Chris Matthews Says That Pointing Out Chertoff's Conflict Of Interest Over Rapiscan TSA Scanners Is Slander?

by Mike Masnick
Techdirt
Nov. 30, 2010

Michael Chertoff's conflict of interest over the Rapiscan full body "naked" scanners used by the TSA in airports is old news. It was reported on widely earlier this year, and again in the past few weeks. So it does seem kind of odd (as pointed out via Radley Balko) that MSNBC TV guy Chris Matthews appears to accuse someone of slander for pointing it out. Of course, if you watch the video, what Matthews does is even more insidious -- which is taking what Ginger McCall actually says, and twisting it to pretend she said something different. She points out -- accurately -- the conflict of interest, and he claims she's saying that the only reason we have these devices was because of corruption and "sweetheart deals" back when Chertoff was head of Homeland Security. But McCall was merely pointing out that there's a "revolving door" at these agencies, and machines are pitched by former government folks, with little evidence that they're effective. Matthews totally takes what McCall actually says and pretends (falsely) that she claimed he made a corrupt deal while still in power. This is what passes for journalism these days?