Crossing the Line on a Cable Show? (WaPo ombudsman comments on Milbank's hunting outfit on MSNBC)

Washington Post ^ | 2/19/06 | Deborah Howell

[frankjr]

Dana Milbank can be controversial with readers. The Post reporter has his fans -- and I can be one of them -- but I think his appearance on MSNBC last week was a mistake in judgment.

Milbank wore hunting gear -- an orange stocking cap and striped vest and gloves -- on Keith Olbermann's show Monday night and made several meant-to-be-humorous remarks about Vice President Cheney's hunting accident. Here's an example from the transcript:

Olbermann: And will there be more hunting trips? I mean, would you actually go hunting with the vice president at this point, even dressed the way you are?

Milbank: I understand that Pat Fitzgerald has been offered an invitation to the next one.

Spayd [WaPo assistant managing editor for national news] said she felt Milbank "crossed the line" on his TV appearance. "What he intended as a playful joke was viewed by many as mocking and unprofessional, and understandably so." Suffice it to say that he has been taken to The Post's version of the woodshed and told not to do that again.

If Post editors insist he is not an opinion columnist, then Milbank ought to drop the funny hats and stay away from comedy shows.

It all comes down to what Stephen Stanford of Saltillo, Miss., wrote: "If you are going to keep using his work, how about labeling it as opinion and not news?"

Exactly.

[OldFriend]

There is no redeeming quality at all when it comes to MSNBC.

They appear to be shameless in their ever more insane ranting against the President.