Double Standard on Poll-Bashing Topic: NewsBusters
An April 21 NewsBusters item by Brad Wilmouth noted:
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann highlighted a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll which shows President Bush's approval rating "plummeting even further" and, as the Countdown host observed, "for the first time in the Bush presidency," the President's approval rating among Republicans has fallen below 70 percent. This straight citing of Fox News contrasts with Olbermann's regular attacks on FNC with nearly every mention of the network on his show.
Meanwhile, we're wondering why the MRC hasn't torn apart this Fox News poll the way it did a CBS poll in March that showed a similar low rating for Bush? Does the MRC believe that since Fox News has come up with the same number, it must be true?
Wilmouth also repeats Brent Baker's silly claim that Olbermann "mocked" non-journalist Tony Snow's "journalistic integrity."
WND Still AWOL on Harris Implosion Topic: WorldNetDaily
Last month, we noted that WorldNetDaily had basically ignored news of Katherine Harris' swiftly imploding Senate campaign (though it did serve up an outside link to the story at one point). That record remains unchanged: Even with the exposure of the astronomical cost of a dinner Harris had with a scandal-plagued defense contractor (and the relatively miniscule donation to a fundamentalist Christian ministry Harris made to make up for it), WND has yet to do an original news article on Harris' problems.
'Journalistic Integrity'? Topic: NewsBusters
In an April 20 NewsBusters post on MSNBC's Keith Olbermann's report on the possibility that Fox News' Tony Snow is under consideration to be the next White House press secretary, Brent Baker wrote that Olbermann "ridiculed the journalistic integrity of Snow and FNC."
Snow hasn't worked as a journalist for years, if ever; Snow's bio describes his previous newspaper work as being either an editorial writer or a columnist -- neither of which is exactly journalism. Nor is being host of Fox News Sunday. Since Snow has apparently never been an actual journalist -- which, in the general sense of the term, involves news-gathering, not opinion-mongering -- he has no "journalistic integrity" to ridicule.
As for Fox News' "journalistic integrity," Media Matters will tell you lots of things that Baker won't.
UPDATE: Baker's item is repeated in the MRC's CyberAlert.
Farah Peddles Misleading Claim Topic: WorldNetDaily
In an April 13 WorldNetDaily column, Joseph Farah repeats the claim, made by Bob Carter in a London Telegraph article, that "global temperatures have not increased at all in the last eight years." Farah claims that Carter's article "demonstrat[es] oh, so clearly, that all this global-warming rhetoric is just so much hot air."
Not exactly. As Media Matters points out, Carter's claim is misleading. While no year since 1998 -- the hottest year on record -- has been as hot, five different years since 1998 (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005) have seen warmer temperatures than any year preceding 1998, and 2005 is the second-hottest year on record.
For good measure, Farah repeats the misleading claim in an April 19 Al Gore-bashing column, claiming that "the central thesis behind all this scaremongering is false!" Of course, Farah has a deeply personal hatred of Gore (as witnessed by the legal defense fund he plugs at the end of the column, a fund he has thus far declined to be transparent about), so any pronouncements in that direction may safely be dismissed as driven by animus.
Mostert: Please Feed Me Government Propaganda Topic: Accuracy in Media
In an April 19 Accuracy in Media column -- a column sprinkled with CAPITALIZED WORDS, as demonstrated by its headline, "Why the American Media No Longer Even Knows HOW To Report 'NEWS'" -- Mary Mostert issues many opinions about news reporting on the Iraq war and journalism in general. For instance, she claims that the news media "simply do not know what news IS nor have they ever been taught how to report it. Instead, they have been trained from elementary school through journalism school how to report their opinions – not facts." She further claimed without evidence that the war is "reported largely from a protected hotel in Baghdad." Mostert concludes: "If you want to know what the military is doing in Iraq, your best source of information is the Department of Defense or the various military websites maintained by troops IN Iraq."
That would be the same Department of Defense that claimed that Pat Tillman was killed in battle when in fact he was accidentially killed by his fellow troops. And it's part of an administration that has undeniably misled Americans about the nature of the Iraq threat before the war.
We've written about Mostert before, noting her previous embrace of dubious facts.
More Disclosure! Topic: WorldNetDaily
Is somebody at WorldNetDaily reading ConWebWatch? Could be, because for the second time in the past few days, WND has -- in a change from previous policy, as we've longdocumented -- properly disclosed the WND ties of the people it covers.
In an April 19 article, WND actually begins by introducing Craig Smith as a "WND author and columnist." The only flaw is that WND didn't identify Smith as head of Swiss America Trading, a major WND advertiser. Still, this is a big step up from earlier this month, when WND not only didn't disclose Smith's WND ties, it didn't disclose that one of Smith's Swiss America employees wrote the article.
Does this mean that WND has decided that it has some shred of journalistic decency after all, after years and years of abuse? For the sake of honest journalism, let's hope so.
The New Meme: "Anti-Bush" Pulitzers Topic: NewsBusters
An April 19 NewsBusters post by Greg Sheffield claims that this year's Pulitzer Prizes were "given to anti-Bush journalism." This is a presumed reference to the New York Times' James Risen and Eric Lichtblau winning for disclosing the Bush administration's secret, possibly illegal domestic surveillance program and the Washington Post's Dana Priest winning for exposing the CIA's secret interrogation sites around the world.
This is a talking point that NewsBusters has been harping on since the Pulitzers were announced. Rather than being bothered by such dubious actions, NewsBusters has abandoned its watchdog status and has gone into full partisan mode, defending the Bush administration:
-- Noel Sheppard wrote that "three of the recipients wrote stories about top-secret military information that conceivably compromised America’s War on Terror." Sheppard apparently has no evidence that they actually did.
-- Brent Baker wrote that the Pulitzers were given to "reporters who exposed -- and thus undermined -- secret anti-terrorism efforts." Again, no hard evidence was offered that anything was, in fact, "undermined."
Baker also beat up on Pulitzer winner Robin Givhan, "a Washington Post critic who mocked Vice President Cheney's outdoor apparel and ridiculed the supposed 1950s-era clothing worn by then-Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' kids." Is Baker suggesting that Cheney wasn't dressed "to operate a snow blower" when he was at Auschwitz? Well, no; apparently, merely saying it is offense enough, as Baker called it a "notorious hit piece." Baker also fails to mention Givhan's critiques of Democratic fashion, such as Cynthia McKinney's hair.
Author Bails on Own Book; Will WND? Topic: WorldNetDaily
Another strike against WorldNetDaily's favorite book: Even the guy who wrote "I've Always Been a Yankees Fan," a collection of purported Hillary Clinton quotes, isn't vouching for the authenticity of the quotes contained therein. Thomas Kuiper said on CNN that he "can't verify" that the quotes are "100 percent true."
What do think the chances are that WND will report this development to its readers? Of course, WND publishes books by felons and liars, so this may not be a deterrent.
Aaron Klein's Selective Memory Topic: WorldNetDaily
In an April 18 WorldNetDaily article on Jews celebrating Passover at "the Tomb of the Patriarchs -- the second holiest site to Judaism," Aaron Klein yet again rehashes the history of Hebron, the West Bank town where the tomb is located, without noting the 1994 massacre of Arabs at the tomb by Baruch Goldstein.
What plausible explanation does Klein have for this continued refusal to acknowledge a significant historical event? (That is, aside from his affinity for Kahane-linked right-wingers like Goldstein.)
Misleading Headline Alert Topic: Newsmax
An April 19 Associated Press article, as posted on NewsMax, has the headline, "Tom DeLay Conspiracy Charge Tossed Out." That's misleading; as the article itself states, what actually happened was that an appeals court upheld the dismissal of a conspiracy charge against Tom DeLay back in December. The other two charges against DeLay -- a money-laundering charge and another conspiracy charge -- still stand, as they have since they were filed.
New Article: The Masters of WorldNetDaily Topic: WorldNetDaily
What are the links between WND and an evangelist and radio mogul who has been accused of being a cult leader? Read more.
WND Embraces Dubious Clinton Quote Book Topic: WorldNetDaily
In recent weeks, WorldNetDaily has been heavily plugging a new book of Hillary Clinton quotes, titled "I've Always Been a Yankees Fan," which it sells in its store. The book's title claim, as described in a March 16 WND article:
How about the her claim, while running for the U.S. Senate in New York, about being a lifelong Yankees fan. Only problem – she grew up in Chicago rooting for the Cubs.
That's false; she's a fan of both the Yankees and the Cubs. As Media Matters points out, Clinton's Yankee fandom has been long documented.
WND also claims that the quotes are taken from "extensive, attributed sources." But Media Matters notes that chief among those "extensive, attributed sources" are numerous anti-Clinton tomes whose veracity is dubious at best and can be counted on to have a hostile, biased (and, therefore, possibly inaccurate) take on anything Clinton says. The book's introduction was supplied by professional Clinton-basher Dick Morris, which is another clue to the book's intent.
NewsMax Smears Zinni Topic: Newsmax
NewsMax defends the Bush administration by attacking its critics in an April 18 article:
Former CENTCOM Commander, Gen. Anthony Zinni - who has called for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign because of his alleged incompetence in running the Iraq war - admitted six years ago that he made the disastrous decision to have the U.S.S. Cole use the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling, where the ship was blown up by al Qaeda terrorists.
Worse still, at least one report indicates that Gen. Zinni may have played a role in an August 1998 leak that tipped off Osama bin Laden to an impending U.S. cruise missile attack - allowing the top terrorist to escape.
NewsMax makes no attempt in the article to respond to Zinni's criticism of Rumsfeld.
Re: Vaporizing Defenses Topic: WorldNetDaily
In an April 18 WorldNetDaily column, Rebecca Hagelin weighs in on the controversy over an Ohio research librarian, Scott Savage, allegedly being investigated for sexual harassment for recommending that David Kupelian's "The Marketing of Evil" and three other right-wing books for a student reading list. In response to one professor's claim that Kupelian's claim that "'the widely revered father of the "sexual revolution" has been irrefutably exposed as a full-fledged sexual psychopath who encouraged pedophilia.'" is "a factually untrue characterization of Dr. Kinsey and his work on every point," Reisman writes:
Excuse me, professor, but Judith Reisman, a Ph.D. researcher and world-renowned Kinsey expert, absolutely vaporizes your laughable defense of the mad sex scientist in her pioneering book "Kinsey: Crimes and Consequences."
(I'm suddenly reminded of Prince of Space repeatedly declaring, "Your weapons have no effect on me!")
However, as Poppy Dixon writes in a critique of Reisman's research:
The online-only Journal of Human Sexuality, sponsored by Leadership U (a spinoff of Campus Crusade for Christ), has published Reisman's essay, Kinsey and the Homosexual Revolution. The essay is comprised of 31 complex and leading questions, questions designed to prejudice the reader, questions like "...what if all of Kinsey's work was fraudulent, or worse?", and "...could not some American scientists teach pederasts and pedophiles techniques for sexually abusing children for 'science'?", and "Was Kinsey himself a closet homosexual, pedophile or pederast?"
The answer to these questions is "no," which is why they're posed as questions and not as statements. Though Dr. Reisman includes tables and footnotes, she offers no proof or support for the innuendo she directs at Kinsey. In fact, her "research methods" could call her own background into question.
The Kinsey Institute has also responded to Reisman's allegations.
Max Blumenthal has more on Reisman's obsession with Kinsey.
Hagelin might want to investigate Reisman's research methods before she continues to endorse her conservatively correct "findings."
NewsBusters Condones Death Threats? Topic: NewsBusters
An April 18 NewsBusters post by Noel Sheppard claims that MSNBC's Keith Olbermann "wrongly" named Michelle Malkin the winner of his daily "Worst Person in the World" segment for posting the names and phone numbers of University of California-Santa Cruz students who protested military recruiters on campus. Sheppard claimed that "What Keith conveniently failed to inform his viewers was that these phone numbers were actually part of a press release by the organization responsible for the protest," adding that "these names and phone numbers are still available at a number of left-wing websites."
While Sheppard fulminates about "the atrocious e-mail messages and threats that Malkin herself has been receiving all day for posting this previously made public information at her website," Sheppard does not condemn the death threats issued against the students as a result of Malkin posting the students' addresses.
