The Anatomy Of A Daily Callerspiracy Theory
The Daily Caller has an article today that either 1) suggests that the Justice Department joining a lawsuit against The Gallup Organization is connected to a David Axelrod tweet from April criticizing Gallup's polling methodology, or 2) has no news value whatsoever. The Caller presents no material evidence linking the two events, and even the circumstantial evidence the piece provides largely debunks the conspiracy theory.
This article epitomizes one of the more pernicious aspects of The Daily Caller's particular brand of journalism: the outlet's tendency to publish articles that have news value only if you assume the reporter is implying the existence of a malicious Obama administration conspiracy.
Is the author suggesting that there is a connection between Axelrod's supposed attempt to "subtly intimidate" Gallup and the DOJ's lawsuit against the company? If not, what is the point of linking the two together in the story's opening paragraphs? They could just as easily have pointed out that the lawsuit "came after" the Miami Heat won the NBA championship.
It would take an exceptional amount of Obama Derangement Syndrome to posit that the Obama administration sued Gallup because they don't like their polling. Conservative bloggers like Ed Morrissey and Gabriel Malor have already weighed in expressing skepticism with the Caller's implication, with Morrissey writing, "Could this be retaliation? It's possible, I suppose, but it's not terribly rational, with no upside and lots of downside over a nearly-meaningless issue."
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/09/06/the-anatomy-of-a-daily-callerspiracy-theory/189772
I've been seeing this conspiracy theory being touted as truth all over the internet by right wingers. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for a retraction from the Daily Caller.
