Matthews Slams Reporter For Citing Blogs: "Let's Stick To Journalism. I Don't Do That Here" (VIDEO)

On "Hardball" Thursday, Chris Matthews issued a stern rebuke to NY Daily News reporter Liz Benjamin when she cited blogs on the possible "affair question" with regard to Caroline Kennedy's withdrawal from consideration for the New York Senate seat.

Earlier in the segment Matthews speculated that the 'personal problem' that was given as Kennedy's reason for withdrawing was her marriage to Edwin Schlossberg. But when Benjamin said that the "affair question" was surfacing on blogs, Matthews abruptly cut her off: "Let's stick to journalism. I don't do that here. If it's just blogging let's drop it."

Read more about Kennedy's withdrawal and the various reasons that have been given as explanations for the sudden reversal.

Comments

[plymkr]

Matthews has never been a fan of bloggers!

[AnnfromCA]

While I agree that citing blogs is ridiculous, I would remind Matthews that the "big stories" over Palin were generated by blogs.

He participated.

Pot calling Kettle black.

[McChimp]

LMFAO @ you STILL whining about Palin.

[PoliticalAmazon]

I think AKMuckrakers blog was very responsible about the information they distributed. She almost always gave a credible source for her information.

The benefit of bloggers is that they can publish what they want without interfrence from corporate guidelines. That's also the down part of bloggers.

[KayWrites]

Not all blogs practice unsubstantiated journalism. Huffpost, for one, does a pretty good job of vetting its information before posting. Even the blog posts.

Neither are all standard journalism sources reliable. Yes, I'm talking Fox News. But also the National Enquirer, the New York Sun, et al. The fact that they get something right every once in a while does not make up for the thousands of warped truths and outright lies.

While Matthews was right to stop his guest from citing unsubstantiated sources, he SHOULD have said "Let's stick to journalism. I don't do that here. If it's just [unsubstantiated rumor] let's drop it."

Unsubstantiated rumor, regardless of the source, has no place in journalism.

[PoliticalAmazon]

I've never worked for the National Enquirer, but I think, especially for political stories where they might get sued if they screw up, they get credible sources before publishing. What is different between NE and MSM is that NE doesn't edit for just-mean-­informatio­n that isn't necessary to get the point across.

[ErnestineBass]

"Let's stick to journalism. I don't do that here."

LOL!!! A Freudian slip if ever I heard one!

[Harmony1812]

He was referring to quoting bloggers not journalism.

[Realisticat]

How hypocritical that anyone from MSNBC would use the phrase "let's stick to journalism­..."

[MrVincent]

Question - which media source pumped real estate during the bubble and which media warned that we were in the mother of all bubbles?

Yes, it was the bloggers who warned of the impending financial crises while the mainstream media had their heads up their "you know what"!

[ErnestineBass]

Hear! Hear! Spot on.

[flyingmonkey]

I don't understand why anyone would condemn what Matthews did in this case.
Caroline Kennedy's personal life is none of our business. Especially now that she's no longer "running" for public office.
I wasn't wild about her being handed the seat, but I'm less wild about all this meaningless nastiness directed at her.
As far as Matthews goes, I don't see how he compares unfavorably to any of the other blathering pundits on any of the "news" outlets. And in this case, he was right. Lets give him his due. I would love it if more of them called their guests out when they're clearly full of it.

[AndThenOneDay]

There was a lot of hub-bub at msnbc because the original withdrawal story wasn't second-sourced, ie, from Chuck Todd & others. To take it a step further talk about an affair based on a blog is totally unacceptable.

Whenever I hear about the 'blogosphere' in media, I get the willies. But as a source?

[superbowl3]

Chris should take his own advice. What a hypocrite. That is a line that I have screamed at him through my TV so many times before. I guess he can only site blogs when they agree with what he has to say.

[legalclubs]

Does anybody believe that if this story was about a Republican, not a Kennedy, that Matthews would of cut the reporter off? His one sided bias is incredible.

[tedmore123]

Since when over the last 10 years has any cable or network news organization (see Fox News) depended upon Journalistic practices and ethics? All I see are talking heads trying to make ratings; so technically it isn't accurate to characterize it as news but should be called - forexample - 'Fox
infotainment' . When opinion is presented as fact it is a distortion and when lies are presented as tact it is propaganda; since all news outlets are owned by corporations who want profits, those who want more profit probably lean more towares propaganda; you don't need to check facts...th­at means less folks to pay in your research department­...or hell, why have one at all??

[mitsie]

He should have slammed her, she was starting to discuss data that has not been corroborated. Of course she works for the NY Post, and they have been vile in their writings about Carolyn. Perhaps she needs to go back and take a few more journalism classes.

[vigilantwarrior]

Mr. Matthews has a point. After all, a "journalist" would never make up a breaking news bulletin out of whole cloth just to relieve the monotonous aftermath of a "catastrophic event", would he?

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/black-box/

[bluguy8]

Good for him. Is that a woman ? So hard to tell

[odan]

I think the same thing every time I see a pic of Rachel maddow.

[pewty]

Odan I could not help but notice that not just this posting but the majority of your past posts are so hateful and ugly. Do you set out to be miserable everyday, or is you perception of the world reflecting your own twisted view of a deep seeded self-loathing. I truly feel sorry for you and pray that you do not have children.

[GlenRast]

The moon landings were faked. I read in in a blog