Think Progress Accuses Unamused Jake Tapper of Being Right Wing Puppet

Can't we all just get along?

On Saturday, I reported about a Chrysler lawyer's accusation that the White House threatened to sic the White House press corps on him. Now, Think Progress is accusing the right wing media of siccing the White House press corps, or at least one member of it, on Barack Obama.

The New York Times reported on Friday, "whatever the outcome, this bit of brinkmanship - which many characterized as a game of chicken with Washington - has become yet another public relations disaster for Wall Street." But instead, this story of corporate greed has now been turned into a right-wing attack on President Obama. Here's how it happened in three simple steps.

Long story short, step 2 involved radio host Mark Levin sending his bidding up through the ABC Radio Networks chain of command, over to ABC News, then back down to Tapper, who went at it like a rabid pit bull:

The White House and a spokesperson for the investment bank in question challenged the accuracy of the story.

"The charge is completely untrue," said White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, "and there's obviously no evidence to suggest that this happened in any way."

To be fair, Tapper writes a lot more than that,and he paints a picture of a White House that's not happy with the holdout creditors, but that's pretty much what I wrote. There's nothing in Tapper's reporting to suggest he's doing anything but what he normally does. I would have liked to see him point out that the attorney never even tries to give a source for the accusation, but that is apparent on its face.

Someone from Think Progress tweeted their story, and Tapper had this unamused reply:

@victorzapanta Yeah, thats not true
about 1 hour ago from web

In fairly short order, ABC News had contacted Think Progress, who updated their story to include ABC's statement:

An ABC News spokesperson responded to our post. "The first he heard of Mark Levin pushing this story was in your post," the spokesperson told us. "Jake first heard of this story when he overheard a radio reporter talking about Mr. Lauria's interview with WJR-AM.

They also changed their headline Added a new headline, but classily left the original one in strikethrough, along with this final update:

Our original title suggested that there was a communication between the right wing and Tapper, which ABC has subsequently denied. Our title has been changed to reflect ABC's statement.

So, they still get to call Jake Tapper a right-wing tool.

It's too bad Think Progress is sticking to its tinfoil, because there's a legitimate media criticism to be made here, one that loses all credibility when you decide that Jake Tapper is doing Mark Levin's bidding.

As I said before, I think Tapper should have gone into more detail about considering the source here. An attorney whose own client refutes his unsourced claim is about as low as it gets on the sourcing ladder.

But remember, Jake Tapper is known for being tough on the Obama administration, and since he was singled out by Rush Limbaugh, I'm sure the left has its eyes on Jake. Having read his reporting since the primaries, I don't see anything to Think Progress' charge. An argument on the merits of the story would have been much more effective.

Tommy on: Daily Dose:

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