baratunde.com

Yesterday, I held a conversation with White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett at Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh (partial video here). The questions came from the web over a two week period. It was a pretty privileged position to hold, and I tried to balance the various pressures of such a job: tough questions, audience participation, respect for Jarrett, listening, etc.

For one brief moment, some Yahoos decided to start hissing. I don't really take well to that sort of disruption, mostly because I think it's a weak, pansy-ass way to disrupt something. If you're going to be a disruption, own it. Wag your finger, yell, shove, invoke God's wrath, wave around your birth certificate. Do not, however, hide behind your teeth. Anyway, I put a stop to it as quickly and delicately as I could, and the conversation continued.

Then I saw the headline above. The editors at Huffington Post must really have a mandate to drive traffic. I'd hardly say hissing was the defining moment. If's funny. New media is supposed to be about setting a different standard than the oft-criticized, sensational, conflict obsessed "mainstream media," but this headline proves that's not always the case.

In addition, this major headline on Huffington Post (which has over 2,400 comments) manages to be wrong from the very first word. Her name is Valerie. Not Valarie.

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