Topic: WorldNetDaily
Does WorldNetDaily reporter Garth Kant have a bit of a crush on right-wing "investigative reporter" Sharyl Attkisson? It sure seems that way.
Last December, Kant wrote a gushing, lengthy profile of Attkisson, under a headline calling her a "superstar reporter":
If you want to spot a forged painting, ask an art expert.
And if you want to find out what is “fake news,” ask perhaps the top investigative reporter in journalism.
Sharyl Attkisson spotted the fake news trend long before it became a recent catchphrase.
And she doesn’t portray it, as do many in the mainstream media, as some right-wing conspiracy. In fact, Attkisson told WND she often sees the mainstream media as prime culprits when they push suspect stories.
Kant uncritically touted Attkisson's conspiracy theory that the "fake news" controversy is really a "narrative-driven propaganda campaign" with an "agenda to censor the news," and that "The white nationalist narrative was invented on a certain day and time by certain interests."
Kant enthused: "Her observations on fake news were delivered with the force and precision of an expert karate chop, as befitting her rank of fourth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do." He also proclaimed Attkisson an "ace reporter" and touted her various awards and "her own Sunday morning national TV news program, 'Full Measure,' which focuses on investigative and accountability reporting. The show had it highest ratings ever, last week."
This is all for the sake of publicity, of course. Kant, clearly in need of a good editor, made sure to plug Attkisson's "new book, coming out on May 22, titled 'The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote,' due to be published on May 22, 2017."
Kant's gushing continued in a March 12 article, which again placed "superstar reporter" in the headline and again proclaimed her "perhaps the nation’s top investigative journalist." Kant gives her the space to peddle another conspiracy theory, this time that she was "spied on by the Obama administration while investigating its scandals."
Responding to statements by computer experts that the purported evidence of said spying she had presented was actually just a stuck backspace key, Kant let Attkisson uncritically huff that "It was just a silly attempt by a noted propagandist blog that had no firsthand information to deflect from the surveillance."
Kant got gooey at the end of his article: "Finally, WND said it would be remiss if it did not ask the ace reporter if her experience had given her any insight into President Trump’s accusations that his campaign had been spied on by the Obama administration. However, Attkisson said she has not looked at, or reported, on those allegations."
This is not the first time WND has gone all gooey over Attkisson. We documented how WND "news" articles enthusiastically plugged her "Full Measure" show nearly every week in its first six months on the air -- many of which seemed to closely follow Attkisson's on-air scripts. That raises the possibility that Attkisson paid WND for the publicity, something neither has publicly admitted to, and it raises questions about the credibility of both.
