Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax teams up with Donald Trump to host a GOP presidential debate, only to get burned when most candidates refuse to take part and Trump bails out. Read more >>
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
NEW ARTICLE: Trumped And Dumped
Topic: Newsmax Newsmax teams up with Donald Trump to host a GOP presidential debate, only to get burned when most candidates refuse to take part and Trump bails out. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:29 AM EST
Monday, December 19, 2011
WND Proud Molotov Mitchell's Gay-Bashing Is Being Spread
Topic: WorldNetDaily Not many news organizations would express pride that its message of hate is being spread far and wide, but WorldNetDaily is not just any news organization. A Dec. 16 WND article by Chelsea Schilling begins:
Schilling takes care to directly quote as little as possible of what Mitchell actually said in his video, which is less an endorsement of Santorum than it is a rant against sex columnist Dan Savage. Indeed, the only direct quote Schilling uses is Mitchell's description of Savage as "a hate-monger posing as a guy who fights hate-mongers." Schilling most definitely doesn't mention that ol' Molotov called Savage a "walking STD" and that he really did buy www.dansavageisawalkingstd.com, which redirects to Rick Santorum’s campaign website. OF course, this is all in line with Mitchell's rabid homophobia, which Schilling also takes care not to mention. After all, Mitchell advocates the "abolition of homosexuality" and endorsed the proposed anti-gay law in Uganda that would permit the death penalty for being gay. Schilling uncritically repeats Saul's rather laughable assertion that Mitchell's hateful screed is on a par with the rant by CNBC's Rick Santelli that help spark the tea party movement. But unlike Mitchell, Santelli didn't want to have the people he ranted against executed. P.S. This article, by the way, appears to be marking the return of Schilling -- who has a prodigious record of false and misleading claims -- as a full-time WND writer. She has written only sporadically since July 2010, despite retaining a staff writer position on the WND masthead.
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:16 PM EST
Newsmax's Root Peddles Anti-Obama Myths
Topic: Newsmax Wayne Allyn Root writes in his Dec. 14 Newsmax column:
In fact, the study in question was not terribly "scientific" -- the study's author has been criticized for his lack of transparency, his "non rigorous methodology," and his ties to think tanks funded by the oil industry. Root continued:
In fact, PolitiFact states that such simplistic per-job calculations are misleading because the stimulus money went toward a range of projects and programs including tax breaks, not just for salaries.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:11 PM EST
CNS' Jeffrey Dishonestly Attacks Public School Salaries
Topic: CNSNews.com Terry Jeffrey writes in a Dec. 14 CNSNews.com article:
That's a dishonest comparison. Jeffrey has cherry-picked statistics to compare public teachers to all private workers, a comparison that does not account for the higher education levels and responsibilities that teachers have over, say, a private-industry laborer. Further, as many commenters on the article's comment thread have noted, teachers typically work many hours at home grading homework and preparing for class -- something that may not be accounted for in the BLS' numbers, thus further skewing things. But then, dishonest reporting is what Jeffrey is all about these days.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:21 AM EST
Bozell Plays the Buckley Card
Topic: Media Research Center Having seen its full-throated defense of Herman Cain go for naught -- turns out people didn't like the sexual scandals that were piling up against him, no matter how many times Dan Gainor insisted the victims were just after book deals -- the Media Research Center needed to find someone else to defend. That lucky recipient turned out to be the surging Newt Gingrich. MRC chief Brent Bozell pounded out a NewsBusters post complaining that the TV networks failed to report that 13 years ago, Gingrich was "completely vindicated" in an IRS investigation of the funding practices of the group he headed at the time, GOPAC. But as we pointed out, this ignores that the House Ethics Committee looked at the same issue and decided to fine, or that the IRS revoked the tax exemption of an organization that worked with GOPAC because its funds were clearly being used for partisan purposes -- then, a few years later, under the Bush administration, reversed itself after lobbying from a GOPAC official. Bozell then dedicated his Dec. 14 column to defending Gingrich against "the media elite and the Republican ruling class," declaring that Gingrich is "an older man, a wiser man, but a man that has a vision of both American history and the American future — and that's what scares the establishment." Then, an outlet that is neither the media elite nor the Republican ruling class spoke out. National Review devoted an entire issue of its magazine to inveighing against Gingrich, citing his “impulsiveness, his grandiosity, his weakness for half-baked (and not especially conservative) ideas.” That, obviously, could not stand as far as Bozell was concerned -- so he played the Buckley card. Bozell's father was married to the sister of William F. Buckley, founder and longtime editor of National Review. Bozell insisted that Buckley would have never said such mean things about Gingrich. From a Dec. 15 article by Michael Chapman at Bozell's CNSNews.com:
Bozell is engaging in the same sort of Heathering his MRC minions employ against conservative figures who deviate even slightly from right-wing doctrine. Since the offender this time is a publication instead of a person, Bozell decided to make it personal by invoking his family history, something he rarely does. This also raises the question: Did Bozell violate the MRC's 501(c)3 tax-exempt status by using his "news" organization, CNS, to get his pro-Gingrich message out? It wasn't until the 11th paragraph of Chapman's press release-esque article that he got around to mentioning that Bozell headed the organization that published his article. Disguising Bozell's attack as a "news" article, albeit one that would not qualify as "news" at a real news organization, may not afford enough of a defense here. Plus, there's the whole using-company-resources-for-personal-purposes thing going on here. Bozell's virulent reaction suggests that Gingrich is as close a friend as Cain was, which makes one wonder if Bozell is rushing to Gingrich's defense as a personal favor. Lots of questions, not many answers forthcoming. All we really know is that Bozell is trying to play kingmaker, and we know who he wants to be king.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:29 AM EST
Sunday, December 18, 2011
WND: Media Reporting On Birther Banner Fail, Therefore It Was A Success
Topic: WorldNetDaily WorldNetDaily is in full spin mode on its epic birther banner fail. If you'll recall, last weekend WorldNetDaily spent an undisclosed amount of money to fly an airplane over Cowboys Stadium carrying a banner reading, "Where's the real birth certificate?" But as was clear from the video WND posted to document the event (shot from another aircraft that WND presumably spent even more money to hire), the banner was clearly flying over an enclosed stadium, and the mostly empty parking lots indicate that it few well before the start of the evening game. All told, few people who attended the game even saw it. But that's not what WND wants you to think. A Dec. 17 article forwards the mostly optimistically possible take on this embarrassment, in response to CNN's Anderson Cooper joining the numerous others who have ridiculed this effort: "[Cooper] didn't mention that the roof of the dome typically is open during the pregame time period when the banner flew, and even as it closed, those fans presumably walked from the vehicles in the parking to the stadium before the game when the banner was flying." But WND offers no evidence that the stadium's roof was ever open during the time WND flew its banner -- indeed, the video evidence WND provides shows conclusively that it wasn't. WND then shifted into there-is-no-such-thing-as-bad-publicity mode:
Shorter Farah: Sure, we look like creepily obsessed Obama-haters, but we got our message out! UPDATE: Farah keeps up this up-is-down attitude in his Dec. 17 column, asserting without evidence that "not only did most of the 95,000 or so fans see the banner because they arrived early to the game for tail-gate parties and the best parking spots, but, thanks to the media reports like Olbermann's and dozens of others, the banner was actually viewed by millions." Farah adds: "When people are sniping at you, you probably must pose some threat to them." We feel that way when Farah snipes at us.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:52 AM EST
Updated: Sunday, December 18, 2011 9:41 PM EST
Newsmax's Hirsen: Gingrich Is Just As Cool As 'Big Bang Theory'
Topic: Newsmax James Hirsen seems a little desperate to praise Newt Gingrich in his Dec. 13 Newsmax column. Straining for a suitable pop-culture reference, Hirsen declares that Gingrich has the same sort of "geeky intellectualism" as the cast of the sitcom "Big Bang Theory." No, really:
Uh, yeah.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:19 AM EST
Saturday, December 17, 2011
MRC's Graham Still Mad At the Smothers Brothers After 40 Years
Topic: NewsBusters Feel the bitterness in Tim Graham's Dec. 13 NewsBusters post:
Unlike Graham, we have actually read the David Bianculli book upon which Clooney will base his movie.The Smothers Brothers were actually pioneering the use of political satire on network TV (and, this being the late 1960s, network TV was pretty much all the TV there was). And CBS, far from being "a powerful disseminator of left-wing propaganda," did everything it could to water down or scuttle the show's political statements and ultimately canceled the show because of it. Amazing that Graham is actually paid to spew such ignorant hatred, but there you go. This stuff happened 40 years ago, Tim! It's time to move on!
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:44 AM EST
CNS Screws Up Pelosi's Reference To 'Macroeconomic Advisers'
Topic: CNSNews.com A Dec. 15 CNSNews.com article by Edwin Mora went after Nancy Pelosi for saying that an extension of unemployment insurance "is not only good for individuals. It has a macroeconomic impact. As macroeconomic advisers have stated, it would make a difference of 600,000 jobs to our economy." Mora added, "Pelosi did not name those 'macroeconomic advisers.'" In fact, as Media Matters detailed, Pelosi was not speaking generically. Macroeconomic Advisers is the name of an independent consulting firm whose research states exactly what Pelosi said. CNS has done this sort of thing before. Last year, it repeatedly misinterpreted then-Obama administration nominee Erroll Southers' reference to the far-right Christian Identity movement, falsely claiming that Southers thought groups having a "Christian identity" were security threats.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:15 AM EST
Friday, December 16, 2011
MRC Condones Sexist Behavior As Long As It's Not Worse Than What Muslims Do
Topic: Media Research Center In the midst of a Dec. 14 TimesWatch tirade criticizing New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman for committing the offense of saying something less than laudatory about Israel, the Media Research Center's Clay Waters takes things in a weird direction. After quoting Friedman pointing out that ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel have persuaded local bus companies to create segregated buses in which "women are required to enter through the bus back doors and sit in the back of the bus, as well as 'dress modestly,'"Waters retorts: "As if much harsher kinds of repression of women aren’t an everyday occurrence in other Middle Eastern countries." Really? That's Waters' standard? Such blatant discrimination is OK since it supposedly is not worse than what "other Middle Eastern countries" -- read: Muslims -- do? A more sane response would be to criticize discrimination in all its forms, no matter who is perpetrating it. But MRC employees are not exactly known for their sanity, are they?
Posted by Terry K.
at 5:02 PM EST
Updated: Sunday, December 18, 2011 10:50 AM EST
AIM Article at Breitbart Site Featured Nazi-Era Anti-Semitic Image
Topic: Accuracy in Media A Dec. 14 Accuracy in Media article by Logan Churchwell opined on the supposed "increased risk of bias" in the Associated Press' new drive for "distinctiveness." But when the article was reposted at Andrew Breitbart's Big Journalism site, it received an extra feature: Nazi-era anti-Semitic propaganda. As Media Matters details, the image is based on an anti-Semitic cartoon in a Nazi-era magazine (which explains why the big guy looks more than a little stereotypically Jewish). The image has since been deleted without explanation and replaced with another image. It's unclear whose fault this is, but the image appears in at least two other Big Journalism posts, according to Media Matters. UPDATE: Big Journalism is sort of taking responsibility for the image, claiming it was removed after Breitbart editor-in-chief Joel Pollak ("an Orthodox Jew with a degree in Jewish Studies, so he tends to pick up on these things") noticed it. But Media Matters first noted Big Journalism's use of the image back in March.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:15 PM EST
Updated: Friday, December 16, 2011 3:39 PM EST
Dear Dan Gainor...
Topic: Media Research Center Should someone who holds the title of T. Boone Pickens Fellow really be spending his time complaining about that some other billionaire spends money to further his favorite causes? Just wondering.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:55 AM EST
Newsmax Just Can't Stop Fluffing Trump
Topic: Newsmax After Donald Trump burned Newsmax by abandoning their planned joint debate of Republican presidential candidates, why the heck would Newsmax continue to engage in Trump-fluffing? We don't know, but that's what Newsmax has decided to do. A Dec. 15 article touts how "Donald Trump’s new book 'Time to Get Tough' is garnering praise from Rush Limbaugh, America's most-listened-to talk radio host. The article is credited to "Newsmax Wires," but one has to wonder what self-respecting news wire would publish such something that is nothing more than a press release. Then again, Newsmax's willingness to engage in more Trump-fluffing after Trump so publicly and humiliatingly dissed it doesn't exactly serve as a display of self-respect, does it?
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:08 AM EST
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Criticism of A Clinton Proves MRC Thesis Wrong (Not That MRC Will Admit It)
Topic: Media Research Center In a Dec. 13 NewsBusters post, Ken Shepherd highlights how the Washington Post panned Chelsea Clinton's debut as a TV correspondent on NBC. The reviewer "clearly didn't pull his punches in his December 13 review," Shepherd wrote, "hitting the former president and his long-suffering consort the Secretary of State." Um, doesn't this harsh review discredit the entire raison d'etre of NewsBusters' parent organization, the Media Research Center, that "the media," and the Washington Post in particular, has an ingrained liberal bias? If the paper was truly biased, wouldn't it have not published the review in the first place? Alas, Shepherd doesn't seem interested in answering that question -- he's too excited by the Clinton-bashing to care.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:29 PM EST
Updated: Thursday, December 15, 2011 8:30 PM EST
Aaron Klein's Writing Partner Insists Her Obama Conspiracy Isn't Loony
Topic: WorldNetDaily Right Wing Watch catches Brenda J. Elliott on Phyllis Schlafly's radio show promoting the book she co-wrote with WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein, "Red Army," which according to WND documents how "a radical socialist movement has been quietly infiltrating the major institutions of American power: our schools, our military, our economy, our media, and Congress itself." On the show, Elliott called President Obama a "useful idiot" who is nothing more than a tool for said socialist conspiracy. She continued: "Honestly, folks, it is a conspiracy. Two people is all it takes for a conspiracy and an intent to make something happen, that’s a conspiracy. The word conspiracy theory has been really distorted, it’s been made to sound like something loony, and it’s not loony, it’s not loony!" Aaron Klein's co-author, ladies and gentlemen.
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:19 PM EST
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