members of the mainstream media outlets are both prone to stupid oversights and have very short memories.   That is correct...we have a brand new memo controversy!  This time rather than CBS News embarrassing itself, the embarrassment starts with ABC News!  But it does not stop there...the Washington Post and of course the increasingly tabloid style Today show (see the infamous Kitty Kelly interview for excruciating details) waded in to add their misleading echo of the original report.  This of course opened the door for the usual collection of dimwitted liberal opinion commenters to write editorials denouncing the GOP.  In what is surely an amazing first, at least in recent memory, The New York Times takes the high road and actually reports accurately on the controversial memo.  Sadly after clearly identifying the actual source of the memo (Senate Democrats) the New York Times derides Republicans for its content.  They came so close...

So what is this memo?

It is printed, unsigned on plain paper and contained bulleted talking points about the Terri Schiavo legislation as well as some extraordinarily explosive statements regarding the 'motive' for the legislation.  In terms of authenticity, it is impossible to prove where it came from or who did it.  True to form, that does not stop our intrepid media who checked their bias and decided that the GOP MUST be responsible.  There is so much back peddling today that I think I saw Peter Jennings' hair move in the breeze.

So where did the memo really come from?  It may be impossible to prove, but there are, however, some interesting hints.

1. The writer of the memo has the same spelling skills as those gentleman in Africa attempting to transfer millions of dollars into your bank account if only you would give them the routing number and authorization.  There are four typo's in the memo including the mis-spelling of Terri Shiavo's first name.  ABC News when they finally released the memo identified these typos with the (sic) after them.  Another web site who have claimed to obtain an original copy of the original memo released their copy which curiously had those typos corrected.  Is this some type of marvelous 'self-correcting' memo?  A new technology perhaps?
2. Fred Barnes states that later paragraphs of the memo are copied verbatim from a press release issued by the Senate Office of Mel Martinez, the Senator from Florida who drafted the legislation.  John Hinderaker attributes those portions of the memo to the website of the Traditional Values Coalition.   Regardless of the original source, the explosive 'strategy' portions of the memo which call into question the motives for the legislation are not in the press release or on the web site and have nothing to do with the legislation but are rather political opportunism language that is a puzzling mismatch with the original language and stated purpose of the memo.  Why it is almost as if someone who opposed the legislation merely echoed the Democratic opponents claims of political opportunism and inserted them into Senator Martinez's press release to try and prove that this was all a political grandstanding ploy by those callous Republicans!
3. ABC News had reported that the memo was circulated to Republican Senators and was a 'GOP talking points memo'.  They now claim that they did not mean to infer that this memo was written by Republicans.  How they can possibly explain this inconsistency in their reporting and intent I can only imagine.  Apparently telling people that a memo is a GOP talking points memo does not mean that it comes from the GOP, at least at ABC News.
4. No Republican Senator has reported receiving a copy of the memo, the New York Times states that the memo was circulated among Senate Democrats.
5. In what has increasingly become the strategy of choice among discredited reporters, the ABC News reporter is 'out of the country' right now and can't be reached for comment.  Probably the reporter is meeting with Nigerians who sent ABC News another controversial memo regarding some money they need to move out of the country.

How can the media claim to be so incredibly impartial when repeatedly we witness this type of bias?  Surely the standard which should be applied to this type of story requires at least 'some' fact checking.  The fact that even now, after the fact, no one can identify a source for the memo and the document provided plenty of clues that it was at the least suspect. This should have provided ample warning to any reporter that this was not, perhaps, what it purported to be. 

Why then go forward with a dubious document?  The only explanation for the behavior of the media in this instance is that the content of this anonymous memo confirmed their own bias.  If that is the only standard which needs to be applied to a major story like this, it is not surprising that the public has come to view the media with mistrust.  Some have claimed that this growing mistrust is the result of a Republican campaign to discredit the media, even arguing that it is a policy of the Bush administration.  The truth is the media need no help in this regard.

Not one month ago the Washington Post reported that a study found no evidence of liberal media bias.  On the contrary the study found that Fox News was more likely to allow reporters to insert their opinions into stories than the other more balanced networks.  When the public laughed hysterically at the content of this study some members of the media wondered why.  It will never happen but it would be nice if just once members of the media looked inward and acknowledged the truth...they routinely present a liberal view of current events.

Comments

[Jason]

Oopsie! Can't *wait* for a nice prominent retraction on your blog. =)

Hugs and Kisses,
Jason

[Mahatma]

You got it!

I am utterly ashamed of the man and the party. I can't really apologize to the Washington Post writer who claimed that this memo came from the Republican leadership though can I?

Powerline was right, the media used a memo that was NOT passed out by Republican leadership, to try and make a case that the only reason Republicans were supporting the legislation was political opportunism. Thus the reference to GOP talking points. This is rather substantial overreach and reflects partisan bias.

Jason: Being a libertarian I am free to criticize both Republicans and the media. I'm actually getting tired of picking on liberals, they are just too easy. =)