Spatwatch

Hating on Time Magazine's 9/12 Coverage

John Hudson 27 Views Sep 17, 2009

A headline like "Mad Men: Is Glenn Beck Bad for America?," from Time would seem to be the perfect invitation for conservative scorn, but the story that followed did the opposite. The magazine is getting absolutely hammered on Twitter from liberals astonished at the piece. It all started out with Time's opening paragraph describing the scale of the 9/12 protests:

Time: "If you get your information from liberal sources, the crowd numbered about 70,000, many of them greedy racists. If you get your information from conservative sources, the crowd was hundreds of thousands strong, perhaps as many as a million, and the tenor was peaceful and patriotic."

Needling Time for "some say this, others say that" reporting, leading left-wing blogger Atrios tweets:

Atrios: facts are stupid things, and really get in the way of whatever story Time wants to sell. Will be glad when newsweeklies die

Next, Atrios said something outrageous as a way to mock the media's dedication to telling both sides of the story--even when one side is not being honest. The victim of this joke is Time's managing editor:

Atrios: some say rick stengel molests goats. others disagree

Ouch! Piling on is left-wing magazine, The Nation, attacking the story's apparently banal headline.

The Nation: "Time dares to ask: Is Glenn Beck Bad for America?

Nothing back from Time yet. Is the well-established weekly going to take this from these wisecrackers? Stay tuned for a Spat Watch update.

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John Hudson