Why 'Baltimore Sun Critic Needs to Apologize to CNN's Van Jones

Post by Robert Greenwald originally appeared on AlterNet. 

In America, media critics are supposed to keep journalists honest and play referee on matters of import.

But what happens when, in the middle of the Ferguson tragedy, a media critic violates every rule of good reporting to launch a fact-free attack on a prominent black commentator?

Who holds the accountability cops accountable? Who makes them issue the retractions that they demand of others?

Case in point: a media critic for the Baltimore Sun, David Zurawik. Last week, he blasted CNN for including Van Jones in its coverage of Ferguson on the night of the grand jury decision. Zurawik was then invited to repeat and elaborate his criticism on NPR's On the Media, asserting strenuously that Jones had "absolutely no credentials" to report on the events in Ferguson.

Yes, he actually said that.

Zurawik went on to elaborate: "There's kids in college studying journalism who are more equipped to be on the streets covering that story for CNN than he was."

In saying this, Zurawik went beyond disagreeing with Jones' perspective (which he is free to do). He challenged Jones' very qualifications to be on the air that night.

But it turns out that Jones appears to have been more qualified (and certainly more credentialed) to report on this particular story than almost anyone else in the television news business.

Continue reading the rest of the post on AlterNet.