For some reason, New York Times writer Brian Stelter goes very easy on Judge Andrew Napolitano in this article about Napolitano’s new freakshow on Fox Business; for example, there’s no mention of the fact that Napolitano has featured conspiracy nutjob and 9/11 Truther Alex Jones as a guest on “Freedom Watch” (introducing him as “the one, the only, the great Alex Jones”): Andrew Napolitano Comes to Fox Business Network.

The Web was essentially an incubator for Mr. Napolitano, who has been a legal commentator for Fox known as “the judge” for more than a decade. “Freedom Watch” started as a weekly webcast on FoxNews.com early in 2009, and later ramped up its production to several days a week.

On the webcasts, Mr. Napolitano discussed libertarian hot topics like states’ rights, excessive overseas spending and draconian drug laws.

This month, Fox confirmed that he was getting a weekly TV show, beginning on Saturday mornings and replaying in prime time on Saturdays and Sundays.

The first TV episode was billed as a “Tea Party summit,” with appearances by the Fox pundit Sarah Palin; Representative Ron Paul, Republican of Texas; and his son Rand Paul, a Republican and candidate in Kentucky for the United States Senate. (The elder Mr. Paul endorsed and wrote a forward for Mr. Napolitano’s most recent book.)

Napolitano’s show has been one of the main promoters of Alex Jones, Ron Paul, and general pseudo-libertarian neo-Confederate bad craziness; he’s not just a “libertarian,” he’s flat-out nuts and associates with very bad people. It’s puzzling why the New York Times doesn’t provide any of this context, in a curiously neutral article.