The Hackademy Awards

And the award for Biggest Republican Hack Posing As An Objective Journalist goes to:

Chicago: I know this has been asked before, but is it ever appropriate to flat-out state that a public official has lied in straight reporting (vs. opinion)? It seems that most reporters are very, very reluctant to use that word, even when it seems clear that the person in question is not telling the truth. The contradiction between John McCain's recent statement about his meeting/speaking with Bud Paxson and his own 2002 deposition comes to mind. But reports always call it a "conflict" between statements rather than what it is -- he's lying.

washingtonpost.com: McCain Disputed On 1999 Meeting: Broadcaster Recalls Urging FCC Contact (Post, Feb. 23)

Howard Kurtz: There may be occasions where it's warranted, but "lie" suggests an intentional untruth. In the case of McCain and Paxson, it's possible that he forgot the 1999 meeting. After all, why deliberately lie about it when you already have testified under oath that there was a meeting?

And, with the award for Most Ill-Informed Republican Hack, it's a clean sweep for the Putz:

Annapolis, Md.: Good morning. Do you have any information about the "60 Minutes" blackout last night in Alabama? This was during the segment about Gov. Siegelman, and of course the rumor is that the TV blackout was politically contrived. Did the "glitch" occur in other places also, or does it seem to have been confined to Alabama?

Howard Kurtz: This is the first I'm hearing of it, but local stations can choose not to run, or only to run part of, a network program. So if this happened during that segment, it doesn't sound like a coincidence.

Ignorance is no excuse --for Howie, it's a career.