HOWARD KURTZ on how the media blew the Van Jones story. “In the Jones case, there is little question that the traditional media botched the story of an Obama administration official who, wittingly or otherwise, lent his name to those who believe that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney deliberately allowed thousands of Americans to be slaughtered. Some conservatives accused journalists of liberal bias; it is just as likely that their radar malfunctioned, or that they collectively dismissed Beck as a rabble-rouser. ” The truth is, they don’t think having been a communist, or believing silly conspiracy theories about Bush and Cheney, is all that bad, and they suffered a Kaelian surprise when they discovered that most people felt differently. Plus this: “The follow-up news pieces focused on the administration’s failure to vet Jones’s background. Perhaps the media bloodhounds should be just as curious why they failed to sniff out a story that ended with a White House resignation.”

What’s Howard’s next item? This puzzler: “Public respect for the media has plunged to a new low, with just 29 percent of Americans saying that news organizations generally get their facts straight.” Do tell.