MORE ON THE ANN COULTER COVER STORY

Eric Alterman is seriously pissed about Time's cover story of Ann Coulter. He calls it "a moral and intellectual scandal and a permanent stain on the reputations of everyone associated with it, most particularly its author, John Cloud." I'm in total agreement and have canceled my subscription with a note to the Circulation Editor protesting the Coulter story and the flack journalism it demonstrates.

Time’s cover story/whitewash of Ann Coulter, here, will make it impossible for serious people to accept what the magazine reports at face-value ever again. It is as if Time had contracted a journalistic venereal disease from Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly and is now seeking to lower itself to their level in pursuit of their ideologically-obsessed audiences.

Eric goes on to say that he specifically pointed one of the researchers of the story to a number of available resources that should have been a check to Cloud's sloppy reporting. Evidently the writer lazily relied on a simple Google search and didn't even read many of those search results.

We have got to start holding editors responsible for their reporters' shoddy journalism. They are the ones who select and pass on stories and should be the gatekeepers for their publications, not just rubber stamps for reporters. I have more trouble getting a story printed in a company news release or internal newsletter than the Elizabeth Bumillers, Judith Millers and John Clouds of the world have getting published in major media outlets. Upwards of 20 people review every word I write; every assertion, every fact is checked and rechecked, challenged and defended, before a word goes out.