Topic: NewsBusters
In a Nov. 5 NewsBusters post, Ken Shepherd complains that, on MSNBC's "Hardball," Salon's Joan Walsh is "imagining the rationale of conservative critics" in their criticizing of the purported cost of President Obama's trip to India. But Shepherd goes on to imagine he knows something about journalism in India.
Shepherd writes that "Hardball" host Chris Matthews "was content to put down Indian journalism." But Shepherd fails to fully explain why Matthews would do such a thing -- or even why Indian journalism should be defended, as Shepherd seems to be saying.
As we've detailed, conservative media have been running with the utterly bogus claim that Obama's trip to India and Asia will cost $200 million a day. This claim came from an anonymous report in an Indian newspaper. The conservative media and radio hosts who promoted the claim made no effort to confirm its accuracy.
NewsBusters has previously attacked reporters that use anonymous sources in stories about conservaties like Sarah Palin. Why is it OK for anonymous sources to be used against a Democrat? Perhaps Shepherd should answer that question.
