Politics

Hume rips Washington Post handling of Romney ‘bullying’ story: ‘Ridiculous’ [VIDEO]

Jeff Poor Media Reporter
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What were the editors and reporters of The Washington Post thinking? That is the question Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume has for the national capital’s newspaper after it ran a story last week about former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s high school years.

The story by Jason Horowitz has been roundly criticized for its timing and sourcing. But, according to Hume, that’s not where the problem lies. Hume explained that the story lacks relevance to Romney’s current role as a national figure.

“My thought about that was, if this had been connected — I mean, look, this was not a prank,” he said. “This was hazing, and it was mean. There’s no doubt, and I don’t have real doubt about the basic truth of the story. The problem with the story, dating from high school, was … the utter failure of the Post to connect it to anything else in Romney’s life and career. … There was nothing. This thing, at almost book length, with an enormous splash on the front page, was all about one incident and [was] unconnected — indeed, I would say even disconnected — from anything else we know.”

Hume explained how the Post can manipulate and play up a particular story, and he called into question the paper’s news judgment and handling of the piece.

“So, the point is, I think it was much ado about not very much,” Hume said. “You have to wonder, what is an editor of a newspaper thinking? You know, editors who edit news pages do in a certain way express editorial opinion by the way they play the story, where they play it and at what length. This obviously struck the editors of The Washington Post and the reporters who work on this story as a big deal. And, you have to wonder what kind of news judgment these people have if they really think that. … The way it was handled [was] ridiculous.”

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Jeff Poor