Topic: Accuracy in Media
How does Accuracy in Media's Cliff Kincaid respond to a black commentator making a reference to a "bow-tied white boy"? By calling in a white supremacist to comment on it. Read more >>
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
NEW ARTICLE -- Out There, Exhibit 55: Fighting Bigotry With Bigots
Topic: Accuracy in Media How does Accuracy in Media's Cliff Kincaid respond to a black commentator making a reference to a "bow-tied white boy"? By calling in a white supremacist to comment on it. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:22 PM EDT
WND's Cashill: Obama Didn't Write His Own Love Letters
Topic: WorldNetDaily A big part of anti-Obama conspiracy-mongering, as practiced by WorldNetDaily, is the ability to move goalposts as inconvenient facts render earlier conspiracies inoperative. For instance, as it became clear that Obama was born in America, Joseph Farah simply lied to people and insisted that neither he nor WND had ever suggested he wasn't. Now Jack Cashill is exhibiting the same behavior. Back in 2010 (h/t Media Matters), Cashill wrote a column essentially claiming that Obama made up the girlfriend he wrote about in his book "Dreams From My Father" and pushed the theory that the girlfriend in the book was actually the girlfriend of Bill Ayers, which of course dovetails with Cashill's discredited theory that Ayers wrote the book. A new Vanity Fair piece, however, shoots that theory out of the water. An excerpt from David Maraniss' upcoming book on Obama, it details with the woman Obama wrote about in his book. Obama also said the woman in the book was a "compression" of girlfriends, and the book itself explains that "[f]or the sake of compression, some of the characters that appear are composites of people I've known." So, having been thoroughly discredited and exposed for the desperate conspiracy-mongerer that he is, how did Cashill react to this news? By throwing a fit, of course. In a May 3 column, Cashill desperately likens Obama to James Frey, who infamously invented incidents in his memoirs: "Team Obama is as promiscuous with the facts as Frey. Obama and his muse appear to have created most, if not all, of the racial dramas related in 'Dreams.'" Never mind, of course, that Obama admitted in the book that some characters in the book are composites. While Cashill again portrays Ayers as Obama's "muse" for his book, Cashill doesn't address is now-discredited claim that the woman wrote about was actually Ayers' girlfriend. Cashill moved into shoot-the-messenger mode for his May 9 column, attacking Maraniss for "unforgivably sloppy reporting," even though it's clear Maraniss has done much more footwork on the subject of Obama's life than Cashill, who seems to be content sitting around at his Kansas City home concocting conspiracy theories. Still, Cashill whines: "I am hoping Maraniss corrects the record, but given his track record, we can take at face value nothing Maraniss says about Obama not even his story of the missing girlfriends." Cashill follows that up by demonstrating what happens when you sit around your house all day concocting conspiracy theories: they become increasingly detatched from reality.Thus, Cashill's May 14 column posits that Obama didn't write his own love letters. No, really:
Uh, yeah. This is what happens when you can't admit your own errors and choose to live a life of delusion -- you descend further and further down the rabbit hole. But crazy as it is, it's still primo Obama-hate, so WND will continue to publish Cashill's lunacy.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:24 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 1:25 PM EDT
At The MRC, The Truth Is A 'Smear'
Topic: NewsBusters Only at the Media Research Center would the truth be treated as a "smear." In a May 13 NewsBusters post, Noel Sheppard complains about "the [Washington] Post's recent smear of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney."That's a reference to the story about Romney's boarding-school years, in which he took part in a forced hair-cutting of a student suspected to be gay. Where, exactly, is the "smear"? Sheppard doesn't say. After all, not even Romney himself has challenged the accuracy of the story. The Post is standing by the story, with ombudsman Patrick Pexton pointing out that it talked to five different sources about the hair-cutting incident. In other words, Sheppard is attacking the Post for reporting the truth. But that's what we've come to expect from the MRC, whose "Tell the Truth!" campaign gets upset when the truth is told about conservative. Sheppard's snit fit was merely the silliest reaction among MRC and NewsBusters writers to the Romney story. A May 10 NewsBusters post by Tom Blumer endeavored to explain away Romney's behavior:
Blumer went on to assert that the story was "an archetypal example of why their newspaper publishing segment is in so much financial trouble" -- even though he, like Sheppard, could not identify any factual errors. Tim Graham rants in a May 10 NewsBusters post: "Did The WashPost Report a 5,000-Word Expose on Obama's Cocaine Use In the Last Cycle? Of Course Not." Graham conveniently ignores the fact that Obama disclosed his youthful drug use himself in his 1995 bio, "Dreams From My Father," while Romney made no such self-disclosure -- even as he quotes a Post article citing political experts who claim that "it is better for a politician to disclose his own transgressions, rather than be put on the defensive by revelations." This is what passes for "media research" at the MRC. Simply reporting inconvenient facts makes you guilty of "liberal bias."
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:05 AM EDT
Sue-Happy Defamer Klayman Defames Again
Topic: WorldNetDaily For a guy who makes his (meager) living these days suing people for defamation, Larry Klayman shows surprisingly little reticence in libeling people. Klayman shows this again in his May 12 WorldNetDaily column, in which he repeatedly smears and libels President Obama: He twice refers to Obama as the "mullah in chief," despite the fact that Obama is not a Muslim. He falsely accuses Obama of personally having "disclosed that so-called double agent CIA operatives infiltrated al-Qaida and uncovered an airline bomb plot." There is no evidence to support this claim. He insinuates that Obama is gay becuase he he endorsed gay marriage, writing: "If there is any humor to this – which there is not – one could ask, 'What’s a guy to do if he is married to Michelle?'" Maybe a libel lawsuit against Klayman might teach him some manners. Obama clearly has a case.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:44 AM EDT
Monday, May 14, 2012
MRC Thinks Lance Loud Was A Fictional Character
Topic: Media Research Center In the midst of his May 10 Media Research Center Culture & Media Institute column complaining that Hollywood "has long used its influence to purposely swing public opinion in favor of homosexuality," Paul Wilson writes: "In 1973, 'An American Family' was the first television show to feature an openly gay character (Lance Loud) 'as an integral member of family life.'" Loud was not a "character"; he was a real person who came out as gay during what's considered the first reality TV show, 1973's "An American Family." Aside from confusing real people with fictional characters, Wilson seems quite put out that Lance Loud was treated as "an integral member of family life." Can't have that, can we? That comports with the overall theme of Wilson's piece (not to mention the MRC's overall anti-gay agenda), in which any depictions of gays that are not outright hostile are "pro-homosexual," even if they commit the offense of treating gays like normal people. Wilson can't that either, apparently. Wilson also complains that the 1970s show "Soap," in which Billy Crystal played a gay character, was kept on the air "despite the fact that the show consistently lost money." Wilson falls into the trap others at the MRC have fallen into, buying into the fallacious assumption that profitability equals quality.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:52 PM EDT
Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch, Supersize WorldNetDaily Edition
Topic: WorldNetDaily
-- Mychal Massie, April 23 WorldNetDaily column
-- Burt Prelutsky, April 24 WND column
-- Joseph Farah, April 25 WND column
-- Erik Rush, April 25 WND column
-- Tom Tancredo, April 26 WND column
-- Roger Hedgecock, April 28 WND column
-- Monte Kuligowski, May 4 WND column
-- Tom Tancredo, May 4 WND column
-- Barry Farber, May 8 WND column
-- Erik Rush, May 9 WND column
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:01 PM EDT
Kessler Spins Away Romney Hair-Cutting Incident
Topic: Newsmax Mitt Romney got in trouble last week over a Washington Post story reporting that when he was attending an exclusive boarding school in the mid-1960s, he took part in an incident in which he cut the longish hair of a student who was presumed to be gay. That didn't look good for Romney. That means it was time for Romney fluffer extraordinare Ronald Kessler to do some damage control.And that's exactly what Kessler does in a spin-laden May 11 Newsmax column:
Of course, having "only the vaguest idea of what being gay meant" was more than enough license to lash out at anyone suspected to be so, especially in the mid-'60s when such things were simply not discussed in public and vagueness ruled the day. Kessler then segues into a story from a childhood friend of Romney's about what a "master" prankster he was. Way to furiously spin for your candidate there, Ron. UPDATE: Kessler does a two-in-one for his May 14 column, which has Romney adviser Bay Buchanan on to not only plug her book for shill for Romney as well.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:51 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, May 14, 2012 3:22 PM EDT
WND's Kovacs, Corsi Still Pursuing Silly Obama-Breitbart Death Conspiracy
Topic: WorldNetDaily Contrary to what we might have believed, it appears that WorldNetDaily's Joe Kovacs is not done embarrassing himself in trying to forward a conspiracy that President Obama is somehow involved in the death of a medical examiner who he thinks was involved in the autopsy on right-wing activist Andrew Breitbart. In a May 10 WND article, Kovacs declares that "Law-enforcement officials in California are now speaking out on the mysterious death of one of their own forensic technicians who died the day autopsy results were released for conservative powerhouse Andrew Breitbart." And what are they speaking out about? Kovacs' discredited suggestion that the man played a role in Breitbart's autopsy. Kovacs doesn't admit that he peddled that claim, of course -- that would be acting like a real journalist, which his involvement in promoting this silly conspiracy demonstrates he is not, despite his claim that he joined WND to report on the "real news." We apologize for suggesting Kovacs might have a sense of shame about what he "reports" for WND. It's clear he does not. We apologize. Meanwhile, one person we know has absolutely no sense of shame is Jerome Corsi. After writing a breathless article about how "the only eyewitness to the sudden death of media innovator and conservative activist Andrew Breitbart" had mysteriously disappeared,he followed up with a May 11 article going all conspiratorial about a purported "thick white band around Breitbart’s forehead." In the same article, Corsi shows off how deficient his reporting skills are. After beginning the article by touting how "On assignment from WND, Los Angeles private investigator Paul Huebl found" that missing witness, Corsi writes later in the article:
Nowhere is it indicated that Corsi ever asked Huebl how much TMZ paid him -- despite the fact that Huebl is on WND's payroll.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:25 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, May 14, 2012 1:28 AM EDT
Sunday, May 13, 2012
NewsBusters Comes to Bill Donohue's Defense, Doesn't Disclose MRC's Link To Him
Topic: NewsBusters In a May 10 NewsBusters post, Brad Wilmouth complained that "CNN host Piers Morgan mocked Catholic League president Bill Donohue's declaration that Catholicism demands that gay children should still be loved by their parents by suggesting in a later segment that he would have more respect for Donohue's opposition to gay marriage if he would just claim to 'hate' homosexuals instead of being 'wishy washy.'" Wilmouth failed to mention that his boss, Media Research Center chief Brent Bozell, is on the board of advisers of Donohue's Catholic League. That seems relevant to Wilmouth's defense of Donohue.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:20 PM EDT
Will WND's Kinsolving Stop Touting His Pulitzer Nominations?
Topic: WorldNetDaily Last week, Jonah Goldberg was busted for touting in a book jacket blurb for his new book as having "twice been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize." As MSNBC details, that bit of resume padding is utterly meaningless -- all it takes to be nominated for a is filling out an entry form and paying a $50 fee. But Goldberg is not the only right-winger who does that. The online bio of WorldNetDaily writer Les Kinsolving touts how he was "twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his commentary": The second came in 1973 from the newspaper he worked for -- though, ironically, not for the closest thing to real journalism he ever did: Early reporting on the Jim Jones-led People's Temple, a religious cult then based in San Francisco which later relocated to Guyana and years later staged a mass suicide of its members. Even if one were to take Kinsolving's Pulitzer nominations at face value, this means that he has done nothing Pulitzer-worthy for nearly 40 years. Of course, if you've seen Kinsolving's biased questioning, temper tantrums and rampant homophobia at WND, you knew that already. Will Kinsolving and WND be as chastened as Goldberg and remove that meaningless bit of puffery from Kinsolving's bio? Don't count on it.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:13 AM EDT
Saturday, May 12, 2012
CNS Baselessly Calls Federal Funding to Planned Parenthood 'Fungible'
Topic: CNSNews.com In a May 9 CNSNews.com article about federal Title X family planning money going to Planned Parenthood, Elizabeth Harrington writes:
Harrington offers no evidence that the Title X money to Planned Parenthood is "fungible." Instead, she is invoking a common right-wing argument against any federal funding for Planned Parenthood. That makes Harrington an ideologue, not a journalist. Anyone surprised?
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:22 PM EDT
WND's Unruh Fails Basic Fact-Checking, Reporting
Topic: WorldNetDaily WorldNetDaily's Bob Unruh, it seems, is incapable of doing any fact-checking on the articles he writes. In a May 10 WND article that simply parrots the claims of a right-wing student-rights group Foundation For Individual Rights in Education, asserting that Caleb Warner, a former student at the University fo North Dakota, "was found guilty of sexual assault by a campus court." In fact, as the Associated Press reported, Warner was found guilty by a school tribunal -- not a "campus court" -- of violations of the school's code of student life, not of "sexual assault." Warner was then kicked out of school. In other words, Unruh told two lies in a mere 10 words. That must be close to a record. To explain: Warner was accused by a fellow student of sexual assault. Warner insisted the sexual encounter with the woman was consensual. He was later cleared of criminal charges, and the is an outstanding warrant out for the woman for lying to the police. Warner tried to get the school to re-open the case, represented by FIRE, claiming that the college tribunal should be subject to the formality and due process a defendant receives in a court a law. The school declined. While there is clearly an issue here, it doesn't give license to Unruh to embellish things by inventing a "campus court" that could find people "guilty" of criminal acts. On top of that, it's clear that Unruh talked only to FIRE; no indication is made that he bothered to contact school officials. He's rather prone to that sort of thing. And WND wonders why nobody trusts them.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:16 AM EDT
Friday, May 11, 2012
Newsmax Baselessly Calls Obama Gay Marriage Stance A 'Debacle'
Topic: Newsmax Newsmax is carrying a front page headline that reads "Biden Apologizes to Obama for Gay Marriage Debacle": Obama's stance on gay marriage can be described many ways, but a "debacle" isn't one of them. That's just wishful thinking on Newsmax's part.
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:20 PM EDT
Quid Pro Quo: WND's Corsi Helps Arpaio Deflect Scandal
Topic: WorldNetDaily Jerome Corsi is in bed with Sheriff Joe Arpaio. (Sorry about the mental imagery.) Corsi has special access to the cold case posse "investigation" of President Obama's "eligibility" -- which he played a key role in instigating -- and he apparently has been made a secret "special deputy" by Arpaio. Therefore, anything Corsi says about Arpaio should be seen as one sees a press release: stenography that shold not be mistaken for "news." So when Arpaio was finally sued by federal officials for allegedly violating the civil rights of Latinos, he knew he could count on Corsi to serve as his stenographer and wingman. And that's exactly what Corsi does. It's a nice quid pro quo. Corsi's first response to the charges was a May 9 WorldNetDaily article providing Arpaio's response, repeating earlier unsubstantiated claims that there is "White House coordination in an effort to remove from him from office or discredit him before his investigation uncovers more about Obama’s past." Corsi spins even more furiously for Arpaio in a May 10 article featuring Arpaio in full attack mode, resuming his attack on one Arpaio critic, Randy Parraz, as a "radical agitator with a union-trained background as a Saul Alinsky 'organizer.'" Corsi tems with Arpaio to try and change the subject from Arpaio's alleged criminality with another May 10 article touting how the cold case posse "has pressed the director of the Selective Service System not to destroy any microfilm records that may yet exist of Obama’s 1980 draft registration form." Corsi repeats claims that Obama's Selective Service registration was a forgery because of alleged anomalies in the post office stamp that recorded it -- a claim that has largely been discredited. Expect Corsi to report on that around the time he answers the question of whether he is a "special deputy" of Arpaio.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:44 PM EDT
Shocker: MRC Finally Discovers Media Bias on Fox News!
Topic: NewsBusters Well, here's a rarity: the Media Research Center criticizes Fox News for exhibiting bias. Not the conservative bias for which it's infamous, of course, but for not hating gays enough. Jeffrey Mayer was indignant in a May 9 NewsBusters post:
Of course, the MRC has never criticized a Fox host for expressing their personal views when those views are conservative, as its "news" anchors regularly do. Mayer followed up with a May 10 post bashing MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell for highlighting Shepard's comments -- or, as Mayer tells is\t, "prais[ing] him for violating FNC's central value of remaining 'fair and balanced.'" Mayer doesn't actually watch Fox News, does he? Mayer also gave a pass to Fox News-operated website Fox Nation claiming that Obama was "declar[ing] war on marriage" with his support of same-sex marriage. That's apparently the kind of "fair and balanced" Fox coverage Mayer prefers.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:14 AM EDT
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