Tim Graham uses an April 30 NewsBusters post to do a little Heathering of not-conservative-enough-for-Graham MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, repeating Don Imus’ venomous claims that Scarborough’s radio show, currently on an announced hiatus, was actually canceled, and that Scarborough’s MSNBC ratings aren’t any better than Imus’ ratings were when he occupied that time slot (though Graham curiously fails to mention why Imus is no longer with MSNBC). Graham also relays an attack on Scarborough by the right-wing blog Radio Equalizer.
But as Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer reports, Scarborough has responded to Imus, Graham, and Radio Equalizer via Twitter:
Neither @newsbusters nor Imus can change these facts: We’ve already doubled Imus’s best ratings over a decade. Imus never beat CNN. We do.
Morning Joe gets 20 times the audience in the demo as does Imus. Our WABC radio show also beat Glenn Beck every month in every category.
Imus’s bitterness is misplaced. I was one of the few people who stood by him publicly. It’s a shame he’s so bitter about our success.
Krakauer adds that “Scarborough is correct in his breakdown of the ratings (the Beck comment relates only to the New York market),” while the jury is still out on the actual status of the radio show.
Interesting that Graham would uncritically regurgitate Imus’ attacks without fact-checking them first. And no, citing another blog repeating the same attacks does not constitute fact-checking.