As Twitchy told you, Ben Shapiro called out the Washington Post and Talia Lavin for Lavin’s disgusting smear job lumping Ben Shapiro in with alt-right white supremacists.

Hey, @washingtonpost, any interest in fixing this nonsense? I noted that Notre Dame is a monument to Western civilization because it is. That has nothing to do with blaming Muslims, and to suggest it does is simply a lie. — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 16, 2019

Hey, @washingtonpost, any interest in fixing this nonsense? I noted that Notre Dame is a monument to Western civilization because it is. That has nothing to do with blaming Muslims, and to suggest it does is simply a lie. — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 16, 2019

And here’s how “America’s premier progressive media watchdog” Media Matters decided to wade into the fray:

What part of that tweet constitutes being a premier media watchdog? We’re not really seeing it … are you?

Guys, they're just media watchdogs, not pathetic partisan smear artists funded by Democratic donors https://t.co/9PnDzr4Vh4 — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 16, 2019

Ben knew exactly what he was doing trying to (wrongly and misleadingly) rile up people against @chick_in_kiev. https://t.co/tF8Hlyl8nl https://t.co/4jwcUnLrU5 — Media Matters (@mmfa) April 16, 2019

Swap “Ben” and “@chick_in_kiev” and that tweet is completely accurate. Talia Lavin was wrongly and misleadingly trying to rile people up against Shapiro. Media Matters knows it and instead of doing what is ostensibly their job and calling Lavin out, they’re putting whatever muscle they’ve got into pushing Lavin’s false narrative. And lashing out at Shapiro for having an infinitely better understanding of the media than they do.

Substantive content guys. — Robert Helt (@BobHelt_says) April 16, 2019

This is such a rational, well thought out rebuttal. Impressive. https://t.co/f2nc5nWUEr — Heather (@hboulware) April 16, 2019

I used to admire your work @mmfa. This kind of response to a legitimate concern is troubling to say the least. — Chris Bozeman (@ChrisBBozeman) April 16, 2019

Remember… These are people that many liberals respect. Why, I have no idea… They are garbage. And should be treated as such. https://t.co/BU9N3h4aGd — Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) April 16, 2019

If the Acela Media had an ounce of credibility, this would be the conclusion of ever treating Media Matters like a legitimate organization. Not holding my breath. pic.twitter.com/TODKDpHhNq — Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) April 16, 2019

Another great day for American #journalism. pic.twitter.com/wkMFcBCTOg — Some guy tweeted something ??‍♂️ (@jtLOL) April 16, 2019

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Update:

Oh wait, guys. MMFA would like to add some “context” so you’ll understand where they’re coming from:

Some context: @chick_in_kiev, a great writer who worked with us, has been on the receiving end of right-wing harassment for the better part of a year now, often spurred on by spurious attacks on her work. https://t.co/tF8Hlyl8nl — Media Matters (@mmfa) April 16, 2019

Uh-huh.

So is this the new post-Ilan Omar playbook now? You get to say egregious and indefensible things, and when someone calls you out on your own conduct you scream it’s going to lead to harassment? https://t.co/wVCrFZpxPP — Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) April 16, 2019

That seems to be the playbook they’ve settled on, yes.