Salon: USA Today kills ludicrous Ann Coulter story! (Why was she hired?)

[kskiska]

But why did it hire the unhinged buffoon to cover Boston in the first place?

By Eric Boehlert

So far there have been two major media black eyes at the Democratic convention in Boston. The first was on Monday when the Washington Post handed out 10,000 copies of a special convention issue of the daily, complete with the dated banner headline "Election 2000."

The second talked-about misfire was USA Today's decision to spike as unusable a column it had commissioned from radical right-wing pundit Ann Coulter. The decision to not run the lazy, mean-spirited rant actually made perfect sense, especially after Coulter reportedly refused to make any requested changes. But then Coulter ran to Fox News and insisted that the paper was trying to "ban" her conservative voice, which meant USA Today had a headache on its hands.

(snip)

Ironically, it was Goldberg who had to clean up after Coulter at National Review Online when she and the conservative journal parted ways in 2001. On the heels of the 9/11 attacks, NRO published a controversial Coulter column that suggested the United States "invade countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." Her words produced howls of protest, and Coulter fired off a defensive column attacking her critics. National Review balked. In a letter to readers at the time, Goldberg noted that Coulter's follow-up column was "barely coherent," adding that it "was Ann at her worst -- emoting rather than thinking, and badly needing editing and some self-censorship, or what is commonly referred to as 'judgment.' Running this 'piece' would have been an embarrassment to Ann, and to NRO."

When National Review editor Rich Lowry informed her of that fact and asked for changes to the column, he got no reply from Coulter. Instead, according to Goldberg, she "showed up on TV and, in an attempt to ingratiate herself with fellow martyr Bill Maher, said we were 'censoring' her." Sound familiar?

more…
http://salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/07/27/coulter/index.html

[muchacho]

1. from new favorite source on the media

After commissioning right-wing pundit Ann Coulter to provide conservative commentary from the Democratic National Convention in Boston, on July 25, USA Today apparently reversed course and rejected her column on the "Spawn of Satan convention."

The Drudge Report reported the rejection on July 27. Human Events Online, a right-wing online news site that carries Coulter's columns, published the rejected column and included the comments of USA Today's editors. Human Events Online also published an article reporting the newspaper's reasons for spiking the column. USA Today executive editor Brian Gallagher cited "editorial differences" in making its decision.

To Media Matters for America, the only surprise is USA Today's own apparent surprise to discover that Coulter's brand of right-wing hate speech would be unsuitable for a mainstream publication. As MMFA has recently documented, Coulter compared former President Bill Clinton to O.J. Simpson; she called Americans who don't support President George W. Bush "traitors"; she claimed that liberals "would enjoy" the "activities" at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq; and she lauded discrimination against Arab, Middle Eastern, and Muslim airline passengers.

<snip>

http://mediamatters.org/items/200407270005

[thomas_a]

2. Re: Ann Coulter

I am disappointed USA Today did not run Ann Coulter's piece. I greatly admire Ann Coulter in a rather perverse way. She is one Republican who is not afraid to say what the rest of them think. Is she insane? Perhaps. Is she evil? Yes. But, so are the rest of them. I would much rather deal with Ann Coulter than a trojan horse like Michael Bloomberg who pretends to be moderate and tolerante while working to advance the Republican agenda. I far more respect Ann Coulter than some skanky whore like Colin Powell who writes of how angry he was that the well-connected avoided military service in Vietnam while simeltaneously hugging and kissing Bush and Cheney. Let Ann Coulter speak. Let the true voice of the Republican party burst forth in all of its idiotic glory.

[PhuLoi]

3. "Let all the poisons in the mud seep out"

an appropos quote from the last scenes of the movie I, CLAUDIUS. The inference being to let all the evil people expose themselves and their true intentions.

[LuLu550]

4. well said and

welcome to DU!