Michelle Malkin: Glenn Beck Was the Victim of a 'Blatantly Libelous' 'Smear Job

Michelle Malkin penned a letter to The Salt Lake Tribune excoriating the newspaper for running a "blatantly libelous" and "dishonest" write-up of his temporary museum set up during last month's "Man in the Moon" event.

Michelle Malkin ripped The Salt Lake Tribune for running a "dishonest" write-up about Glenn Beck's museum event. (Image source: Michelle Malkin/Twitter @michellemalkin)

"I was appalled to see the blatantly libelous headline 'Glenn Beck’s Nazi exhibit' published on the website of The Salt Lake Tribune last week, and even more sickened to see the dishonest op-ed below that smear-job headline — which insidiously mischaracterized Beck as a 'sympathizer rather than a critic' of Nazi doctrine. The print version headline in your op-ed pages, under the headline 'Glenn Beck, the tea party, and neo-Nazism,' was equally irresponsible," the conservative commentator wrote in the letter, posted Friday.

Beck sharply pushed back this week after the Tribune published an error-riddled reader-submitted opinion piece suggesting he was a Nazi sympathizer for "owning" and "harboring" World War II-era items. Beck pointed out he doesn't own the items, but displayed them for the purpose of preserving history.

Malkin said Beck personally led her and her family through a tour of the museum, which included George Washington's compass, Abraham Lincoln's desk, a brick of colonial Boston tea, a Mayflower Bible and Joseph Smith's gold pocket watch. The second part of the exhibit included remnants of history's darkest moments, including a Nazi flag and a first-edition copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf.

"These and other objects, as even my 9-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter understood, were preserved and displayed to remind museum-goers of the horrific legacies of slavery, genocide and the subjugation of free people," Malkin wrote. "No honest, decent person could leave that exhibit without an appreciation of Beck’s impassioned opposition to the forces of fascism, collectivism, racism, and tyranny."

"The accurate headline is 'Glenn Beck’s anti-Nazi exhibit.' The refusal to correct the smear is tantamount to journalistic malpractice," she said.

Read Malkin's full letter here.

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