Mike Huckabee's incorrect assertion this week that Barack Obama grew up “in Kenya” has drawn sharp criticism from several media veterans, including a former Meet the Press executive producer.

Huckabee, during an appearance Monday on WOR Radio in New York, said of Obama: "... one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American."

That has sparked strong reaction for the past few days. Huckabee has sought to explain the comment as a “simple slip of the tongue,” despite the fact he said it twice.

“You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own set of facts. In this case he got his facts wrong,” said Barbara Cochran, former Meet the Press executive producer and CBS News Washington, D.C., bureau chief. “Even as a potential presidential candidate, he can give voice to his opinion, but he really shouldn't perpetuate erroneous information. All that does is undermine his credibility.”

Bob Steele, a top ethics instructor at the Poynter Institute, said the lack of accuracy is unacceptable.

“Journalists and other media professionals including talk show hosts should be held accountable for the accuracy of their statements. Even opinion and commentary should be factually accurate,” Steele said. “These claims have received much more attention than they are worth. The evidence does not support such claims, and the restating of the inaccurate facts creates a false legitimacy to the claims.”

For Alex S. Jones, executive director of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, it smacks of possible “vicious propaganda.”

“Given the willingness of the Republican Right to try to frame Obama as not American, I would say this is either an honest mistake that should be addressed quickly or a piece of vicious propaganda.” said Jones, a former media writer for The New York Times.

Ed Wasserman, a Miami Herald columnist and ethics journalism professor at Washington and Lee University, said such a comment will affect Huckabee's standing as a candidate and a television host:

“The thing that will be interesting to see is whether this fundamentally changes the perception of Huckabee as a credible and responsible candidate. How far will a candidate go to appease the most extreme right-wing faction?” Wasserman said. “It says that he does want to do business with that faction of the right. It says something about that kind of policy and his imagination when it comes to policy. That he may be willing to say that about Obama, then what more substantive concessions is he willing to make to the right.”

Tim McGuire, former editor of The Star-Tribune in Minneapolis and a top professor at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said it clearly hurts Huckabee's credibility.

“Of course it is an outrage if anyone considers Huckabee even remotely related to a journalist,” McGuire said via e-mail. “He is not. With behavior like this Fox has forfeited any pretensions of being a legitimate journalistic organization. They are an incubator and test-kitchen for right-wing ideas and Republican candidates.”