NPR Publicizes ‘Rascally’ Joe McGinniss; Insisted ‘We Know’ Corsi Was False in 2008
In 2008, NPR's All Things Considered tried to take apart the “swift-booking” of Barack Obama by conservative author Jerome Corsi, insisting in several places “we know” Corsi's reporting wasn't factual. On Friday's All Things Considered, NPR media reporter David Folkenflik took a looser standard in publicizing the Palin-bashing book by liberal author Joe McGinniss. Folkenflik eventually found book experts who disdained the difference between a “warts and all” book and an “all warts” book. But none of the book's claims were held up individually as false. It just on the whole “felt unreliable.” This leads the listener to wonder what might be true: Palin's cocaine-snorting, the premarital sex with NBA stars, the neglect of her children? Which? Folkenflik brings up McGinniss's tawdry publicity stunt, renting right next to the Palin home in Wasilla, running some mini-soundbites of outrage from conservative talkers like Sean Hannity (“creepy”) and Bill O'Reilly (“immoral”). But Folkenflik tweeted Friday “How rascally is the writer behind 'The Rogue'?” All in all, the stunt was a plus: FOLKENFLIK: McGinniss received threats, but he was blessed by the conflict with the Palins: He structured the book around it. Joe McGinniss says he never stalked the Palins or peered at her kids, but says her personal life is fair game for reporting, because she parades her family in public view, on the campaign trail and in such television appearances as the TLC reality series “Sarah Palin's Alaska”… McGINNISS: She pushes them front and center. She tries to use, as a fundamental aspect of her image, the sense that Sarah is a working mother of five great kids. These people are all – they do everything together. Look at her whole reality show. They travel Alaska together, and they go mining for gold and hunting caribou. And it's all fake. It's all fake. It's utterly fraudulent. NPR began by touting McGinniss's ancient book on salesmanship of
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on September 24, 2011. Filed under