Post-Dispatch Asks if NPR Smear is Ethical Without Noting that Videos Were Deceptively Edited

How's this for being completely out-of-the-loop? The Post-Dispatch wrote a post today asking if James O'Keefe's video smear pieces are "ethical reporting." Of course, they don't bother to mention that O'Keefe's despicable tactics include attempting to sexually humiliate a female CNN reporter by isolating her on a boat full of sex toys and attempting to "seduce" her. But even worse, the author Steve Parker doesn't even seem to be familiar with the basic facts about O'Keefe's smear job on NPR. The original video presented by O'Keefe falsely suggested that former NPR executive Ron Schiller called the tea party racist. As originally caught by conservative website The Blaze, and since reported on by numerous outlets including CNN, NPR, Media Matters for America, Slate, Schiller was actually passing on what another person told him.

Here's how O'Keefe originally presented the words:

SCHILLER: The current Republican party is not really the Republican party. It's been hijacked by this group -- that is --

"AMIR MALIK": The radical, racist, Islamophobic, tea party people?

SCHILLER: And not just Islamophobic but really xenophobic

And here's reality:

SCHILLER: I won't break a confidence, but a person who was an ambassador -- so a very highly placed Republican -- another person who was one of the top donors to the Republican Party, they both told me they voted for Obama, which they never believed they could ever do in their lives. That they could ever vote for a Democrat, ever. And they did, because they believe that the current Republican Party is not really the Republican Party. It's been hijacked by this group that is

"AMIR MALIK": The radical, racist, Islamophobic, Tea Party people?

SCHILLER: Exactly. And not just Islamophobic but really xenophobic.

O'Keefe's edit completely changed the sound of the conversation and falsely implied that Schiller was using that terminology himself.

Yet the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, while asking people whether O'Keefe is "ethical," leaves out the fundamental criticism of his "sting," and information that completely undercuts his case. Great way to foster healthy dialogue.