We've occasionally wondered whether conservatives recognize conservative media bias, let alone consider it equivalent to liberal media bias.
One answer confirming a negative answer to that question came from Mark Finkelstein, who expressed in a June 3 NewsBusters post on Fred Thompson's potential presidential candidacy that a conservative appeared unchallenged on NBC's "Today":
You would normally expect the guest in these situations to be Tim Russert or Chris Matthews. If ever a conservative were to be on, you could be virtually certain that he would be balanced by a liberal. But, lo and behold, there was Stephen Hayes, who has a major piece on Thompson in the Weekly Standard. And nary a James Carville or facsimile thereof in sight.
[...]
What made it remarkable was [host Campbell] Brown's willingness to play the straight woman, neither accentuating the negative nor saddling Hayes with a liberal sidekick.
Finkelstein spent the rest of his post pondering how "the MSM" will attack Fred Thompson without noting that the first major attack on Thompson following the announcement of his prospective candidacy -- as a lazy politician who supported the un-conservative idea of campaign finance reform -- came from a conservative, NewsMax's Ronald Kessler.
A May 29 WorldNetDaily article by Melanie Morgan and Catherine Moy purported to feel sorry for Cindy Sheehan following her quitting her anti-war activism. They called it "very sad," claimed that "It was difficult to see a grieving mother wander the world with a bleeding heart the anti-war left wouldn't allow to heal" and concluded, "Our prayers go out to Ms. Sheehan."
Somehow we doubt that. Morgan and Moy, after all, are the ones who gleefully smeared Sheehan as a porn addict in order to sell their book "American Mourning," and Morgan is on record as repeatedly attacking Sheehan. Any sorrow they feel is more likely due to the loss of Sheehan as their gravy train rather than any compassion toward her.
Indeed, in her June 1 WND column, Morgan was back to bashing Sheehan, accusing her of "years of insults directed against our servicemen and women by Cindy Sheehan, and repeated denouncements of our government and this nation" and being "filled with so much hate and bitterness." There's no sign of the compassion Morgan fronted just a few days earlier.
Morgan also announced that her conservative group, Move America Forward, is attempting to buy the plot of land Sheehan owns near President Bush's ranch near Crawford, Texas, that Sheehan has announced that she will sell. Will Morgan offer Sheehan a fair price, or will they lowball her and try to obtain it as cheaply as possible? After all, Sheehan said she purchased the land with insurance money from the death of her son, Casey, in the Iraq War.
Do Morgan and Moy really have compassion for Sheehan, or will Morgan and MAF try to hurt Sheehan one more time by trying to screw her out of her land? We shall see.
UPDATE: Sheehan's sister is quoted as saying of Move America Forward's interest in Sheehan's land: "It’ll be a cold day in hell before she sells it to them."
BMI Misleads on Post Profile Topic: Media Research Center
A May 31 article by Jeff Poor at the MRC's Business & Media Institute (summarized in a May 31 NewsBusters post by Julia A. Seymour) claimed that a Washington Post profile of PR executive David Fenton depicted him "as an entrepreneurial Mahatma Gandhi figure – furthering causes deemed pure and wholesome by the Post, from the protection of swordfish to abolishing the death penalty. Weeks described Fenton’s PR firm as 'left-leaning.' That’s an understatement to say the least." Noting Fenton's support of anti-nuclear power causes, Poor added, "Yet nowhere in the story was a pro-nuclear point of view presented. Nor was any point of view that showed another side to any of Fenton’s causes."
But the Post article did feature criticism of Fenton and terms stronger than "left-leaning":
Over the years, Fenton has been linked to nearly every ultra-liberal cause and celeb in U.S. politics. Anti-Bush billionaire George Soros, for instance. When Fenton Communications a few months ago took on the advocacy of the Appeal for Redress, a petition to Congress from members of the military who oppose the war in Iraq, Sean Hannity of Fox News said, "Appealforredress.org is not Fenton's only client. The list reads like a who's who of left-wing advocacy groups; MoveOn.org, America Coming Together, Campaign for America's Future, the AFL-CIO and the NAACP Voter Fund are just a few of their other clients. So the sponsors of the group are left-wing antiwar protesters, and their public relations mouthpiece spends the rest of their time flacking for George Soros and company, and we're to believe this is a nonpartisan effort?"
According to Poor, it seems, "ultra-liberal" is less understated than "left-leaning," and quoting Sean Hannity attacking Fenton is not showing "another side" to Fenton.
-- Ken Shepherd whacks Valerie Plame for claiming "her life was ruined, her career ended, and national security possibly compromised because her CIA employ was made public, but of course she now wants to cash in with a memoir." He then claims "the icing on the cake" is a conservative blogger's allegation that "Plame perjured herself in congressional testimony." Funny, we thought the icing on the cake was that Plame was, in fact, covert at the time Scooter Libby and others in the Bush administration outed her CIA employment.
-- Mark Finkelstein is outraged that the media isn't reporting the most shocking revelation from Carl Bernstein's new book on Hillary Clinton is that she failed the DC bar exam more than 30 years ago.
NewsMax Crops Leprosy References From Dobbs' Rebuttal Topic: Newsmax
A May 31 NewsMax article reports on CNN anchor Lou Dobb's rebuttal to a New York Times article on him that Dobbs called a "scurrilous personal attack." But nowhere does NewsMax mention the key claim made in the Times article: that Dobbs repeated a false claim about the number of leprosy cases in the U.S.
Perhaps that's because if it did, NewsMax would have to admit its own errors. As we've detailed, NewsMax columnists George Putnam, Diane Alden and "Medicine Men" Michael Arnold Glueck and Robert J. Cihak have repeatedly cited that false statistic -- that there have been 7,000 new cases of leprosy in the past three years (in fact, that's the number for the past 30 years). Indeed, on the same edition of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" in which he responded to the Times article, Dobbs admitted his mistake on the leprosy statistic, saying of its source, Madeleine Cosman: "The fact is, I made a mistake, and I've said we would never have used her as a source if we had known of her controversial background." NewsMax didn't report this, either.
Will NewsMax continue to pretend its writers didn't promote a falsehood, or will it step up and admit -- and, more importantly, correct -- their mistakes?
Aaron Klein's Terrorist Buddies Check In Again Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein has trotted out his have-terrorists-endorse-policies-WND-doesn't-like gimmick oncemore, with a May 31 article in which "Palestinian terrorist leaders" -- well, three, including veteran Abu Abdullah -- endorse U.S. efforts to seek a cease-fire in Iraq.
Never mind that these are Palestinians, not Iraqis, that Klein is talking to; Klein offers no explanation of why Palestinian terrorists are qualified to speak for Iraqi terrorists. And as we've noted, Abu Abdullah has appeared in every single gimmick article Klein has written; if he and the other terrorists Klein's chatting up are such diabolilcal terrorist masterminds, why is Klein keeping them on retainer to spout quotes that support his agenda instead of reporting their whereabouts to the proper Israeli and/or international authorities so they can be arrested and/or killed?
Further, has Klein considered the possibility that the terrorists are using him to whip up support for the status quo in U.S. policy in Iraq in the Mideast, which currently works in the terrorists' favor (as Osama bin Laden in releasing a video before the 2004 election that conservatives promoted as endorsing John Kerry when the video's goal was to get President Bush re-elected)? Klein has provided no indication that he has.
Given such apparent lack of knowledge about terrorist motivation, this story (and the others Klein wrote in the same format) should be seen as nothing more that what it is -- a journalistic gimmick designed to push an agenda rather than genuinely inform readers.
NewsMax Selectively Quotes Politico on Kessler Topic: Newsmax
Another tidbit from NewsMax's March 27 "Insider Report":
[We heard ...] THAT NewsMax chief Washington correspondent Ronald Kessler has garnered attention - and praise - from a prominent political blogger for his online article about Mitt Romney and his wife Ann.
In an item headlined "Talk about a must-read," Jonathan Martin of politico.com writes: "I don't even know where to begin. This Ronald Kessler story about the Romneys has so much to offer.
"Go read the whole thing now."
Kessler was also the author of the in-depth profile "Romney to the Rescue," the cover story of NewsMax Magazine's April issue.
But Martin's Politico post didn't endorse Kessler's article on Ronmey for the reason NewsMax wants you to think. Here's what Martin wrote after "Go read the whole thing now":
First off, Kessler is clearly infatuated with Ann Romney. I'm not even sure what a "good carriage" is, but he says she has that to go with a "rosy complexion, square jaw, and blond mane." Like I said, he's quite taken.
In case you don't believe me...
"When she is not flashing her truly unbelievable smile, she may lower her eyes demurely. But Ann Romney is not demure — she may be modest, but she isn't meek. She is unpretentious, but she isn't shy. She lowers her eyes, thinking, and then looks up directly at her interviewer and dazzles him with that smile."
Ok, at this point the gov may be getting a little worried. Frankly, I was also.
In other words, it's a must-read to observe Kessler's creepy sycophancy of Ann Romney (which we've noted). NewsMax similarly ignores the comments of another Politico writer, Ben Smith, who was even more mesmerized by Kessler's purple prose. NewsMax also doesn't note that the above passage Martin quoted was edited out of Kessler's article.
Martin continues:
Kessler goes to lengths to show how influential Ann Romney is with her husband. She even weighs in on staff hires, he writes.
Which is revealing and fascinating. But it also makes what Mitt said after the news of his wife's Planned Parenthood contribution broke look even worse. Recall -- "her positions I don't think are terribly relevant to my campaign."
Ann Romney also says both are pro-life, which evidently means both have switched their stance on the issue. But she also says that her husband was "always been personally pro-life," but then says on the matter, "Well, you know what? He did change his mind." Perhaps she meant as it relates to his policy/governmental views and not just personal opinion, but the contradiction don't look good.
In other words, Kessler essentially caught Romney in a flip-flop that he won't admit is one. This is, after all, the guy who insists that "While all the leading candidates have changed position on a range of issues, Romney has made a clear change on only one issue" (as we've also noted).
Remember last week, when we warned that NewsMax would soon plug the results of a biased, meaningless poll on immigration? The first item in NewsMax's May 27 "Insider Report" reads:
By a margin of more than 23 to 1, Americans overwhelmingly oppose the Senate's plan for immigration reform, an Internet poll sponsored by NewsMax reveals.
Respondents in the poll - which drew more than 100,000 participants - also said they would oppose any 2008 presidential candidate who supports the Kennedy-McCain plan.
Nowhere does NewsMax indicate that the poll was an opt-in poll promoted on conservative websites, which makes it inherently unreliable as a indicator of public opinion as a whole, and it was promoted by NewsMax by disparaging the immigration plan, which distorts the results even further.
Also, while NewsMax provides the results for six of the poll's seven questions in the "Insider Report," it omits the seventh: "Who did you vote for in the 2004 election?" That's presumably because the number of poll respondents who voted for Bush is much higher than the 51 percent of the population that actually did, and disclosing that would betray the poll's bias.
CNS Labeling Watch Topic: CNSNews.com
A May 30 CNSNews.com article by Nathan Burchfiel on Media Matters' (my employer) study on coverage of religion in the media labeled Media Matters as a "liberal media watchdog" but applied no descriptor at all to the conservative Culture and Media Institute, which criticized the study.
Klein Finally Acknowledges Israeli President's Sex Scandal Topic: WorldNetDaily
Good news: Months after the fact, WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein has finally told his readers that Israeli President Moshe Katsav is "embroiled in a rape scandal."
Bad news: That's all he has to say about Katsav; the reference is buried in a May 30 article about former prime minister Shimon Peres wanting to replace Katsav. In it, Klein claims that Peres was pushing "a scheme to intimidate Knesset members and get Peres elected" and that he "repeatedly has come under fire by critics for policies and plans many say would greatly undermine Israel's security."
Klein has attacked Peres before. In March, he wrote an article accusing Peres of "accused of falsifying his official biography on Israel's Knesset website to claim he served in the military and temporarily headed the Jewish state's navy."
So we have a juicy rape allegation against Katsav, and Klein would rather devote himself to documenting a resume discrepancy? Yep. As we've previouslynoted, Katsav is a member of Klein's favorite political party, the conservative Likud; that is likely the reason Klein has been skittish about reporting on Katsav, while he's reported on numerous corruption allegations against (non-Likud) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Kessler Already Attacking Thompson, Still Fluffing Romney Topic: Newsmax
Well, that was quick. Just a few hours after it was reported that Fred Thompson will officially explore running for president, NewsMax's Ronald Kessler has an article up attacking Thompson as lazy, a supporter of campaign finance reform, and nowhere near the cool dude that Mitt Romney is. Indeed, here Kessler resumes his obsequious, creepy fluffing of Romney:
"In contrast to Thompson, looking at the leading presidential candidates from both parties, none comes close to having the accomplishments of Mitt Romney."
"As governor, all of Romney's actions fit the conservative mold, even more so than those of Ronald Reagan. "
"While all the leading candidates have changed position on a range of issues, Romney has made a clear change on only one issue. "
"If Romney's Mormon beliefs make him gullible, Christians and Jews must be equally gullible. After all, they believe that men parted the Red Sea and walked on water, that Jesus paid taxes with coins from a fish's mouth, that a drop of oil burned for eight days, and that Mary gave birth to Jesus as a virgin."
"As for the claim that Romney is too perfect, that's another misconception: Romney doesn't have a dog."
MRC Softball Week At Fox News Continues Topic: Media Research Center
It must be MRC softball question week at Fox News.
Times Watch's Clay Waters appeared May 29 on "Your World" to discuss the New York Times' purported lack of reporting on Hugo Chavez's crackdown in Venezuela. Not only was it a solo appearance, like many other MRC appearances on Fox News, and not only was it never noted that the MRC is a conservative group (which Fox News rarely, if ever, points out), guest host David Asman -- as he did the day before with the MRC's Dan Gainor, encouraged and parroted Waters' talking points:
ASMAN: I was just going to say, we go back in history to a guy named Herbert Matthews in the '50s, who was the one who created the myth about Fidel Castro. He was reporting for the New York Times. It looks like history is repeating itself.
[...]
ASMAN: So the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The enemy, in this case, being Bush, for both Chavez and the New York Times.
WATERS: Sorta like that, yes.
ASMAN: But can you get -- but that's pretty outrageous if you think about it.
[...]
ASMAN: You know, meanwhile, we should mention that the New York Times did have space for -- here's a rally in Kabul, Afghanistan. They also had a rally in Germany about globalization that was featured on page A3, I believe, a big photo of -- there it is, there's a picture from that rally. No pictures, two sentences in the New York Times about what happened in Venezuela.
And, of course, no effort made to get the New York Times to respond to Waters' (and Asman's) claims.
How much does the MRC pay Fox News to get such favorable, unchallenged coverage?
New Article: A Record-High Obsession Topic: Media Research Center
Out There, Exhibit 42: When is a record high not a record high? When the Media Research Center decides it needs to be indexed for inflation (or not). Read more.
Janet Folger's May 28 WorldNetDaily column includes a buttload o' scare tactics.
After portraying a handful of blog comments as representative of how all gays feel about the death of Jerry Falwell, Folger invoked "75-year-old grandmother Arlene Elshinnawy" again. As we've detailed, Elshinnawy is not the meek, ordinary grandmother that Folger portrays -- she's an anti-gay, anti-abortion activist in thrall to bullhorn-wielding street preachers. Folger also writes:
However, if two 16-year-old Crystal Lake girls say an unkind word about homosexuals and pass out a few flyers to their classmates, they are in "violation of an Illinois state hate crime statute." They face felony charges and are locked up in juvenile detention while bail is denied.
Via Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, we learn that Folger is not telling the full story about this case. It turns out that the girls were not merely "saying an unkind word about homosexuals and passing out a few flyers to their classmates," as Folger wants you to think:
Two female 16-year-old Crystal Lake South High School students face hate-crime charges after allegedly plastering their high school’s halls and distributing anti-gay fliers directed towards a fellow student in the school’s parking lot.
The actions against their former male friend landed the two girls in juvenile court on May 15, after being arrested by Crystal Lake police on May 11. Both, unnamed due to their ages, also face charges of obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct, and one teen faces an additional charge of resisting a police officer.
McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi told Windy City Times that despite arguments being made by many locals about the right to free speech, what the two girls did is clearly a hate crime.
They had the intent to alarm and disturb another, and they were successful in that,” Bianchi said. “In alarming and disturbing, they also committed a hate crime. Their words ... were directed against a specific individual of a certain sexual orientation.”
Bianchi would not comment on the exact wording of the flier because it is evidence. However, other sources quote those who have viewed the flier as containing a picture of the male student kissing another male, with the wording “God hates fags.”
And for good measure, Folger also throws in some scare tactics about the federal hate-crimes bill, asserting that its passage will result in "16-year-old girls imprisoned and ministers' graves desecrated. It's Catholic mothers murdered, and the thought police in schools. What do you want the future to look like?"
Of course, that's not true either. In fact, the bill states: "Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution."
Barry Farber's May 29 NewsMax column is an anti-media screed made more entertaining by the fact that he appears to be serious:
I don't know what octane of self-esteem surges within when you become officially an insurance agent, an investment banker, a union painter or an executive in dry-wall hanging or industrial abrasives. I can reliably report, however, that when you land a regular job involving TV cameras, microphones or a job in newspapers or magazines, especially if you re privileged to write under your own byline; you feel exalted. You feel a palpable superiority to most of the rest of mankind.
How, now, do you express that elevation? You don't run around telling plumbers and welders, "Hey. I'm better than you!" Instead, some media stars may take the opinions they associate with those under-classes and flay those opinions with the whiplash of their keenly-felt superiority. The masses are, let's say, rather proud of America.
That's the cue for that certain media lion to growl, "Well, I guess that's about par for ordinary folks like you down there but I'm way up here and it's my duty to tell you a thing or two. This America that you little folks think is so great has a lot of problems, short-comings injustices, and evils. And you'd better be glad people like me are smart enough and brave enough and thoughtful enough to grab you by the collar and beat up on you and your feeble, banal opinions and reach over your head and try to right all those shameful American wrongs."
One man and one woman are the ideal beginning of a family! Illegal aliens are against the law! Beer, OK; pot, no! God Almighty has a role in our lives! Oh, what fun it is to flatten these flowers of orthodoxy under the steamroller of their vastly more valid and sophisticated insights.
Farber goes on to add that "The media hates to report anything from eastern Europe because they love America, George W. Bush and America's pro-liberation policy."
