Logical, Ethical Lapses Beset Washington Post

Op-ed page woes spread to editorial on Nobel Peace Prize
By Marie Morris,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 16, 2009 4:07 PM CDT
Logical, Ethical Lapses Beset Washington Post
This October 2008 photo shows the Washington Post building on 15th St. NW in Washington, DC.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

The next-to-last straw was the Washington Post editorial saying Neda Agha Soltan should have won the Nobel Peace Prize, which isn't awarded posthumously. The last straw was today's op-ed raising—but not bothering to answer—the question of whether President Obama can even accept the honor without violating the Constitution. The piece confirms that "the Post op-ed page has gone completely off the rails," and Alex Pareene of Gawker isn't holding back.

George Will's fact-checking difficulties, Anne Applebaum's lack of full disclosure, and William Kristol's being "not just wrong but boring and lazy" have Pareene riled up, and he's not the only one. James Fallows of the Atlantic, nobody's idea of a snarky blogger, flagged the factual failing of the Neda argument, writing, "It took 0.24 seconds to find that info, and it would have taken maybe another fifteen seconds to change the sentence in the editorial."
(More Washington Post stories.)

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