As Eric Boehlert noted, Washington Post critic Tom Shales, in a “weirdly personal” column criticizing Christiane Amanpour's debut as host of ABC's This Week, went after Amanpour for her tribute to “all of those who died in war” during the program's “In Memorium” segment. Shales asked, “Did she mean suggest that our mourning extend to members of the Taliban?” Boehlert wrote in response:

Are you kidding me? Shales really suggested that on her network debut, Amanpour gave a shout-out to members of the Taliban who died in combat last week? What is wrong with this man and when will Shales have the decency to extend an apology to Amanpour?

Rather than apologize, Shales today doubled down on his criticism.

Now ABC News is fighting back, with an executive calling Shales' attack “utterly fabricated” in an interview with Salon:

Jeffrey Schneider, senior vice president at ABC, told Salon that Shales' criticism here is “utterly fabricated.”

“Christiane took the language from a prayer that she says in her Catholic church every weekend. It's a bidding prayer,” Schneider said.

He accused Shales of “trying to create some kind of controversy out of something that is utterly well intentioned -- which is to honor both U.S. soldiers that have died in battle as well as civilians and ordinary people who die in war all the time. Seems like a fairly non-controversial thing to do.” The segment, which you can watch below, features the names of slain U.S. servicemembers on the screen as Amanpour speaks.

Shales did not respond to a request for comment about his critiques.

Asked about the gendered language Shales used in his column -- referring to “Grand Duchess Amanpour” and calling the show “shrill” -- Schneider said: “There's been a lot written and said about what Tom said about Christiane. I don't think I need to add my voice to that. We scratch our heads at the way in which he has said some of these things. ”