Journalists gun for David Gregory

David Gregory's questioning of The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald on Sunday's Meet the Press hasn't earned him any admiration from his colleagues in the media.

Gregory "seeded his question with a veiled accusation of federal criminal wrongdoing, very much in the tradition of 'how long have you been beating your wife,'" wrote Washington Post media blogger Erik Wemple.

At the New York Times, lead media columnist David Carr said Gregory "may have thought he was just being provocative, but if you tease apart his inquiry, it suggests there might be something criminal in reporting out important information from a controversial source."

On the show Sunday Gregory pointedly asked Greenwald -- who has heralded Edward Snowden as a hero of sorts for leaking secret intel on U.S. spying techniques to the news media -- if he should be charged with a crime for having “aided and abetted” Snowden.

Greenwald took exception with the question and Gregory defended it, saying that he wasn't taking the position that Greenwald should be charged for a crime but noted some government officials have said he should be.

Over at the liberal Salon, TV critic David Sirota asked if Gregory himself should be charged with a crime for citing government officials' supposedly "classified" opinions on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act during the show.

A headline at the liberal TruthDig blared, "David Gregory Attempts to Criminalize Glenn Greenwald."

Lastly: For Gregory's question, a writer at Philly.com called him one of the "overpaid, overfed Beltway big-shots."

As it happens, the flogging of Gregory comes only six months after many in the media defended him for (perhaps illegally) brandishing gun ammo on his show.

@eScarry