I read a Guardian story, picked up by the Sydney Morning Herald, about the ACORN scandals. It summarizes, in so many ways, why the MSM has lost all credibility. They're practically writing their own obituaries. The story is below, but it's inter-spaced with my comments. My comments are in italics.

Anti-poverty group caught by sting
Hang your head in shame. If people don't already know who and what is ACORN, that's a terrible indictment on the MSM.

CHRIS MCGREAL September 23, 2009
How about some truth in reporting Mr McGreal? This guy is a left-wing ideologue, who works for the Guardian, and was a Middle-Eastern correspondent, claiming, among other things, that Israeli policy was no different from South African apartheid. Arab Media Watch loves him, calling him an "excellent Jerusalem correspondent", their only complaint being the way he highlighting growing anti-semitism in Europe. Ummm ... what expertise exactly does he have to be addressing this particular topic anyway? Aside from that fact that he likes ACORN?

WASHINGTON: Two conservative activists posing as a prostitute and her pimp have rocked support for one of America's largest anti-poverty groups
Oh, so now they're "conservative activists" as opposed to say, "undercover reporters"? I see. I guess it is correct to differentiate the two, since said "reporters" only aim undercover operations at conservatives, and have so completely failed in their coverage of the story he needs to once again call ACORN "an anti-poverty group" ... which they're decidedly not, except in the sense that Marxists are anti-property.

after secretly filming staff offering to help smuggle under-age girls into the country to work as prostitutes, and giving advice on establishing a brothel.
Which, it would appear, is no big thing, seeing as they're an anti-poverty group, not a bunch of radical ultra-leftists ideologues who will do anything to push their agenda. Well, MSM, ACORN, birds of a feather and all that.

Congress has cut off tens of millions of dollars in funding to the Association of Community Organisations for Reform Now, which has been targeted by conservatives for its work in helping the poor with housing and mobilising disenfranchised communities to vote, who then tend to support the Democrats. The President, Barack Obama, once acted as a lawyer for the group.
And how, exactly, did they come to get all those millions of dollars? Has ANYONE in the MSM actually even asked the questions, let alone done some actual, say, investigations, for things known as "facts"? I guess not. And of course, here we have, once again, the standard meme of the MSM and the Left, that it's all about poor good leftists suffering because they've been "targeted by evil conservatives." It's not because they actively encourage child prostitution and people trafficking, nor that they stand condemned by their own words and actions ... no no no ... it's because of those evil conservatives who are "targeting" them. Bad conservatives.

The two activists, Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe, covertly filmed at various ACORN offices around the country while dressed as a prostitute and pimp seeking advice on tax and housing issues involving the sex trade.
"Activists" again, not "undercover reporters" who are "covertly" (like the evil CIA) filming things. Nothing at all like what real journalists do.

One of the videos, filmed at an ACORN office in San Diego, appeared to show an employee, Juan Carlos, offering to help smuggle a dozen 13-year-old girls from El Salvador to work in a California brothel. In San Bernardino, another ACORN worker, Tresa Kaelke, was heard responding to explicit questions about using under-age girls as prostitutes. She said it was illegal to run a brothel using minors, but went on to advise the pair on how to hide the source of the earnings.''It's cash,'' she told them. ''No one will know. It never passes through the girls' hands.''She suggested disguising the brothel as a spa or massage parlour. ''You have to make it look good,'' she said.An ACORN official in New York, on being asked about what to do with the earnings from prostitution, advised burying the cash in a tin in a backyard.What has shocked many Americans about the videos is the ease with which some ACORN workers in the videos discussed the trafficking of girls for sex work.
The only people who are shocked by this as people who didn't already know much about ACORN. And why, may we ask, did so few people know anything about ACORN? It couldn't have anything to do with the politically motivated refusal to do any kind of investigation of them by the MSM could it?

None expressed outrage, threatened to call the police or apparently took any other action to protect the young women, although ACORN says the police were called to other offices where Ms Giles and Mr O'Keefe tried to seek advice. ACORN has conceded that grave errors were made and has sacked the offending workers in the videos.
Ah yes, the beautiful "right of reply" ... never questioned, never commented on. WHICH offices called the police? Proof? No comment on the systematic nature of these outrages? No comment that when something is this common, it isn't just a few "bad apples". Well, of course not. This is the MSM reporting about a poor "anti-poverty group" after all. It's not like they're conservatives or anything!

But it says the sting was part of a long campaign by right-wingers to discredit it because it gets the poor to vote.
Yes, it's all because of those evil right-wingers. How dare they give us a rope to hang ourselves with. How dare they! Bad conservatives! Bad!

ACORN's chief organiser, Bertha Lewis, said: ''I think the right - the Republicans in particular - are mad as hell at the fact that Democrats are in power. ''They are mad as hell that poor people are participating and this is their way of fighting back - lies, innuendo, smears. They try to blunt any progressive policies.''
***Cough*** Who, exactly, is mad as hell? It's been one of the interesting things about the months since the Democrats took power, that the left is still angry. On the other hand, the Tea Party crowds? I attended one ... lots of smiles, comradery, practically a party atmosphere. Take a look at the photos of the hundreds of thousands at the Washington DC Tea Party ... notice how happy most of them look?

ACORN was targeted by Republicans during last year's presidential election campaign and accused of systematic fraud as its volunteers registered large numbers of people to vote across the US.
There it is again. That evil "targeting". How dare they "target". Targeting is bad. Bad I tell you! And targeting shows you that the accusations can't possibly be true. It's not as if ACORN activists have been charged with vote fraud or anything. No no no ... it's because of the targeting. Bad conservatives.

ACORN did report 11 of its volunteers to the authorities in Miami, where they are being prosecuted, but denied that the irregularities were widespread or systematic.
Oh, it's because ACORN reported it. Oh I see. Minor case of bad apples. Nothing to see here. Move along, move along. Bad conservatives!

Guardian News & Media
Well, what do you expect from the Guardian? News? Facts? Informed commentary? Bad conservative! Go and read the newspaper, stop looking at the internet, and believe what we tell you. BAD conservative.