RedState editor and CNN contributor Erick Erickson called out the "journalism" of conservative media outlets on Wednesday, claiming they've bypassed the basic tenets of journalism in an attempt to gin up and highlight controversies.
I think conservative media is failing to advance ideas and stories... The echo in the chamber has gotten so loud it is not well understood outside the echo chamber in the mainstream press and in the public. It translates only as anger and noise, neither of which are conducive to the art of persuasion.
Erickson highlights the ObamaPhone scandal as an example of conservative media at its worst:
Conservatives laughed out loud at the video of the lady saying Barack Obama had given her a phone. Conservatives used it as an example of all that was wrong with the expansion of the welfare state under Barack Obama. What many conservatives missed was that the program was a pre-existing program. In fact, the “Obamaphone” idea goes back to the Reagan Administration, but the present program was implemented in 2008 when George W. Bush was President. Government funds are not even used directly.
Focus on the Obamaphone by conservatives missed a number of key points and, in not covering the basic facts, sent conservative activists down rabbit holes. It would have been helpful if conservative reporters spent more time laying out the basic who, what, where, when, why, and how of the issue before exploring the necessity of the program and the fact that there are Americans who credit Barack Obama with giving them that phone.
Over at Slate, Matthew Yglesias echo's Erickson's statement, noting that conservatives need accurate information about policy and politics in order to think more clearly about their activites. Unfortunatley, that's usually counter to what committed ideologues want, which Yglesias says is "stories that flatter their prejudices."