(Yes, I deserve the cone of shame. This very much belongs in a truth-in-reporting thread. If you want mainstream media to exercise care and fact-check, and report all relevant facts, then so should you at least do the minimal google and reading.)

About the hiker who was fined $25,000 - the claim is that he was fined because he was negligent.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2009/07/18/teenage_hiker_is_charged_25000_for_rescue/

"Mason was negligent in continuing up the mountain with an injury and veering off the marked path, Acerno said. Negligence, he said, is based on judging what a reasonable person would do in the same situation.

“When I twist my ankle, I turn around and come down,’’ Acerno said. “He kept going up.’’"

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NY Daily News has a different take:

"He decided to take a shortcut after spraining his ankle, but that emergency route led him into rising water and deep snow caused by unseasonably warm weather."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/07/17/2009-07-17_youre_rescued_now_pay_us_new_hampshire_fines_hiker_.html

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It takes a blog to present both sides:

http://noconsensus.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/teen-charged-a-years-wages-to-be-saved/

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From the story at the time of the rescue:

http://theunionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Hiker's+mom%3A+I+have+my+heart+back+in+my+chest&articleId=f015ba13-52b6-4d05-ae2a-9b5ba324250a

"Fish and Game Maj. Tim Acerno said that at some point during the hike, Scott Mason realized he needed to shave some time off the route he had chosen.

"Once he got up in there, he looked at his map when conditions were not what he had planned for," Acerno said. "We figure he wanted to take the Six Husbands trail, which is a steep trail and hard trail in difficult conditions."

One condition Mason encountered was deep snow, in which he "post-holed" when his legs sank into the snow, Acerno said.

Once he got to the bottom of Six Husbands, he hit one of those swelled streams, and "it was too dangerous to cross," Acerno said.

Mason spent most of Monday looking for another way to get back on the ridgeline trail, to avoid the treacherous conditions.

"The only alternative was to go back up," Acerno said, and Mason made his way 2,000 feet back to the trail, where he eventually ran into the search team.

Officials said Mason found shelter in a small cave Monday night.

Mason was taken by ambulance to Androscoggin Valley Hospital, Berlin, to be checked out, Acerno said. The teen complained of a sore leg, he said.

It's too early to say whether Mason will face any charges in connection with his hike. Acerno said officials will review the case and forward their recommendation to the Attorney General's Office.

This time of year is extremely popular on Mount Washington. Last weekend, about 2,500 people made their way to Tuckerman Ravine to ski and snowboard down the bowl.

Acerno said the lesson from Mason's ordeal is that people "need to know the conditions" of where they plan to go when they set out."

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As we saw, Acerno later decided that Mason was negligent, presumably for taking the Six Husbands Trail.

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Here is a description of the Six Husbands Trail:

http://www.maxtrails.com/trails/1004971_Six_Husbands_Trail_New_Hampshire.html

The Six husbands trail is one of the lesser traveled but one of the more difficult climbs of the whites. After traveling a long distance on the great gulf trail the six husbands trail branches off to the right. There you immedietely cross a stream. You begin climbing steadily up Jefferson's knee. The trail is somewhat overgrown and can be difficult to follow. After traveling through some neat boulder caves the trail gets steeper. There are 4 ladders on this trail. The fourth one is extremely difficult. It is loose and moves around a bit and to your left is a huge drop. The ledge is slanted towards the drop and is usually wet due to a spring. To make matters worse there is an overhanging rock right above you so if you have a big pack you will have to drag it up behind you. Above this section the trail continues to climb very steeply with some nice views until you reach the top of Jeffersons knee. Here You reach treeline and views are amazing. The trail runs across the top of the knee with fairly flat terrain. Caution the rest of the hike is above treeline where some of the worst weather in the world is in all seasons. From there the trail climbs up the summit cone of Mt. Jefferson over a talus slope that has snow on it usually into late summer. The trail climbs very steeply until you get just below the summit. From there you can take the Jefferson loop trail that will bring you to the summit. The true summit is the bump in the middle. A very demanding and difficult hike. Not suggested for begginers or people not in shape. Take the weather seriously and check the forecast before you leave. Bring full gear including coat hat and gloves. Great hike some of the best views in NH. I love Jeffersons knee. It is the only surviving ridge in the great gulf after the glaciers came through. You are high above the ravine floor yet far below the summits of the giant Northern presidentials. Have fun!!!

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The fine is not for the twisted angle, it was for putting rescue personnel into jeopardy, because of alleged negligence, and not out of necessity. Obviously, the hiker should have an appeal against the fine.

(and I don't know if anyone else posted this yet), but we recall when David Gregory said re SC Gov. Sanford

So coming on Meet the Press allows you to frame the conversation how you really want to... and then move on. You can see you have done your interview and then move on. Consider it.

This prompted a diarist at Daily Kos to email this, um, journo, ask him about it, and gets this response

I wasn't promising a friendly forum. I was offering a fair forum to discuss his problems. I meant my forum allows him to have the time to discuss the situation in a fullsome way, to say what he wants and move on. I appreciate your sensitivity on this.

Either these people don't know the definition of certain phrases like "frame the conversation ... friendly forum ... (vs.) fair forum ...," which would make them the mental equivalent of a 5 year old, or they're simply and utterly without ethics.

I prefer a mix of the two; I believe they're about 7 years old in mental age but with the ethics of Richard Nixon.

Oh, and I like that word "fullsome" which, according to Wiktionary, means "not comparable."

I'll bet Gregory, in all his whole and hearty fullsome-ness, majored in Inglish in collage.