The Washington Post has produced a truly astounding piece of “journalism”. (Yes, my second “Shame on WaPo” post in two days.)

One of the more astounding things about the article, which is relatively short, is that the author has willingly put her name on it. The culprit is Dana Hedgpeth and, on the strength of this article, you would be well advised to treat anything of Hedgpeth’s you ever read in the future with extreme suspicion. Especially if it appears to be written from what we can politely call a Bush administration point-of-view. (Though, that would be polite only if Hedgpeth were a novelist, or an avowedly Republican columnist/editorial writer. Or employed by Fox News. And she ain’t.)

Hedgpeth’s theory of journalism, for starters, falls somewhere between Judith Miller‘s and stenography.

Hedgpeth has apparently taken a press release put out by White House official Clay Johnson III, and typed it up as an article after finding one anonymous source to corroborate the story, and obtaining a “declined to comment” from the target of the story. Nothing wrong with that at all. That’s what they teach you in journalism school.

Here’s the curious part. Hedgpeth presumably doesn’t enjoy the newpaper equivalent of independent posting access. That article was submitted to someone who’s employed by WaPo to vet articles for publication. Someone who is presumably not still working his or her way through journalism school. And who is not a graduate of Monica Goodling‘s alma mater either (I’m thinking of Regent University but you’re welcome to treat it as referring to Messiah College if you prefer). And WaPo looked upon this piece of crap, and WaPo was pleased to publish it.

The article is a hit piece on Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, who has made himself so unpopular around the White House by refusing to be a team player, and insisting on uncovering instance after instance of fraud and abuse in Iraq. And insisting on referring case after case to Alberto Gonzales‘ Justice Department for prosecution. (Hopefully, though, by this point the “Justice” Department is staffed entirely by prosecutors who know how to take care of business.)

Mr. Bowen is apparently under investigation by … (if you have anything in your mouth, please swallow it now, lest you choke or splatter innocent bystanders) … the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency, which is presided over by Clay Johnson III, who is also deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget.

Mr. Johnson issued a press release or made a statement on Wednesday. Hedpeth duly wrote it up for WaPo‘s Thursday issue. Nothing wrong with that at all.

But after laying out the case against Mr. Bowen just as Clay Johnson III himself might have dictated it — Mr. Bowen, by the way, is accused of the high crimes of “not showing up for work for long periods of time in 2004″ and having “employees work on a book that is to explain the lessons of Iraq reconstruction, which pulled them away from audits” — Hedpeth never once mentions that:

The White House has been embarrassed by Bowen’s relentless dedication to exposing waste and fraud in the Iraq reconstruction effort

Among other things, Mr. Bowen has actively targeted Halliburton contracts

The White House tried to surreptitiously close down Bowen’s operation last fall by cutting off all funding for his office.

The only reason we still have a “special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction” exposing fraud and corruption by the likes of Halliburton (and being investigated by the likes of Clay Johnson III) is that the newly empowered Democratic Congress restored the funding.

You and I might think that these are relevant facts when a White House operative announces that Mr. Bowen is “under investigation by a presidential panel”. But you and I never went to journalism school, of course. And it has never occurred to WaPo to consult us in their editorial decisions. They think they know what they are doing, you see. I think they call it journalism.

I don’t know about you, but I think I know what they are doing too. Funny, I almost agree with WaPo‘s self-assessment. I call it yellow journalism.