Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily wants its author Carl Gallups to be taken seriously, but his promotion of wild conspiracy theories (not to mention his birtherism) keep putting WND in cleanup mode. Read more >>
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
NEW ARTICLE: The Gallup-ing Conspiracy Theorist
Topic: WorldNetDaily WorldNetDaily wants its author Carl Gallups to be taken seriously, but his promotion of wild conspiracy theories (not to mention his birtherism) keep putting WND in cleanup mode. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:48 AM EDT
Monday, April 25, 2016
MRC Hides Behind Levin Again To Criticize Fox
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center still can't quite find a way to criticize Fox News in its own voice. As it did last month, the MRC uses right-wing radio host Mark Levin as cover for its Fox News criticism. Tim Graham writes in an April 20 NewsBusters post about how Levin was "hitting back at all the election propaganda being spouted by the media and pundits after the New York primary results," going after Fox News in particular:
Graham doesn't explain why the MRC doesn't criticize Fox News itself and instead trots out Levin to do the dirty work for them. Because Brent Bozell would like to continue appearing on Fox, perhaps? Then, as befits someone with a mutual business promotion deal with the MRC, Levin retweeted Graham's post, adding: "Newsbusters, a great site where accuracy matters." We assume it matters even more when the check clears.
Posted by Terry K.
at 4:47 PM EDT
WND's Bitter Its Dubious Miriam Carey Crusade Didn't Win A Pulitzer
Topic: WorldNetDaily Back in January, WorldNetDaily proclaimed that it had submitted its reporting on the death of Miriam Carey, killed by law enforcement agents in 2013 after apparently attempting to crash the White House gates and then fleeing. In usual self-aggrandizing fashion, WND editor Joseph Farah is quoted as saying that "WND has already been cited by other news agencies for its determined leadership in rolling back the layers of an enormous and scandalous cover-up" (despite citing only one actual example of such, Mother Jones, which noted only that WND was obsessed the story). Farah followed up with an even more self-aggrandizing column declaring that "If WND’s diligent commitment to this case resulted in a Pulitzer Prize or two, it would give the Miriam Carey case more prominence and exposure – the kind that could ultimately result in a measure of justice being served." Well, the Pulitzers were awarded last week, and WND's entry did not win. We're guessing it's because its lead reporter on the story, Garth Kant, apparently did little more than file FOIA requests and has not proven that Carey's death was the result of a conspiracy instead of being merely a tragedy involving a woman driving suspiciously and erratically in a nervous Washington, D.C., just two weeks after a shooter killed 12 people at D.C.'s Navy Yard. The facts that nobody believes WND , the Pulitzer bid is a desperate stab and acquiring some credibiity, or that it's Farah is clearly using the Carey story to continue his (largely failed) war on President Obama are probably irrelevant to the Pulitzer judges. The bitter headline of WND's article on the awards says it all: "Major WND probe snubbed by Pulitzers." Speaking of bitter, Farah devoted a column to the Pulitzer snub, beginning with rehashing old glories and then whining that the "new media" didn't win any Pulitzers:
Farah seems not to be aware that the Pulitzers have accepted nominations from online-only outlets since 2008, and that such outlets have, in fact, won Pulitzer Prizes, like ProPublica, InsideClimate News and the Huffington Post. Of course, neither of those outlets have the lengthy history of presenting partisan and personal attacks as "news" that WND does.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:08 AM EDT
Sunday, April 24, 2016
CNS Slobbers All Over Brent Bozell's Buddy, Charlie Daniels
Topic: Media Research Center Media Research Center chief Brent Bozell is not just a huge fan of country music artist Charlie Daniels -- he's Daniels' buddy as well. In a 2015 column, Bozell huffed that critics of the Confederate flag were by extension attacking Daniels, "a friend of mine." In 2010 he devoted an entire column to Daniels, touting how "In recent years, I’ve come to know Charlie Daniels personally." And in 2012, Bozell wrote in a NewsBusters post: "Charlie Daniels, a man for whom I have so much respect, sent me his new video," adding, "Amidst all the anti-American garbage poisoning our culture, it gives me—and I’m sure you—great comfort to know that patriots like Charlie Daniels continue to make such inspirational, pro-military music." So it should not be a surprise that CNSNews.com, the "news" division of Bozell's MRC, has made Daniels a regular columnist, which he has used to tell lies about Margaret Sanger. It should also not be a surprise that CNS also gives Daniels fawning "news" coverage. On March 29, CNS managing editor Michael W. Chapman wrote what is effectively a press release on Daniels' upcoming induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame -- indeed, all of the information from the article appears to come straight from a Country Music Association press release, so rewriting it and putting a byline on it seems superfluous. Maybe Chapman was trying to kiss up to the boss. On April 19, CNS' Brian Lonergan repeated a Twitter post from Daniels announcing that he will not be canceling any concerts in North Carolina in protest of that state's new anti-gay law. In other words, not news at all. Fully half of Lonergan's article is biographical information copied from Chapman's article. As much as the MRC likes to complain about other media outlets giving allegedly fawning coverage to its political enemies, it clearly has no interest in holding itself to the same journalistic standards.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:08 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, April 25, 2016 5:05 PM EDT
Saturday, April 23, 2016
AIM's Kincaid, An Obama Birther, Won't Touch Cruz Eligibility
Topic: Accuracy in Media WorldNetDaily's not the only ConWeb outlet that wants nothing to do with Ted Cruz's eligibility issues. Cliff Kincaid writes in his April 20 Accuracy in Media column, in the midst of an anti-Trump tirade complaining that "there is no eligibility requirement to be a Republican":
Kincaid, however, did think Barack Obama's eligibility was an issue. From September 2009, AIM proclaimed that Kincaid released his own birth certificate in order to raise questions about Obama's:
We haven't found anything by Kincaid stating that he's satisfied by Obama's release of his long-form birth certificate. He has promoted discredited filmmaker Joel Gilbert's debunked claim that Frank Marshall Davis is Obama's father. Additionally, several members of AIM's "Citizens' Commission on Benghazi" kangaroo court are serious Obama birthers who, as far as we know, have not raised similar questions about Cruz. Apparently, Kincaid's concern about "the public’s right to know" doesn't extend to questions about candidates he supports.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:00 AM EDT
Friday, April 22, 2016
MRC's Graham Joins Bandwagon to Defend Discredited Anti-Obama Filmmaker
Topic: Media Research Center Now the Media Research Center is joining the right-wing bandwagon to portray far-right filmmaker Joel Gilbert as the victim of Democratic meanies at the Federal Election Commission. MRC director of media analysis Tim Graham writes in an April 19 NewsBusters post:
Graham is understating the lack of veracity of Gilbert's film. Gilbert's claims weren't merely "unsubstantiated" -- they were outright lies. Even the far-right American Thinker debunked Gilbert's insistence that Davis is Obama's "real father," and his claim that Obama's mother posted for nude pictures has been similarly discredited. Graham also doesn't explain how being forced to disclose the source of the funds he used to make those millions of DVDs of his discredited film to key swing states during the 2012 election is "punishment." He also doesn't explain how someone who has promoted demonstrably false claims -- and deliberately so, since he adjusted the promotion of his film as its claims were debunked -- should be covered under the First Amendment. It's telling that Graham cites Paul Bedard, who has also helped to ridiculously portray Gilbert as a victim despite the fact he effectively won his case, as his source. He's such a "friend" of the MRC that he writes a weekly item trumpeting the MRC'slatest bit of "liberal bias," which the MRC then compiles at NewsBusters.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:22 PM EDT
WND's Anti-Hillary Witch Hunt Continues, Still Isn't Transparent
Topic: WorldNetDaily True to form -- and as we predicted -- WorldNetDaily is not telling anyone who's funding its anti-Hillary witch hunt. But WND editor Joseph Farah has an update on how exactly it's witch-hunting:
Nothing says bad reporting like the involvement of Corsi, a guy who pushed fake documents from Kenya and perpetuated the birther fraud in an attempt to falsely smear Obama. WND is apparently also coordinating with the right-wing Judicial Watch for this hit job: "series of investigative reports to be published in WND coinciding with Judicial Watch’s upcoming questioning of Hillary Clinton and her top aides, including Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills. That’s right. It looks like there is no stopping Judicial Watch from deposing Clinton and her two top aides." And because this is WND, this would not be complete without Farah begging for money (not that he'll tell you how he's spending it, of course):
The root problem with all of this, of course, is that WND's history of factually flawed anti-Democrat hit jobs demonstrate that it has no credibility, and even if there were some substance to its anti-Hillary hit job, WND's past as a nakedly partisan smear artist virtually guarantees that it will never be taken seriously.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:33 AM EDT
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Dear MRC: Hate-Watching TV Shows Does Not Make Good TV Criticism
Topic: Media Research Center Dylan Gwinn starts his NewsBusters review of the latest episode of "The Real O'Neals" by declaring: "To say that my hate for ABC’s The Real O’Neals burns with the heat of a thousand suns, would be…well…an accurate statement." Well, if you hate it so much, Dylan, perhaps you shouldn't be watching it. And you shouldn't be blogging about how much you hate watching it. But hate-watching is what the Media Research Center is paying Gwinn and others to do. Gwinn also hate-watches "Blackish" for the MRC, the latest in a long line of white MRC staffers and bloggers to pass (usually negative) judgment on a show aimed at a black audience. The MRC's hate-watchers are particularly tuned to any hint of gayness, and they predictably freak out over it when it happens. Alexa Moutevelis Coombs had the anti-gay cow you'd expect when there was a girl-on-girl kiss on the show "Once Upon A Time":
Gwinn also hate-watches the reality show "I Am Cait," about the former Bruce Jenner, and he recently ranted about a "stunt" in which "Caitlyn and the Trans friends that the E! Channel provided him with" checked out a bridal shop. "I too thought this day would never come. Let me fix that, I hoped and prayed this day would never come," Gwinn sneered. "And yet…here we are." And Karen Townsend was appalled that Smithers came out of the closet on "The Simpsons," complaining that "The writers of The Simpsons have slowly brought homosexuality into the show over the years" and whining that "the storyline is also a piece of political activism." She adds, "What will be next for the liberal writers -- transgender characters?" Townsend also freaked out about a recent episode of "Empire": " A familiar subject in prime time television was broached between Jamal (Jussie Smollett) and Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) tonight - fluid sexuality. What is with Hollywood liberals pushing this theme on TV lately?" She then huffs that "Hollywood is determined to promote fluid sexuality as normal behavior." Really, what good does the MRC apparently forcing (as Gwinn suggests) its lower-level bloggers to watch shows they clearly despise and have no interest in reviewing in any objective manner? Hate-watching does not make for good criticism. The MRC apparently hasn't figured that out yet.
Posted by Terry K.
at 5:28 PM EDT
WND Complains About Trump Impeachment Talk -- But Promoted Hillary Impeachment A Year Ago
Topic: WorldNetDaily Joseph Farah rants in his April 19 WorldNetDaily column:
First, that "entire book" to catalogue the purportedly "Impeachable Offenses" Obama had committed was utterly laughable and filled with factual errors and outright falsehoods. Second: Who was talking about impeachment more than 18 months prior to the election and months ahead of the convention that will nominate a Democratic candidate? WorldNetDaily. In May 2015 (!), WND's Cheryl Chumley touted an effort to impeach Hillary Clinton even before the election:
That's right: WND promoted an effort to impeach Hillary Clinton before the election. And Farah is complaining about a proposed impeachment of Donald Trump that wouldn't take place until after he takes office?
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:47 AM EDT
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
MRC Documents Fox News Bias, Won't Use The B-Word To Describe It
Topic: Media Research Center On April 14, the Media Research Center's Kyle Drennen touted how Fox News host Megyn Kelly "ripped into her media colleagues for their excessive and skewed coverage of the billionaire’s campaign." Of course, as we've documented, a lot of that "excessive and skewed coverage" of Trump appears on Fox News itself. But, hey, Kelly typically gets a free pass from the MRC, even as she laughably denies that Fox News is biased. Now, the MRC has finally gathered evidence of Fox News' pro-Trump and anti-Democrat bias. But, even more laughably, it won't say the B-word. Perhaps tired of us pointing out that the MRC's political coverage analyses have focused almost exclusively on the broadcast networks seemingly to avoid having to document bias at Fox News, the MRC has at last gotten around to analyzing cable news coverage of the 2016 peridential election. An April 18 NewsBusters post by Rich Noyes and Mike Ciandella admits the obvious:
We don't know why the MRC excluded rallies and speeches from candidate coverage, even though they star the candidate. Perhaps that would have made the Fox News numbers even more skewed for Trump. Interestingly, Noyes and Ciandella refuse to use the word "bias" in describing Fox News' hlighly skewed coverage of Trump, though the post given the "Bias by the Minute" taxonomy. The next day, Noyes and Ciandella highlighted an even more stark example of Fox News' bias, noting that while "the three main Republican candidates (Trump, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and Ohio Governor John Kasich) and their surrogates were interviewed for a total of 666 minutes on the Fox News Channel during this period ... neither former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton nor Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders gave any interviews to any of FNC’s prime time programs during the four weeks we examined, and their surrogates appeared for a total of only 13 minutes — a greater than 50-to-1 disparity." Noyes and Ciandella given excuse and justify Fox News' clear anti-Democrat bias:
Those aren't excuses the MRC are likely to grant to the "liberal media" for their allegedly biased coverage. And, again, at no point do Noyes and Ciandella use the word "bias" to describe Fox News' clearly biased coverage. As we've noted, the MRC has a vested interest in not being more explicit in pointing out Fox News' media bias -- its officials appear regularly on its air, something that would likely stop if the MRC actually held the channel to account. You can bet that if Kelly or any other Fox News host denies the channel is biased, the MRC will ignore its own research and continue to give them a pass.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:32 PM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 3:08 PM EDT
WND Doc: Being Gay, Transgender The Same As Being A Serial Rapist
Topic: WorldNetDaily Elizabeth Vliet -- the WND-fave doc who's tied to the far-right-fringe Association of American Physicians and Surgeons -- demonstrates her ignorance about transgenders in an April 12 WND column:
Vliet adds: "Just recently, a Seattle man began undressing at a public swimming pool women’s locker room when a group of young girls were changing for a swim team practice. He was not arrested, as a result of Washington’s new law allowing 'transgender' men to use women’s restrooms. I use quotes around the term transgender because this man had no outward identifying statements or attire to suggest he thought of himself as a woman." Actually, that was apparently a protest against the gender-equity law-- and since the man "had no outward identifying statements or attire to suggest he thought of himself as a woman," he was in violation of it. But she's not done. She thinks she's an expert on the subject:
Did the Johns Hopkins Sexual Medicine Consultation team really teach Vliet that homosexuality and transgenderism is equal to being a pedophile or serial rapist, complete with similar psychological pathology, as Vliet suggests? Somehow we doubt it. The Johns Hopkins Sexual Behaviors Consultation Unit examines many sexuality-related issues, which it clearly separates by type. If Vliet actually retained what she learned from the unit, she would not be thinking there's no difference between being transgender and being a serial rapist. But, alas, Vliet's misinformation continues:
In fact, exactly zero transgender people have molested people of the opposite biological gender in bathrooms under gender-equity laws. Vliete closes with the rant: "The election of 2016 is becoming about far more than “politics” as usual: It is about restoring common sense in the public arena, public safety and enforcing laws that are designed to maintain civil order and civility for ALL, not just a favored few in the minority group du jour." But should we be concerned about civil rights for all and refuse to discriminate against a minority we may not like or understand? Not according to Vliet, apparently.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:22 AM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 12:28 AM EDT
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Ex-MRCer Avoids Critics In Plugging New Climate Change Denial Film, And MRC's Bozell Plays Along
Topic: Media Research Center An April 15 NewsBusters post touts how "MRC President and Founder L. Brent Bozell moderated an invitation-only panel discussion on the subject featuring former Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, climatologist Dr. David Legates and Climate Depot’s Marc Morano, host of a new documentary from CFACT: Climate Hustle." Legates is a climate-change denier like the rest, meaning that everyone involved in the "panel discussion" holds basically the same opinion -- which makes it not much of a discussion at all. But also note that term appearing before "panel discussion": "invitation-only." It appears that if you held a different opinion on climate change from Morano, Bozell and the others (only one of whom has any actual background in climate science), you apparently weren't even allowed in the room. That refusal to engage with critics, perhaps not surprisingly, has been a hallmark of Morano's promotion of his little film, as well as Morano and CFACT's apparent lying to continue to refuse engagement. Graham Readfearn writes at DeSmog about trying (and failing) to gain admission to the Paris premiere of the film:
We're guessing that Bozell and his one-sided "panel discussion" didn't mention that Morano refused a bet with Bill Nye (the science guy) on whether 2016 would be one of the ten hottest years on record and that the current decade would be the hottest on record... because he admits it's “obvious” the official records would show more global warming. CNS' Barbara Hollingsworth did a "news" article on the "panel discussion, which ironbically quotes Legates saying, “If you can’t argue the facts, you have to demonize your opponent.” Or, you know, ignore them completely. Oddly, while the NewsBusters post disclosed that Morano used to be a reporter for CNS -- where he used his final days there to audition for his future career as a professional climate change denier, first as a PR flak for Republican Sen. James Inhofe and then for CFACT -- Hollingsworth's CNS article did not, though CNS was the MRC division where he actually worked.
Posted by Terry K.
at 5:20 PM EDT
WND Wants Hillary Arrested For Riding The Subway
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Hillary Clinton has committed the crime of riding the subway in New York City while a TV camera followed her, and WorldNetDaily's Douglas Ernst is on it:
Ernst doesn't mention that the Guardian piece he's regurgitating is opinion, not reporting, and the author, Ali Gharib, offers no evidence of politicians arrested for politicking on the subway. Further, neither Ernst nor Gharib seem to understand there's a difference between a politician and a busking musician.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:50 AM EDT
Monday, April 18, 2016
MRC Whines About Boston Globe's Trump Front-Page Satire
Topic: Media Research Center The Boston Globe's opinion section recently published a fake front page projecting what might happen if Donald Trump is elected president. And even though the Media Research Center despises Trump and supports Ted Cruz, it hates the "liberal media" expressing an opinion even more. Tim Graham dismissed the page as an "enormous prank" and declared himself arbiter of "serious" news: "A serious newspaper doesn't satirize the news. It leaves it to The Onion." Graham doesn't mention that the fake front page didn't replace the actual front page; it ran on the front of its "idea" section well inside the paper. The MRC's Rich Noyes sneered at the "sophomoric anti-Donald Trump parody" and complained that "liberal newspapers have published a spate of obnoxious, over-the-top covers that the broadcast networks immediately picked up as meaningful contributions to political discourse." (This from the same website that does a post every time Tim Allen makes fun of liberals on his sitcom "Last Man Standing.") Noyes later ran to Fox Business (of course) to rant that the fake front page was "sophomoric" (again) and "absurd." MRC division CNSNews.com -- which has had its own problems with making up the news -- ran an April 14 story by Susan Jones under the headline "Boston Globe Defends Its 'Unconventional New Approach' to Making Up the News." Jones does later explain that it did not run as the actual front page but in the opinion section -- which means it was not "making up the news" at all.
Posted by Terry K.
at 4:18 PM EDT
WND Columnist's Baal Temple Arch Freakout May Be Unfounded
Topic: WorldNetDaily Ben Kinchlow writes in his April 10 WorldNetDaily column:
Kinchlow's concern over spreading "symbols of Baal worship" may be unfounded. As Right Wing Watch details, the Institute for Digital Archaeology has apparently changed its plans; it is building the Triumphal Arch from Palmyra, Syria, for display in London and nothing in New York for now. Glenn Beck was freaking out about it, Right Wing Watch notes, which is probably where Kinchlow picked it up. But as we know, Kinchlow isn't always into researching before he writes his column.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:02 AM EDT
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