CNSNews.com editor in chief Terry Jeffrey devoted an April 6 blog post to rehashing a crusade his website and and its Media Research Center parent have been pushing recently:
CRTV’s “Michelle Malkin Investigates” and ABC’s “20/20” have both produced reports on the criminal investigation and conviction of former Oklahoma City Policeman Daniel Holtzclaw. But Malkin’s report brought to light some facts and questions that “20/20” did not.
Creators Syndicate Chairman Rick Newcombe, having viewed both reports, wrote a column that CNSNews.com published on March 27, pointing to the serious questions Malkin’s report raised.
Surprisingly, Jeffrey did include a bit of disclosure at the end of his post: “Disclosure: Creators Syndicate publishes Terence P. Jeffrey’s column.”
That’s the least of the disclosures Jeffrey should have made, and not just because we (and you) weren’t aware until now that Creators syndicated Jeffrey’s column. As we pointed out, Creators also syndicates the column ostensibly written by his boss, Brent Bozell, and Newcombe rushed to Bozell’s defense when the truth slipped out that Bozell’s column was actually written by his lieutenant, Tim Graham. Malkin’s weekly column is also published twice by the MRC, at CNS and at NewsBusters.
In other words: It still looks a bit like some kind of quid pro quo is going on here, and Jeffrey and Bozell should fully disclose their business relationship with Malkin and Creators before writing about this story any further.