Topic: Media Research Center
As before, the Media Research Center's latest "Tell the Truth" campaign involves bullying the media into pushing right-wing talking points. And it certainly doesn't involve truth-telling on the MRC's part. Read more >>
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
New Article: Tell the Truth! (But Not When It Hurts The MRC's Agenda)
Topic: Media Research Center As before, the Media Research Center's latest "Tell the Truth" campaign involves bullying the media into pushing right-wing talking points. And it certainly doesn't involve truth-telling on the MRC's part. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:23 PM EDT
Note to Gainor: Right-Wingers Hate Science and Children, Too
Topic: Media Research Center In an Oct. 4 column headlined "Left Hates Science and Children," the Media Research Center's Dan Gainor portrays questions about vaccines as a partisan issue, suggesting that only liberals such as Robert Kennedy Jr. and Jenny McCarthy are promoting the discredited theory that vaccines cause autism. (Gainor never actually proves that McCarthy is liberal; he lumps her in because she's a "Hollywood celeb" who is a "former Playboy model and TV personality.") But Gainor is ignoring one of the biggest promoters of anti-vaccine scaremongering: the most-definitely-not-liberal WorldNetDaily. As we've detailed, WND has repeatedly pushed the vaccine-autism link and touting the anti-vaccine American Physicians and Surgeons (also not a liberal group). When the 1998 Lancet article making a vaccine article link was retracted earlier this year, WND did no original article on it; when WND columnist Phil Elmore wrote a column highlighting the retraction, it also published a letter to the editor calling Elmore's column "not convincing" and railing against "filling my babies with pharmaceutical junk." If only Gainor was as concerned about what his fellow right-wingers are saying as he is about isolated liberals -- especially when they're saying the same exact thing. One might even call that a double standard.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:02 PM EDT
Meanwhile ...
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center's hostility to the truth continues -- despite its demand of others to "Tell the Truth" -- as Oliver Willis catches the MRC's Scott Whitlock attacking ABC's George Stephanopoulos for reporting the results of a poll suggesting the tea party movement may be "losing traction." Willis points out that Stephanopoulos accurately reported this fact. So Whitlock was bashing Stephanopoulos for reporting a fact.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:47 AM EDT
WND Again Bashes Gibbs For Not Answering Question That Wasn't Asked
Topic: WorldNetDaily WorldNetDaily's nonsensical strategy of attacking White House press secretary Robert Gibbs for not answering questions that weren't asked resurfaces in an Oct. 4 WND article:
As before WND provides no evidence that Gibbs deliberately avoided calling on Kinsolving because he knew Kinsolving was going to ask that question, so there is no logical basis on which to bash Gibbs for not answering it. The article also states that "Kinsolving has confirmed that the exclusion he's dealt with from Gibbs is the worst treatment from any of the 14 presidential press secretaries with whom he's worked." It doesn't explain that Kinsolving complained about alleged mistreatment from White House press secretaries before -- the most recent example of which prompted WND to throw a passive-aggressive temper tantrum and a short-lived protest. Then again, given his long history of slanted and irrelevant questions, Kinsolving has not exactly demonstrated that he he deserves to be called on at any press conference, not just White House briefings.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:01 AM EDT
Newsmax Still Defending Bernard Kerik
Topic: Newsmax Newsmax, it seems, just can't let go of its favorite -- and failed -- rehab project. An Oct. 5 article by Jim Meyers recounts the appeal by Bernard Kerik of his prison sentence for corruption. Kerik, if you'll recall, is the formerNew York police chief whose image Newsmax worked hard to burnish, only to be foiled when Kerik pleaded guilty to the corruption charges and was sentenced to prison. Meyers uncritically repeats the claims in Kerik's appeal, which apparently focuses largely on attacking the judge presiding over his case, Stephen Robinson. Kerik accuses Robinson of giving him a prison sentence that exceeded sentencing guidelines, and according to Meyers, Kerik "paints a picture of Robinson as abusive, bullying, and sometimes erratic." As before, Meyers glosses over the particulars of Kerik's offenses, suggesting that Kerik pleaded guilty to only "minor charges." For the record, here's what the U.S. Attorney's Office that prosecuted Kerik had to say:
Meyers uncritically asserts that "Robinson capriciously ordered Kerik’s legal defense fund and the website for his defense to be shut down" without explaining that the shutdown was precipitated by the head of the defense fund being accused of leaking sealed information from the case to a newspaper. Since Meyers is in stenography mode, me makes no apparent effort to seek out the other side of the story by talking to the judge or prosecutors. And, thus, the rehab continues.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:32 AM EDT
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Joseph Farah Thin Skin Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily Joseph Farah kicks off his Oct. 5 WorldNetDaily column bashing "a blogger I have never met or heard of or talked to in my life" because he had the temerity to claim that Farah owned Ann Coulter an apology over the GOProud imbroglio. Farah went on to claim that he handled the whole thing "without any invective, any rash charges or ad hominem attacks." He seems to have forgotten about the part where he declared that gays are worse than the KKK.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:24 PM EDT
ConWeb Flip-Flops on Kagan Recusals
Topic: Newsmax The Obama administration just can't win in the ConWeb. We noted that during the Elena Kagan confirmation process CNSNews.com published an article fretting that Kagan might not recuse herself from cases involving health care ifshe made it to bench. CNS published other articles speculating about whether she would recuse herself from cases she was involved with while working as Obama's solicitor general. Now Kagan's on the bench, the new Supreme Court session has begun, and what is the ConWeb worried about? That Kagan is recusing herself from too many cases! From an Oct. 4 Newsmax article by David Patten:
No matter what Obama or his administration or any of his appointees does, the ConWeb will complain about it -- even if it contradicts previous criticism.
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:49 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, October 5, 2010 11:27 PM EDT
MRC Complains That Anti-Gay Activist Described As Anti-Gay Activist
Topic: Media Research Center When is being anti-gay not "anti-gay"? When the Media Research Center decrees it. An Oct. 4 MRC item complains that a CNN documentary on right-wing video activists described Ryan Sorba as "anti-gay" -- never mind that being anti-gay is his stock in trade. How does Balan explain this away? By playing the ol' "behavior" card:
It's right-wing sleight-of-hand to split hairs between human beings and homosexual behavior -- in other words, there's a difference between what they do and who they are. It's how right-wingers justify discrimination against gays, never mind the unavoidable fact that when you attack behavior you also attack the person who is engaging in that behavior. Sorba is, by all reasonable standards, anti-gay, as is Americans for Truth. So it looks like we have yet another example of the MRC refusing to apply to itself the "Tell the Truth" standards it wants to push on others.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:37 AM EDT
Ellis Washington Misses the Point
Topic: WorldNetDaily We're still trying to figure out what Ellis Washington's Oct. 2 WorldNetDaily column means. It seems to be about civil rights vs. constitutional rights and alleged confusion between the two. But Washington writes stuff like this:
Washington seems not to understand that the civil rights laws of the 1960s did not explicitly grant rights -- they could not, since they are statutory and not constitutional. Rather, they codified a federal mechanism to protect and enforce those already-existing rights against decades of state and local laws and customs. From there, Washington descends into an attack on Lyndon Johnson:
Washington goes on to bizarrely suggest that the "Democrats" who allegedly "insisted that 'property' not be included as an unalienable right in the final draft of the Declaration of Independence as Jefferson originally intended" in order to "preserve slavery" are the direct ancestors of today's Democrats. In fact, the modern Democratic Party dates only to the 1830s; there were no political parties in America at the time of the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. Further, according to Wikipedia, replacing "property" with "the pursuit of happiness" was apparently Jefferson's idea. Of course, Washington has gotten things flamboyantly wrong before. No wonder he can't seem to hold a full-time job.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:38 AM EDT
Monday, October 4, 2010
CNS Columnist Offended Police Dog Treated As Hero
Topic: CNSNews.com
-- Rev. Michael P. Orsi, Oct. 4 CNSNews.com column
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:26 PM EDT
Farah Whines Again About Birther Coverage
Topic: WorldNetDaily Is it time for Joseph Farah to whine about coverage of the birther movement in news outlets other than his own? Heck, it's always time for that. From Farah's Oct. 1 WorldNetDaily column:
Farah, as always, is being disingenuous. He knows darn well that one significant component of the birther movement is citizenship; it's only been in recent months that he has changed the focus of his jihad from citizenship to "eligibility."Even Farah isn't so stupid to claim WND has never questioned Obama's citizenship and the authenticity of the birth certificate the Obama campaign released, because it has. Farah's complaint that birthers like him are never contacted for media interviews is also disingenuous. It's not like anyone is barred from reading WND's articles on the issue -- it even conveniently puts them into one place. Plus, telling both sides of the story is not exactly a journalistic virtue WND is known for. Nevertheless, Farah trudges on:
Farah and WND know all about publishing factual errors, don't they?
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:49 PM EDT
CNS Body Count Watch
Topic: CNSNews.com CNSNews.com's obsession with body counts of U.S. troops in Afghanistan continues with a Sept. 30 article by Edwin Mora touting how "September 2010 has been the deadliest September yet for U.S. troops in the 9-year-long war in Afghanistan as U.S. troops continued to be killed at a pace of slightly higher than one a day during the Obama presidency." Mora carefully avoids any mention of the U.S. death toll in Iraq, which dwarfs the current Iraq numbers. The 38 total casualties he tallies in September is less than one-third of the casualties in the deadliest months of the war in Iraq. And yes, we're still pretty sure that CNS did not have this same body-count obsession when a Republican was president and the main operation was in Iraq.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:09 PM EDT
NewsBusters Keeps Up Defense of Fox News
Topic: NewsBusters The Media Research Center's last round of defending Fox News was over its corporate parent's $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association. That line of non-reasoning continues in an Oct. 1 NewsBusters post by Lachlan Markay, who insists that "News Corp's political activities have no demonstrable effect on the company's news subsidiaries - no one has been able to point to any instance of such interplay." Really? So why did "Fox News Sunday" name the director of the RGA its "Power Player of the Week" last week? Markay also misses the point by pretending to be shocked that Rep. Maxine Waters, given News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch's support for "comprehensive immigration reform (i.e. amnesty)," "is suggesting that Murdoch discard any appearance of separation between News Corp's political preferences and its media activities, and begin promoting a political cause not only through the activities of the parent company, but by pushing that cause under the guise of news at News Corp's media holdings." After all, that's what Fox News already does, as reflected by its RGA donation and a subsequent $1 million donation to the Republican-supporting U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Markay harrumphs: "Liberals are just fine if Fox pushes its corporate parent's political leanings, so long as those leanings are to the left. They should drop the pretense of concern for the neutrality of News Corp's reporting operations and admit it: their objections are nakedly partisan." When will Markay admit that Fox News is nakedly partisan. (Oh, and comprehensive immigration reform is not amnesty.) An Oct. 2 post by Jeff Poor touts how Charles Krauthammer "takes on" a talk-show panel over Fox News, weirdly claiming that the undisputable fact that Fox news is "a political outlet for Republicans" is nothing more than a "left-wing meme." Poor also whines that the panelists on the show were "ganging up on the lone conservative and often attacking the Fox News Channel or other conservative media outlets like talk radio."
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:56 AM EDT
Newsmax Tosses Softballs to D'Souza
Topic: Newsmax An Oct. 1 Newsmax article by David Patten carries the headline 'Author D'Souza Rebuts Critics of His Obama 'Roots' Book." In fact, Dinesh D'Souza does no such rebutting -- he merely rehashes his silly theory that President Obama is motivated by anti-colonialism. In the accompanying video, interviewer Patten makes no effort to bring up the numerous questions of accuracy that have been raised about D'Souza's book "The Roots of Obama's Rage"; he merely tosses softballs that let D'Souza prattle on about his theory. Patten even cues up false information, at one point claiming that "almost the first thing" Obama did upon taking office was remove a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office, which allowed D’Souza to spew his fantasy that Obama returned the bust as revenge for his paternal grandfather being tortured by British soldiers during the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya in the 1950s. This completely ignores the fact that Obama had nothing to do with its return -- it was already scheduled to return to Britain at the end of the Bush administration. As we've already detailed, Patten is a lousy reporter who is interested only in peddling conservative talking points, so it's no surprise that he would give D'Souza the softball treatment. The sad thing is that Newsmax apparently thinks it can build a journalism brand on such sycophancy.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:44 AM EDT
Sunday, October 3, 2010
WND Gives O'Keefe Benefit of the Doubt
Topic: WorldNetDaily Pretty much nobody is supporting James O'Keefe in the wake of his weird, creepy attempted stunt against CNN -- even the Media Research Center was quick to bail on him -- but leave it to WorldNetDaily to give him the benefit of the doubt. A day after the MRC's abandonment, a Sept. 30 WND article parroted O'Keefe's defense, that he found "highly objectionable and inappropriate" the "work product" of his organization, Project Veritas, that would have had him set up a "pleasure palace" on a boat, where he would try to seduce a female CNN producer. This came a couple days after WND was touting a CNN documentary on O'Keefe and other right-wing filmmakers. WND described one, Ryan Sorba, as someone who "reveals the truth about the homosexual lifestyle"; if expressing unbridled hatred for gays equals "revealing the truth about the homosexual lifestyle" in WND's eyes, then there's something wrong with WND's definition of journalism, as its willingness to soft-pedal O'Keefe's transgressions demonstrates. Heck, even O'Keefe's patron, Andrew Breitbart, has (belatedly) turned his back on him, saying O'Keefe owes an explanation for the stunt to his supporters. Will WND demand an explanation too, or will it continue to blindly defend him?
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:12 PM EDT
Updated: Sunday, October 3, 2010 11:22 PM EDT
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