More Junk Journalism At WND Topic: WorldNetDaily
In yet another example of gross journalistic imbalance at WorldNetDaily, Ron Strom has penned a fourth article on the man who is accusing Allstate Insurance of firing him for writing an anti-gay column. Strom's Sept. 6 article touts a letter written on behalf of the man by several congressmen.
The article, like the threeprecedingones also written by Strom, follow the Terri Schiavo template, playing up the man's accusations through cozy connections with his attorney -- who also served as a attorney for Schaivo's parents -- while downplaying or ignoring completely anything Allstate has to say.
To continue the count we began with Strom's first story: Of the 91 paragraphs Strom has written over four articles about this case, only six are devoted to Allstate's response, and all of them are buried at the end of their respective articles. The rest all advance the man's case.
If you wonder why ConWebWatch exists, this is why: to expose junk journalism like this.
The Daily Les, 9/6 Topic: The Daily Les
Today's White House briefing question from Les Kinsolving regards a suggestion by Sen. Mary Landrieu that she might punch President Bush if he criticized local response efforts to Hurricane Katrina:
KINSOLVING: Since both punching and threatening to punch the president is a felony, might Landrieu's qualifying words likely saved her from arrest and prosecution? And what was the president's reaction?
No word on whether Kinsolving supports prosecuting Ann Coulter on the same charge for writing in 1998 that the debate over the Monica Lewinsky scandal should have focused on "whether to impeach or assassinate" President Clinton. After all, assassination trumps punching, doesn't it?
Like many, my family and I experienced 9/11 in an up close and personal way. And yet, we never heard the kind of whiny, belly-aching, finger-pointing blame game we're hearing in the hours and days after Hurricane Katrina's fury was felt in the Gulf Coast.
More CNS Labeling Bias Topic: CNSNews.com
A Sept. 6 CNSNews.com article by Susan Jones reliably regurgitates a press release from the Coalition for a Fair Judiciary about John Roberts' nomination as chief justice. But even while Jones recounts the press release's rhetoric of a "din from the Left" and "endless carping" by liberals, Jones never once uses the word "conservative" to describe the Coalition for a Fair Judiciary, though that's clearly what the group is. Instead, Jones reprinted lofty blather from the group's "About Us" page.
New Article: Anyone But Bush Topic: The ConWeb
The ConWeb gets the memo, starts looking for ways to deflect blame away from the Bush administration for the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Will likely be updated later today with the latest defenses of Bush. Read more.
Touting Martinez Topic: Newsmax
"Mel Martinez Touted as Bush’s Next Supreme Court Pick," reads the headline on a Sept. 5 NewsMax article. But the only entity touting Florida senator Martinez is NewsMax, anonymously citing "a good source."
NewsMax has a long record of touting Martinez. It endorsed him for the Senate seat after NewsMax editor Christopher Ruddy's personal favorite, Mark Foley -- to whom he donated money, followed shortly thereafter by positive NewsMax articles -- dropped out of the race.
NewsMax was a very self-congratulatory mood today. In addition to the Martinez piece, it confused anonymous speculation for actual news in claiming that it had the "scoop" back in July that John Roberts would be named chief justice.
'The Facts As They Exist' Topic: Media Research Center
A Sept. 4 post by Vinny Fiore at NewsBusters follows the Bush party line in bashing Reuters for daring to suggest Bush has any responsibility for the Katrina aftermath. He concludes: "It is why sites like NewsBusters, and the site that led me to this story, Little Green Footballs, are so integral to getting the facts as they exist."
An ironic statement consider Fiore's tentativerelationship to "the facts as they exist." Doesn't anyone at the MRC vet his stuff before it's posted?
Ruddy Fixes Misquote, Doesn't Tell Anyone Topic: Newsmax
Christopher Ruddy's slanderous misquote in his Sept. 4 column -- alleging that Jefferson Parish president Aaron Broussard said, "For God's sake, just shut up and send us the money!" -- has been changed to what Broussard actually said, "send us somebody!" But there's no apology from Ruddy for misquoting him; there isn't even an acknowledgement that a serious error was made.
Ruddy Misquotes, Slanders La. Official Topic: Newsmax
At NewsMax, finding ways to blame Clinton for the Hurricane Katrina aftermath will have to wait. First, it has to deflect blame from President Bush.
NewsMax editor Christopher Ruddy weighed in with a Sept. 4 column blaming it all on New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. And he falsely quotes another Louisiana official in the process, portraying him as a money-hungry incompetent.
Ruddy falsely claimed that Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, in an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," "ended his performance as he collapsed in tears with a demand: 'For God's sake, just shut up and send us the money!'"
But that's not what Broussard said; he said "send us somebody," not "send us the money."
Ruddy also failed to offer the full context of Broussard's statement, which came after recounting an emotional anecdote in which his parish's head of emergency management continually promised his trapped mother that help would arrive, and she died before she could be rescued. Yet Ruddy claimed that Broussard's "tears didn't wash with me," than blamed him for the aftermath:
My sympathies lay with the tens of thousands of people who have suffered or died because local officials like Broussard, Mayor Nagin, and Governor Kathleen Blanco, also a Democrat, failed at their jobs in a monumental way.
This demonstrates what NewsMax's priority will be in the near future -- damage control for Bush.
Training Up A Columnist, Part 2 Topic: WorldNetDaily
A couple years back, we took to task Kyle Williams -- the homeschooled teenage columnist for WorldNetDaily -- for hewing a little too closely to the conservative line on the issues of the day. Kyle is 16 now, and he's starting to find his own voice, though it's one some of his fellow conservatives might not want to hear.
Kyle has been on a quest to develop a purer vision of Christianity. In the process, he has leveled a lot of criticism against "family values" conservatives such as Jerry Falwell and the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins for such offenses as villainizing gays and playing politics instead of saving souls.
In his Sept. 3 WND column, keeps it up by biting the hand that feeds him. He attacks the idea that God sent Hurrcane Katrina to destroy New Orleans for its tolerance of homosexuality or other similar alleged failings, singling out two people who WND has promoted over the years: Michael Marcavage of anti-gay Repent America and WND columnist Craige McMillan. Kyle calls them arrogant and insensitive to the plight of their fellow human beings.
Kyle snarkily adds: "At this point, I'm just waiting for Fred Phelps and his friends to show up on a New Orleans' highway with picket signs saying, 'God Hate Fags [sic].'" No snark needed here, actually;1) Phelps' followers are already picketing the funerals of troops killed in Iraq; and 2} Phelps holds the same views on Kristina and gays as Marcavage.
WND: Emotions Are Bad Topic: WorldNetDaily
The cries for help issued by Fox News correspondents didn't go over well with WorldNetDaily.
A Sept. 3 WND article appeared to be mocking Geraldo Rivera for getting emotional as he reported from New Orleans during an episode of "Hannity & Colmes." The headline reads, "Sobbing Geraldo: Let the people go!" According to the article, Rivera "was filled with tears in his eyes and his voice fluttered with sorrow as he made an on-air plea to authorities to allow the estimated 30,000 storm victims at the center to be allowed to move to a safer, cleaner area."
The article later quotes what it claims were Fox viewers actually mocking Rivera, but it doesn't say where exactly those quotes came from, so there's no way of verifying the authenticity of these quotes. That sort of anonymous, unverifiable reporting suggests the point of the article was to smear Rivera.
The article also goes after Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, who is also in New Orleans, claiming his "Hannity & Colmes" report had an "excited negative tone."
WND offers no advice as to the proper way Smith should have reported the desperate situation of the New Orleans refugees without involving any icky emotions.
We Have A Winnah! Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily beats NewsMax to the punch, finds a way to blame the Clinton administration for the Katrina aftermath.
The Blame Topic: The ConWeb
Note to Frank Salvato, the Media Research Center and others upset that people are blaming President Bush for the poor response to Hurricane Katrina:
Conservatives were blaming President Clinton for 9/11 the day of the attacks, and we don't recall you complaining about that.
The One-Source Wonder Blunders In Topic: WorldNetDaily
Jon Dougherty reminds us why he won that Slantie Award for his slanted, factually deficient reporting. From a Sept. 1 WorldNetDaily column:
[O]ffers of international aid and assistance to help us get back on our feet are not exactly pouring in [after Hurricane Katrina]. As of this writing, I've seen exactly two offers of assistance.
Meanwhile, a Sept. 1 CNSNews.com article reports the following:
As graphic and disturbing footage of the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina fills TV screens around the world, the U.S. government has received numerous messages of condolence as well as offers of assistance from more than 20 countries.
If Dougherty can't even keep up with the current events he writing about, it makes you wonder about the online mag he currently operates.
UPDATE: Another thing Dougherty might have noticed if he had bothered to do any research before writing his column: President Bush apparently doesn't want any international help.
UPDATE 2: NewsMax serves up its own version of Dougherty's whine, claiming that is "shameful" that "only 25 nations" have offered assistance, "and almost none have offered what America has so often provided: money."
David Horowitz's Favorite Moonbat Topic: Horowitz
A Sept. 1 post by Andrew Walden on Moonbat Central, the blog of David Horowitz's DiscoverTheNetwork.org, tries to disassociate conservatives from Repent America, the group who's blaming gays for Hurricane Katrina:
So what is the real difference between them and the left-wing MoonBats? There is none. ... But their agenda is clear: they are another example of national socialist Moonbats who are trying to sew confusion amongst conservatives and Republicans in order to prepare the ground for a new version of Ross Perot or Pat Buchannan’s third-party campaign. Such a third-party “paleocon” candidate is the necessary prerequisite for Democratic victory in 2008.
Walden might have made a more persuasive case if another branch of his boss' empire hadn't embraced the leader of Repent America a few years back. A March 14, 2001 article on Horowitz's FrontMageMag.com by Dan Flynn cited Michael Marcavage, now head of Repent America, as a prime example of "censorship of conservative ideas" on college campuses:
Criminalizing Dissent Temple University Senior Michael Marcavage sued his school in the fall of 2000 for violating his First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment Rights. After hearing that there would be a school-sponsored performance of Corpus Christi (a play that depicts Jesus as a promiscuous homosexual), Marcavage organized a counter-event during his junior year that was to feature gospel singers, speakers, and a play that depicted Jesus in a more positive light. Although Marcavage didn't seek to censor the play that he found offensive, the school did censor his event. After informing him that he would not be allowed to hold his event, Marcavage alleges that he was assaulted by university administrators who had him involuntarily committed to Temple University Hospital's psychiatric ward. Hospital records show that an administrator signed the paperwork to commit Marcavage but doctors found nothing wrong with the junior and released him.
Wanna rethink that opposition to Marcavage's commitment, guys?
