The Definitive Profile of Gateway Pundit

Media Matters has produced a pretty thorough and detailed profile of the kind of garbage Jim Hoft, aka Gateway Pundit, regularly peddles on his blog. The tragic thing is that Hoft is still treated as a credible source of information by the St. Louis media and, occasionally, the national media (though usually the national attention is restricted to Fox News). I would hope that any reporter going through Hoft's track record provided here would think twice about citing him as a primary source on any story. He has demonstrated repeatedly that he's willing to peddle the most outlandish conspiracy theories and, at times, to simply make things up.

I do want to offer a caveat before linking to the story. It is unfortunately titled, "Jim Hoft: Dumbest Man on the Internet?" and repeatedly makes references to how "dumb" Hoft is. This, in my opinion, seriously detracts from the quality of the research. The information is all pretty self-evident: there's no need for Media Matters to tell the reader how they need to evaluate it. The reader can decide for herself whether Hoft is "dumb" or "dishonest" or whatever other adjective one would choose. I think the excessive name-calling just makes it too easy for reporters or moderates to dismiss the post as "just another squabble between the angry Right and the angry Left." In fact, it's much more than that. It's a damning critique of the type of propaganda, innuendo, and smear techniques that characterize the core of Hoft's work. The post should be read as an evaluation of the type of "journalism" the Right engages in, not as a personal attack on Hoft.

Nevertheless, the information is invaluable. So, with no further ado, I give you the Media Matters Profile of Jim Hoft.