I disagree: Danny was very purposeful about ignoring standard journalistic practice. It was an obvious hit piece built on obviously flawed material, with no pretense of skepticism, no background work, etc. This was, in fact, malicious.
Rather has become so blinded by his own liberalism that he has lost all ability (assuming he ever had any) to judge a story on its merits. He has been able to get away with this fatal flaw because he's been unchallenged in the past. Now with talk radio and primarily the internet this glaring deficiency in his character has come under the spotlight. Like I said before, his own prejudices have finally caught up with him.