Cable Provocateurs…

The New York Times’ David Carr writes about Shirley Sherrod and ideological talking heads…

Where once there was a pretty bright line between journalist and political operative, there is now a kind of a continuum, with politicians becoming media providers in their own right, and pundits, entertainers and journalists often driving political discussions.

There have been times when it seemed that Rush Limbaugh was acting as de facto head of the Republican Party, as the Democrats picked up talking points from Rachel Maddow. And Sarah Palin, through Facebook and Twitter accounts, has become an important source of political wisdom for many Americans.

Bill Adair, who is the editor of PolitiFact.com, a fact-checking Web site run by The St. Petersburg Times, said that, at the beginning, his Pulitzer Prize-winning site vetted only pronouncements of government and party officials. But that soon proved to be out of step with how politics actually works.

“We realized that we had created an artificial wall, and that talk show hosts, Web sites and pundits were as much a part of the discourse as politicians,” he said. So now the site also truth-squads talking heads from Glenn Beck to Ms. Maddow.

This article has gotten Carr in Keith Olbermann’s Twitter sights…

Sorry @carr2n If you propagate the false equivalency between Limbaugh and @Maddow you’ve become part of the problem