Misusing News

MSNBC Retracts False Palin Story; Others Duped - FOXNews.com Elections: "NEW YORK -- MSNBC was the victim of a hoax when it reported that an adviser to John McCain had identified himself as the source of an embarrassing story about former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the network said Wednesday.

David Shuster, an anchor for the cable news network, said on air Monday that Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, had come forth and identified himself as the source of a FOX News Channel story saying Palin had mistakenly believed Africa was a country instead of a continent.

Eisenstadt identifies himself on a blog as a senior fellow at the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy. Yet neither he nor the institute exist; each is part of a hoax dreamed up by a filmmaker named Eitan Gorlin and his partner, Dan Mirvish, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

The Eisenstadt claim had mistakenly been delivered to Shuster by a producer and was used in a political discussion Monday afternoon, MSNBC said.

'The story was not properly vetted and should not have made air,' said Jeremy Gaines, network spokesman. 'We recognized the error almost immediately and ran a correction on air within minutes...'"

So what if Palin misspoke? I don't believe she said any thing of the sort. Never have. But it was accepted as fact because that is the media narrative. Big O can claim the U.S. has 57 states and that is ok; move along; nothing to see here. He gets a pass on everything, but Palin is abused over a lie. But is all that the real problem?

U.S. libel and slander laws are so drafty concerning public figures that anybody can say anything about Obama or Bush or Palin or McCain and they have no recourse, other than complaining. I hate to be one of those "There outta be a law" kind of persons, but really. Where does all this end?

I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for any "news" organization that gets burned by this sort of crap. It is sloppy journalism at best and for the more paranoid, more evidence of evil plots to promote one candidate and demonize another. Will corrections help Palin's geographical integrity? No. The story is already out there and four years from now Charlie Gibson will be giving her a geography quiz, along with his world leaders quiz (who is the president of Ubsurdistan and what is his wife's cousin's brother-in-law doing driving a taxi in New Jersey?). Politicians need some weapon to hold the news media in check-- both KO and the Big Rush could use a legal leash. Perhaps, like private citizens, public figures should be able to sue news organizations for spreading lies about them. A few multimillion dollar settlements might just help put some accuracy and fairness back into journalism, which would certainly aid in public clarity on many issues. Otherwise, well, I hear Tonya Harding is looking for work.