Topic: NewsBusters
An Oct. 27 NewsBusters post by Noel Sheppard complained that CNN followed "the liberal media playbook" in its coverage of the James Webb fiction non-scandal. Which raises the question: Has Sheppard followed the conservative media playbook in his coverage? Let's see...
Inappropriate comparison to a much bigger scandal to inflate its importance? Yup: Sheppard compared Webb's fiction to the Mark Foley scandal. But wait -- wasn't Sheppard, just a few short weeks ago, dismissing the Foley scandal as "one virtually unknown congressman’s sexual indiscretions"?
Refusing to make a more appropriate comparison? Yup: In his first post on the issue, Sheppard made no mention of the sex-in-literature skills of, say, Lynne Cheney. In this post, he attacks CNN for bringing up Cheney's literary efforts, bashing it as "extraordinarily expedient" in using part of the "iberal media playbook." Actually, that's what is known as context; Sheppard might want to check out that concept sometime.
Attacking Webb for defending himself? Yup: Here, Sheppard depicts the allegedly offensive scenes Webb defended as "illuminating surroundings or defining a character or moving a plot" as CNN's giving "the offended Democrat an extraordinary amount of print-space to explain his or her position." That is, by the way, not something Sheppard himself did in his first post, since he apparently feels that Democrats should not be allowed to defend themselves.
Ignoring evidence that makes Republicans look bad? Yup: In addition to pretending there are not Republican equivalents to what Webb has done, Sheppard also has not mentioned evidence that the George Allen campaign shopped the story and that his MRC colleagues at CNSNews.com have eager promoters of the story with the Allen campaign's possible help.
To quote Sheppard himself: Mission Accomplished!
