Topic: Accuracy in Media
AIM's Reed Irvine Awards have an unfortunate tendency to be given to right-wing activists known more for their mendacity than for telling the truth. Read more >>
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
NEW ARTICLE: Accuracy In Media Honors Inaccuracy In Media
Topic: Accuracy in Media AIM's Reed Irvine Awards have an unfortunate tendency to be given to right-wing activists known more for their mendacity than for telling the truth. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:09 PM EDT
WND vs. Glenn Beck
Topic: WorldNetDaily Glenn Beck's webcast freakout last week, in which he declared he has lost faith in America, got something of a negative reaction over at WorldNetDaily, which is almost as freakout-prone as Beck is. A March 6 WND article by Joe Kovacs grimly recounted the highlights of Beck's rant. Then, a couple of WND columnists weighed in, criticizing Beck's declaration of surrender. Alan Keyes declared that Beck had surrendered long ago by not being a birther and not hating gays as much as he does:
Larry Klayman, meanwhile, grumbled that Beck was no Patrick Henry. And, of course, went off on a fit of premium-grade Obama derangement:
Of course, Beck would have to go a long way to hate Obama as much as Klayman does.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:23 PM EDT
Newsmax's Ponte Misrepresents Unemployment Stats
Topic: Newsmax Lowell Ponte writes in his March 11 Newsmax column:
Ponte is comparing apples and oranges -- the BLS counts the number of jobs added and the number of people not in the labor force in different ways, so one number has no corellation whatsoever with the other. Further, the BLS defines "not in the labor force" very broadly -- essentially, everyone over 16 and not in an institution -- and includes many other people than those who "stopped looking for a job," including students and retired people who were never looking for work. Ponte also calls the U-6 rate -- typically a higher number than the U-3 unemployment rate because it counts the underemployed and those discouraged from seeking a job -- "the official jobs number," even though the U-3 rate is equally as "official."
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:13 PM EDT
WND's Elmore Misleads In Fearmongering Over Ammo, Armored Vehicle Buys
Topic: WorldNetDaily In the midst of a fit of hyperbolic Obama derangement in which he declared that "the story of Hugo Chavez is one that parallels Barack Hussein Obama’s disastrous but popular rule over the American people," Phil Elmore delivered the following whopper in his March 6 WorldNetDaily column:
In fact, the 2,700 armored vehicles are being purchased by the Marine Corps, not DHS. And while DHS is buying more than a million rounds of ammunition, much of that purchase is spread out over five years and will be used for training purposes for agents under its purview, including ICE. More than 90 federal agencies and 70,000 agents and officers used the department's training center last year.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:14 AM EDT
Monday, March 11, 2013
NewsBusters Reads CNN's Mind
Topic: NewsBusters In a March 11 NewsBusters post, Ken Shepherd claims that CNN "laments" that a judge overturned a New York City law banning soft drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces. How does Shepherd know the feelings being imparted by a CNN "breaking news" email? He doesn't, of course -- he's merely running the email through his own filter of right-wing bias. But he claimed that "rather than couch the stay on the new regulation as a victory of individual liberty, the editors described the ruling as 'a setback for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has backed several laws aimed at improving the health of New Yorkers.'" Of course, it's an unambiguous fact that the law being overturned is a setback for Bloomberg, and stating so does not impart bias. Declaring the overturning "a victory of individual liberty," as Shepherd demands CNN do, on the other hand, is very much a biased statement. In short: Shepherd wants us to believe that 1) he can read the mind of a writer of breaking-news emails, and 2) that Stephen Colbert's maxim that the reality has a liberal bias is correct yet again.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:54 PM EDT
WND Baselessly Blames Obama for 'Lurch Toward Transgenderism'
Topic: WorldNetDaily Under the headline "Lurch toward transgenderism pushed by Obama," Michael F. Haverluck writes in a March 7 WorldNetDaily article:
But at no point do Haverluck or Brown offer any specific example of Obama pushing a "lurch toward transgenderism." Instead, Haverluck rants that Yale University is considering covering gender-reassignment surgery and that other universities do the same thing, and that schools are "seeking to normalize homosexual and transsexual behavior." In other words, just another day in WND's anti-gay agenda.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:14 PM EDT
MRC Wants You To Trust The Discredited John Lott
Topic: Media Research Center Liz Thatcher used a March 6 Media Research Center Business & Media Institute item to complain that USA Today highlighted a study claiming that gun violence costs $12 billion a year. Thatcher attacked the group funding the study as having "left-wing inclinations" as well as being "financially connected to left-wing donor George Soros." At no point did Thatcher offer any evidence challenging the study's results. Thatcher went on to complain that did not mention "how many lives have been saved because of guns," concluding:
Lott is a thoroughly discredited gun researcher. And Thatcher wants us to take the advice of him over that of a group whose research she can't even disprove? That's rich.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:31 AM EDT
Les Kinsolving Retires From Asking Stupid Questions At White House
Topic: WorldNetDaily We wondered why we haven't heard any whining for a while about how shabbily any given White House press secretary was treating WorldNetDaily's Les Kinsolving. Turns out there's a reason for that: Kinsolving has retired from the White House press corps. Kinsolving revealed his retirement in his March 5 WND column (though it doesn't appear he will be retiring from his other gigs as a WND columnist and Baltimore radio host). But he's whining on his way out that press secretary Jay Carney hadn't called on him since July 26 "despite my being second in seniority to Connie Lawn." He went on to huff that "I have never experienced such oral censorship." As we've pointed out, Kinsolving has not earned the respect he demands. He's right-wing hack and raging homophobe who whines every time his biased shenanigans get any pushback. His employer, meanwhile, is so amoral that it publishes lies and smears about Obama and his administration and violates journalistic ethics on a depressingly regular basis. Why should the Obama administration take questions from a heavily biased "reporter" who works for an organization that is seeking no less than the personal and political destruction of Barack Obama? Then, as if to prove the point, Kinsolving spends the rest of his column repeating right-wing talking points about Obama's allegedly prolifigate spending. Kinsolving's insistence on invoking his seniority shows us he cares more about status than reporting the truth. His employment by WND demonstrates he doesn't care about the truth at all. He will not be missed, except as someone whose bias made him an object of ridicule, and his departure will make room for a real journalist in the White House briefing room.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:55 AM EDT
Sunday, March 10, 2013
AIM's Kincaid Desperately Tries To Paint All Gays as Marxists
Topic: Accuracy in Media Accuracy in Media's Cliff Kincaid is a fairly notorious gay-basher -- so much so that he promoted the proposed law in Uganda that would permit the death penalty for mere homosexuality -- so pretty much all you need to know about where he's going in his March 6 AIM column is contained in the first two paragraphs:
You can figure it out from there. Spoiler: Kincaid keeps bashing gays.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:40 PM EDT
Pat Boone Is Still A Birther
Topic: WorldNetDaily Pat Boone is a longtime birther and Obama-hater, so it's no surprise he would keep up the Obama-hate. But he's also decided to ignore the reality of the wholesale abandonment of birtherism -- even by the main outlet that publishes him, WorldNetDaily -- if his March 8 WND column is any indication, in which he adapts "The Emperor's New Clothes" to shoehorn Obama into it:
Ah, so much fail. First, Obama "early school, passport and travel records" are "sealed permanently" to the same standard as every other U.S. Citizen. Second, Kapi'olani Medical Center in Honolulu has acknowledged that Obama was born there, as demonstrated by its publication of a letter from Obama stating he was born there. Third, Obama did release a birth certificate. In fact, he released two. Fourth, the idea that Obama's birth certificate is a Photoshopped fraud has been discredited by John Woodman, among others. Boone, it appears, still isn't about to let the facts interfere with his Obama-hate.
Posted by Terry K.
at 4:27 PM EST
Saturday, March 9, 2013
CNS Misleads on Non-Working Americans
Topic: CNSNews.com The headline of a March 8 CNSNews.com article by Elizabeth Harrington blares, "Record 89,304,000 Americans 'Not in Labor Force' -- 296,000 Fewer Employed Since January." But that's highly misleading. As even Harrington points out, this number includes "people who have retired on schedule, taken early retirement, or simply given up looking for work." But even that doesn't tell the full story about the number, which is the total number of working-age people who aren't in the work force, which is not the same thing as being unemployed. As the Bureau of Labor Statistics defines it, "not in the labor force" means "persons aged 16 years and older in the civilian noninstitutional population who are neither employed nor unemployed in accordance with the definitions contained in this glossary. Information is collected on their desire for and availability for work, job search activity in the prior year, and reasons for not currently searching." But Harrington's story got promoted by the Drudge Report, which appears to be a higher goal at CNS than accurate reporting.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:52 PM EST
Aaron Klein's Selective Map Error Highlighting
Topic: WorldNetDaily Under the headline "ABC makes whopping on-air blunder," a March 5 WorldNetDaily article highlights "WND has found" that a map aired by ABC misidentified Iraq as Iran, to which Klein adds, "Does ABC News know where hot spots Iran, Iraq and Syria are located?" Funny, we don't recall Klein being bothered by an even more whopping on-air blunder, which misidentifed Iraq as Egypt. Or when Fox labeled Utah as Nevada, and Vermont as New Hampshire. Or when Fox labeled a picture of President Obama as Mitt Romney. Or when Fox botched a poll's numbers so badly, they added up to 120 percent. Or when Fox copies graphics issued by partisan Republicans -- even down to the typos. Then again, Klein is the same guy who, after falsely suggesting Fox News paid a ransom for a kidnapped reporter, issued a suck-up piece insisting that "I am horrified people have falsified and misrepresented my article to attack Fox News" and that "that "I have enormous respect for [Roger] Ailes."
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:30 PM EST
Friday, March 8, 2013
CNS Freaks Out Over Dem Congresswoman's Statement First Popularized By Grover Norquist
Topic: CNSNews.com A March 7 CNSNews.com article by Eric Scheiner highlights a statement by Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) told a TV station in Milwaukee that "Many Republicans see this as a first down payment on their ultimate desire to just shrink the size of government, so much so, that you can drown it in a bathtub." Scheiner doesn't mention, however, that a conservative said it first. Grover Norquist originally what Moore said almost verbatim: "My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." The clear motive for Scheiner highlighting this was to set Moore up for mockery by CNS readers, as the vulgar, hateful rants in the comments demonstrate. But has Scheiner ever highlighted Norquist's originial statement, let alone treat it as ridiculous?
Posted by Terry K.
at 4:25 PM EST
WND Misleads About Linking Abortion, Birth Control to Breast Cancer
Topic: WorldNetDaily Garth Kant writes in a March 4 WorldNetDaily article:
Kant then reports on claims by right-wing groups that blamed the increase on birth control and abortion:
But the JAMA study made no determination of reasons for the increase -- which, in fact, is "small" since what was discovered was an increase of 1.37 cases of breast cancer per 100,000 population.Kant and his right-wingers also fail to acknowledge that the increase might be attributed in part to increased screening. Kant continued:
In fact, the National Cancer Institute says that "the evidence overall still does not support early termination of pregnancy as a cause of breast cancer," and the American Cancer Society says that "the scientific evidence does not support the notion that abortion of any kind raises the risk of breast cancer or any other type of cancer." Kant couldn't be bothered to report any of those facts, but he did report someone's baseless speculation that "major research institutes have denied any link between abortion and breast cancer because the issue has been 'politicized.'" (h/t Wonkette)
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:04 PM EST
Newsmax Misspells Conservative Jewish Leader's Name
Topic: Newsmax A March 7 Newsmax article by Bill Hoffman informs us that "Malcolm Hoenline," the head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said that newly appointed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is a "Jackie Mason on steroids." Hoffmann uses the "Hoenline" spelling all the way through his article. Actually, his last name is spelled Hoenlein. He's a right-leaning Jewish leader to whom former Newsmax writer Ronald Kessler turned for more unequivocal Obama-bashing after he got busted for taking liberties with the words of a less conservative Jewish leader.It's quite a blunder for Newsmax to misspell the name of a prominent Jewish leader, especially in the headline.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:54 AM EST
Updated: Friday, March 8, 2013 10:56 AM EST
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