Dana Milbank Shows Nico Pitney What A Serious Journalist Looks Like

As you may have heard, the Washington Post's Dana Milbank is outraged at the White House "staging" a question from our own Nico Pitney at yesterday's presser -- so much so that he apparently doesn't know what the question was! But it was from an Iranian, so it was probably totally some softball question like, "OH, MISTER OBAMA, YOUR POPULARITY IS LIKE A RUNAWAY FREIGHT TRAIN AND THE IRANIAN PEOPLE THANK YOU FOR TEACHING US THIS WORD, FREEDOM" and not at all a tough question like "Under which conditions would you accept the election of Ahmadinejad, and if you do accept it without any significant changes in the conditions there, isn't that a betrayal of the -- of what the demonstrators there are working towards?"

Anyway, for a few weeks now, I had been of the mind that Nico had really raised the bar for all of us at HuffPost, with his tireless and relentless focus on this story as it unfolds. It seemed to me to be the work of a serious person, and his question seemed to me to be an extension of that seriousness. But Milbank has forced me to reconsider that maybe serious journalism is dressing up in costumes, telling a bunch of unfunny jokes, and portraying yourself as an entitled ass. Seriously! I am weighing the two options carefully! With the help of this video that Milbank made with Chris "Let Me Write A Hundred More Blogs On Post-Partisanship" Cillizza.

Obviously, as a maker of vlogs myself, I am seriously considering patterning them on Milbank's, and making them poorly informed and unfunny.

WARNING! I think that seven days after you watch Milbank's video, Daveigh Chase will crawl out of your computer to murder you, such is its awfulness.

[WATCH]

About the only thing I think needs to be added is a reminder that Milbank lies to his readers, the end.

RELATED:
Crappy Hour: Not-So-Hot: Pundits Whine After Hot HuffPo Reporter Poses Presidential Question [Jezebel]
The "Neda video," torture, and the truth-revealing power of images [Glenn Greenwald]
Why Obama's Iranian Citizen Question Really Matters [The Nation]

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Comments

[retreadite]

06:38 PM on 06/25/2009

Staged questions (and this one obviously was) are ALWAYS wrong. Bush did it and now Obama's doing it. As much good work as Pitney has done, this crosses the line to becoming a tool for the administra­tion.

[CherokeeGirl]

08:38 PM on 06/25/2009

Although they did want someone from the Huff Po there, they didn't prescreen the question.

They don't do that, your beloved Bush did.

He also had someone feeding him the answers thru an earpiece.

How's it feel to have a mental ninja with tons of class as OUR prez?

Don't worry, you'll get used to watching integrity at work sooner or later.

[ruhaba]

12:55 AM on 06/26/2009

The Question was not staged , they told Nico they might pick him but they did not know what the question would be.

[patrickmcdougal]

12:49 AM on 06/27/2009

is Nico a former male prostitute­????
i didn't think so

[max08]

02:40 PM on 06/25/2009

Are you effing kidding me? Someone thought this was funny?

[Glenn1441]

11:21 AM on 06/25/2009

Honestly, these posts are fantastic.­.. Milbank's backyard is full of bones and it is hilarious watching as they are dug up...

Milbank can't hold a candle to Nico Pitney.

[RoseBlue]

11:05 AM on 06/25/2009

We are witnessing the meltdown of print journalist­s who are very threatened by a new medium, and will publicly disparage any instance where bloggers are given any credibilit­y. Linkins point: If you are insisting that your own credential­s are superior, you probably don't want make an ass of yourself in an unfunny video that, well, undermines your own credibilit­y.

[IowaKid]

06:27 AM on 06/25/2009

Dana Milbank a poor excuse for a journalist­.

[JohnSawyer]

03:28 AM on 06/25/2009

"The Central Intelligen­ce Agency owns everyone of any significan­ce in the major media." - William Colby, former CIA Director

I'm not saying Milbank is CIA-funded­, but I'm just sayin'...

[fgubb]

09:02 AM on 06/25/2009

Conspiraci­es everywhere

[whsmith]

02:09 AM on 06/25/2009

This is what the death of print journalism looks like folks.

[xXx Amagaeru xXx]

03:17 AM on 06/25/2009

very well said.

[fgubb]

09:04 AM on 06/25/2009

be careful what you wish for. where will HP writers (and TV newsprogra­ms) get material to write about then?

[whsmith]

06:51 PM on 06/25/2009

It wasn't wishful thinking, just an observatio­n.

[VS007]

12:19 AM on 06/25/2009

And the most boring video clipping award goes to ......

[JohnSawyer]

03:30 AM on 06/25/2009

I think "boring" is the word invented specifical­ly to describe this video clip.

[Chlowina]

11:34 PM on 06/24/2009

Once upon a time Milbank was okay... now he's a first class bore. MSNBC called him to the plate over a comment made months ago and he took offense and refused to admit to his error. And no more MSNBC for him. No loss.

[Kynn]

12:45 AM on 06/25/2009

He got called out for writing a very large story bashing Obama based on a misquote from a second hand source.

When he was called out on the fact that his quote wasn't what Obama actually said, he went mute and moved over to CNN so he wouldn't have to actually answer anything.

Of course, he's written false stories since then, but it doesn't seem to actually matter to CNN.

[flowereater]

11:15 PM on 06/24/2009

I couldn't sit through even half of it. It reminds me of kingdom hall humor. Yawn. Sigh. Run for your life.

[nomobull]

11:08 PM on 06/24/2009

DANA NO CREDIBILIT­Y EXCEPT WITH THE IGNORANT SHOULD SHUT UP.

[xXx Amagaeru xXx]

03:17 AM on 06/25/2009

take your caps off there, jerky... that's obnoxious. i don't even remember what you just said because you're screaming it so loudly.

[fgubb]

11:06 PM on 06/24/2009

Milbank made an important point about the question from the HP reporter, and this guy responds with a whole ad hominem essay on why Milbank is not funny? And they want us to take them seriously as journalist­s??

[RogerHWerner]

11:48 PM on 06/24/2009

I think you rather missed Linkins' point. He wasn;t so much complainin­g about the question but Milbanks' tone and his sense of entitlemen­t. I think this is a fair complaint. Milbanks generally ignored Pitney's question and focused on the nature of the circumstan­ce. In sum, Milbanks was whining that Pitney even got to ask a question. I mean he's merely an internet blogger. Personally­, I take issue's with Milbank's tone especially considerin­g his roll in the Plame affair and the fact that for the better part of eight years he worked with the rest of the White House and Washington pres corps to enable George W. Bush.

[fgubb]

12:24 AM on 06/25/2009

OK, but why doesn´t he say so without trashing him for this video? -- it serves a rethorical purpose, just so that he can trash the guy without addressing the point that Milbank raised. Winer: the author of this column. Loser: the reader.

[nk007]

12:34 AM on 06/25/2009

Exactly what was his "important point?" The fact that he prefers the likes of Chip Reid, Major Garrett, and Chuck Todd, regurgitat­ing Republican talking points and pretending to be asking serious questions? Does he think that the question Mr. Pitney asked was frivolous? Milbank is not only not funny but he is also shallow. He thinks the essence of serious journalism is to attack the politician­s he dislikes by lying about what they said or twisting their words. Dana Milbank has absolutely no credibilit­y, but I guess his kind of journalism is now valued at the Washington Post.

[RomeoinFl]

10:57 PM on 06/24/2009

What is thiis? ????? huh?

[earlyautumn]

10:48 PM on 06/24/2009

They must be Republcans­. Something this bad could only come from the GOP.

[floridagal2]

01:23 AM on 06/25/2009

I am surprised at Chris Salizza.

Milbank? Zero.

[grailknight]

10:27 PM on 06/24/2009

Yes this was a not chortle inducing bit of video. But what kind of question was Nico Pitney serving as a proxy for? As dishonest as the "election" in Iran was, it remains an internal policy issue for the Islamic Republic of Iran, with which the United States has no diplomatic relation. I've heard elsewhere that it's analogous for an American asking an Iranian eight years ago under what conditions would you accept the "election" of George Walker Bush?

[clevelandchick]

10:38 PM on 06/24/2009

Nico Pitney was asking the President a questioned an Iranian who wrote into this blog responding to a post. You either belive that or you don't. You can ask him yourself, he is the editor of this blog.

[JZ735]

01:16 AM on 06/25/2009

If he is, he does one AWFUL job...

[JohnSawyer]

03:25 AM on 06/25/2009

"This blog" is Jason Linkins'. The blog you refer to, is Nico Pitney's. By "this", do you mean "his"?