In preparation for his new venture into ‘investigative journalism’, fired MSNBC reporter David Shuster has been polishing his skills on Twitter. But if the first rule of a journalist is to get the facts right, he may have a tough road ahead. On March 1 he said:

• Anybody know if FNC has been asked today about Gingrich/paid contributor now that he has officially formed a prez exploratory committee?

Of course, Newt didn’t form an exploratory committee on March 1; the news reports said he was expected to announce his intention to form one later that week. Shuster got it wrong. In fact, Gingrich still hasn’t formed an exploratory committee.

Then just today came another FNC-related revelation from the intrepid reporter:

• Canadian regulators reject FoxNewsChannel request to air in Canada. Amen. http://tinyurl.com/49a5lq9

Try not to be surprised that ‘journalist’ Shuster is against freedom of speech, and focus instead on the fact that once again he is wildly, utterly wrong. Fox News has been available in Canada for years. But plucky Shuster was so euphoric that he dug that hole a little deeper:

• Hey Fox News, in honor of Canada smartly rejecting you, how about a sing along? http://tinyurl.com/lxhxrl

We responded to all this with two tweets of our own:

• RT @DavidShuster: Canadian regulators reject FoxNewsChannel request to air in Canada. Amen. // FNC has been on in Canada 4 the past 7 years
• RT @DavidShuster: Hey Fox News, in honor of Canada smartly rejecting you... // Shuster isn't telling the truth. http://t.co/XlpIqpS

The reaction from the twitterverse must have taken the boy reporter by surprise. Some examples:

• diggrbiii: .@DavidShuster claims to be a journalist, but the moron can't do a simple google search to see if Fox is available in Canada.
• jjmnolte: Hi @davidshuster. You have been caught in a fib. How about that singalong now?
• fatdaddybulldog: @davidshuster Sh!tty commentary and misleading crap like this is why you will NEVER be taken seriously David.
• nickmarschel: @davidShuster dude, your jealousy is really sickening...grow up, man.

So what’s a Shuster to do? Make a correction? Admit he’s wrong? Apologize? Silly rabbit, of course not. Instead, erase the original tweet, make it disappear, and pretend none of it ever happened. Unfortunately, David can delete that tweet, but he can’t touch all those RTs (retweets), so his incompetence and lack of journalistic integrity are preserved for twitter posterity. (Just to make sure he wouldn’t be confronted with facts the next time he uses twitter to spread a falsehood, the courageous Shuster blocked us from following his tweets.)

Who can say why David Shuster reacts to Fox News like Dracula confronted with a crucifix? Some might suggest that he has a raging case of Fox Derangement Syndrome. Ponder this bit of lunacy: in a discussion with left-wing radio host Stephanie Miller, David spent most of the interview ranting about Fox News spewing lies. Then Miller turned the discussion to the fascination with Charlie Sheen, but Shuster couldn’t resist bringing Fox back into it with what could charitably be called a unique theory as to why so many people watch Sheen coverage:

SHUSTER: In an environment where you do have a self-proclaimed news organization that spews lies day in and day out and doesn’t usually get called on it by the rest of the media, I mean maybe this is some escape that some people have, to be able to say OK, enough of the serious stuff. I want to take a break. I just want to be entertained for ten minutes and hear the latest about Charlie Sheen’s travails.

Yes, according to David Shuster, the millions of people who watch Charlie Sheen coverage do so because Fox News spews lies. FDS in its most virulent form.

Tags: shuster