NewsBusters Dishonestly Attacks Poll Topic: NewsBusters
Two Feb. 28 NewsBusters posts referencing a CBS News poll showing record-low approval ratings for President Bush, by Brent Baker and Rich Noyes (Baker's post was repeated as a CyberAlert item), both make a big deal of how the poll, in Noyes' words, "sampled a much higher percentage of Democrats than Republicans" and implied that this was yet another example of liberal bias. Did it ever occur to Baker and Noyes why CBS would have a reason for doing a poll with that particular sampling other than its purported political bias?
Apparently not. The answer to why CBS did the poll the way they did comes to us from another MRC division, CNSNews.com, which published a March 1 column by Republican strategist Rich Galen that noted the following:
CBS had a sample of 1,018 respondents which they weighted to reflect 28 percent Republicans; 37% Democrats; and 34% Independents. Not likely voters, but adults in the American population.
In the general population, those who claim to be Democrats outweigh those who claim to be Republicans by 7 to 9 percentage points.
In other words, a poll that sampled an equal number of Republicans and Democrats would not be an accurate reflection of the general population. Any chance Baker and Noyes will impart that information to its readers? Don't count on it.
The New Meme Topic: NewsBusters
A March 1 NewsBusters post by Rich Noyes (which we somehow suspect will end up in tomorrow's CyberAlert) firms up the current dishonest MRC meme -- that the "liberal media" is responsible for speculation about civil war in Iraq.
Somehow, Noyes neglects to mention the fact that Fox News has done its share of civil war speculation -- even suggesting that it would be "a good thing" -- and MRC division CNSNews.com ran a Feb. 28 commentary by Daniel Pipes appearing to root for one.
NewsMax Headline Bias Alert Topic: Newsmax
An Associated Press article posted March 1 at NewsMax (but curiously carrying a March 2 date) boasts the headline "Senate Weakens USA Patriot Act." But the word "weaken" does not appear anywhere in the article. In fact, the article states that the law's revisions add "new protections for people targeted by government investigations." Additionally, the article notes that critics of the revised law "insisted the new protections were cosmetic."
Quote of the Day Topic: Newsmax
Throwing his hat in the ring for Slantie candidacy is NewsMax columnist Barrett Kalellis, who writes in a Feb. 28 column purporting to explain "What Straights Think About Gays":
But that gets to the heart of the question. As a hetero, how can I identify with this situation [of the central relationship conflict in the gay-cowboy movie "Brokeback Mountain]? More importantly, why would I want to? I care no more about the love life of homosexuals than I do about the mating habits of aardvarks or why female praying mantises bite the heads off their male suitors. While these may be interesting as points of study, they have no relevance to my life.
Selective Outrage on Rooting for Iraq Civil War Topic: NewsBusters
In a March 1 NewsBusters post, Mark Finkelstein asks, "Is Chris Matthews rooting for civil war in Iraq? It's hard to interpret his words otherwise." He adds that Matthews was "hoping for the worst."
But Finkelstein ignores that folks such as Fox News (which asked "All-Out Civil War in Iraq: Could It Be a Good Thing?") and conservative-leaning Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes (in a Feb 28 commentary at NewsBusters sister site CNSNews.com) are also apparently rooting for an Iraq civil war. Pipes claims that an Iraq civil war "would be a humanitarian tragedy but not a strategic one," noting that it would "[r]educe coalition casualties in Iraq" and "[r]educe Western casualties outside Iraq."
Sexpidemic!: The Sequel Topic: WorldNetDaily
You knew it was coming: an issue of WorldNetDaily's Whistleblower magazine dedicated to a purported epidemic of teacher-student sex. Sadly, WND doesn't use the "sexpidemic" word they stuck on previous articles on the topic; rather, it's called "Predators."
Citing a "seemingly endless stream of reports of female school teachers having sex with their underage male students" in a March 1 promo article, WND claims that "a recent, federally funded study concludes the problem of school teachers molesting students dwarfs in magnitude the clergy sex-abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church." The article later elaborates in a way that undercuts the claim: "ccording to a major 2004 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education – by far the most in-depth investigation to date – millions of children might be victims of sexual misconduct by teachers or other public school employees." (Italics ours.)
Presumably, the magazine will reproduce WND's list of alleged teacher-student sex offenses -- which, as we've previously explained, was lifted from a gossip website and includes cases at least 15 years old. And, presumably, WND will not explain why it focuses only on female teacher-male student sex.
And it's probably also safe to presume that WND will offer no more evidence that this is any more of a problem than the alleged "war on Christmas" -- which, as we've documented, was largely generated by press releases from conservative legal organizations that outlets such as WND cheerfully regurgitated.
ConWeb Splits on Port Deal Topic: The ConWeb
The ConWeb's opinions on the Dubai Ports World deal to operate at six U.S. ports has splintered.
NewsMax, after some initial ambiguity and despite individual columnists agitating against it (such as Geoff Metcalf and John LeBoutillier), is coming out for the deal. NewsMax's position was apparently solidified when Rush Limbaugh came out in favor of the deal, as described in a Feb. 27 article. Having thus received its marching orders, NewsMax is engaging in its usual tactics, like a Feb. 28 article highlighting a talking head claiming that Dubai Ports World will operate only nine of the 300 U.S. port terminals, adding, "Only in the American press does a 3 percent share of operations constitute 'taking control.'"
The Media Research Center hasn't picked an apparent direction as a whole, but its NewsBusters bloggers appear to be leaning toward supporting the deal, with posts such as highlighting CNN's Lou Dobbs' claim that DPW is trying to silence him, a false claim by Noel Sheppard that the "Antique Media and the Left" are the only ones who care about the issue and a lecture from Sheppard claiming that because "there have now been numerous revelations about who actually controls security at these ports regardless of the management, it might have been beneficial for all concerned if [Associated Press reporter Ted] Bridis [who did some early reporting on the issue] had done a little more research on this subject in order to impart a more accurate reflection of the facts that was less inflammatory."
Refuting Sheppard's claim about the "Antique Media and the Left" is WorldNetDaily, which has been highly critical of the deal. Between Les Kinsolving pointing out the UAE's links to the 9/11 terrorists to citing a conservative poll to Joseph Farah denouncing President Bush as either "tone deaf or brain dead" (but will Farah denounce his ol' buddy Rush for supporting it?) to Jerome Corsi listing presidential brother Neil Bush's links to the UAE (though we don't recall Neil Bush's past peccadilloes being considered newsworthy by WND before), WND has made its opposition quite clear.
The Evil Marketing of 'The Marketing of Evil' Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Feb. 28 WorldNetDaily article promoting WND managing editor David Kupelian's book "The Marketing of Evil" -- which cited excerpts from "hate mail" he claims to have received -- Kupelian is quoted as saying that "what's so interesting about all this hate mail is that to date, no one has actually identified a single factual error in 'The Marketing of Evil.' All they can do is get upset and call me a Nazi or a devil or Ann Coulter. But they can't point to where I'm wrong." (Italics his.)
That's because Kupelian's book isn't about facts; it's about assertions and conclusions, which are opinion and therefore not objectively true or not true. For Kupelian to claim that there have been no identified factual errors in the book is disingenous because that's not the point of the book.
The article also employs another disingenous technique -- quoting only the most extreme examples of criticism of Kupelian to present them as representative of all criticism. WND has done this before in regard to Kupelian's book, as we've noted. We've critiqued a Kupelian essay that later appeared in his book, and the fact that we did not suggest that he burn in hell or resort to similar inflammatory rhetoric would presumably warrant a response from Kupelian -- yet we've heard nothing. (Anytime you're ready, David, just drop us a line.)
Isn't using such disingenuous techniques to market Kupelian's book just as evil as what Kupelian writes about?
Klein's Labeling Bias, Part 2 Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Feb. 28 WorldNetDaily article by Aaron Klein uses the word "leftist" seven times (not including the headline), continuing his practice of labeling "leftist" groups but not "rightist" ones.
Then and Now Topic: NewsBusters
Back in September, NewsBusters' Mark Finkelstein was defending ex-FEMA director Michael Brown from Katie Couric:
Chorus-leader Couric first grilled FEMA Director Michael Brown. Criticized about the lack of law and order, Brown said that by Sunday there would be 30,000 National Guard troops on the ground. That wasn't good enough for Katie, who after saying she didn't want to "belabor the point" went on to do just that, carping that "it seems like a pretty long lag time."
Katie then turned to the lack of funding to improve the levee system. "Why weren't federal funds allocated for that?"
Brown: "with all due respect to you, I'm focused on life-saving efforts now."
A clenched-jaw Couric cut him off rudely: "but that might have saved lives, Mr. Brown."
If you look in the dictionary next to 'disgruntled', expect to find a photo of former FEMA Director Michael Brown. As the Today show graphic read, "Michael Brown Blames White House," and NBC Evening News host Brian Williams was there to record every embittered word, with nary a nuanced question that might have probed Brown's account of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.
[...]
Again, you might have thought that a reporter trying to present a balanced picture would have asked Brown how much of the responsibility could rightly be laid at his own feet. But Williams was content to let Brown cast all the blame at the White House.
What changed? Brown is no longer a Bush administration employee, and in criticizing the White House, he's violating the conservative dogma (apparently held by Finkelstein) that the Bush administration does no wrong.
Falsely Defending 'Intelligence Summit' Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Feb. 27 WorldNetDaily article by Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa Lappen asserts that allegations that Michael Cherney (misspelled here as "Cheney"), the "industrial magnate and Israeli philanthropist" who helped fund the "intelligence summit" featuring Bill Tierney's interpretation of tapes featuring Saddam Hussein, has ties to the "Russian Mafiya" have been "already disproved and dismissed." The only evidence presented to support the claim is a link to a Jan. 11 FrontPageMag article -- also written by Ehrenfeld and Lappen -- purporting to make that case. But Ehrenfeld and Lappen fall short here too, with claims such as "Over the next several years, courts, law enforcement agencies and even Interpol exonerated Cherney of all rumored illegal activities across Europe and Israel" unsupported by any actual evidence to back them up and alleged "massive official documentation proving Cherney’s innocence" not specifically cited.
The FrontPageMag article also notes that Cherney was to receive "the first Distinguished Service Award granted by the Intelligence Summit." As National Review's Byron York noted, Cherney's organization, the Michael Cherney Foundation, is listed as the Summit's only "Platinum Sponsor," meaning Cherney contributed at least $100,000 to the event. So essentially, he was paying to give himself an award, a fact unnoted by Ehrenfeld and Lappen.
The writers also claim that the "intelligence community" was "attempting to discredit this conference." Yet conference participants have engaged in credibility-damaging behavior, such as Tierney's claim that God has helped him find purported weapons sides in Iraq, as we've noted and even conservatives such as NR's York also pointed out.
This, incidentally, is the first mention of Tierney and the "intelligence summit" in a WND article.
UPDATE: This info has been added to our article on Tierney.
Klein's Labeling Bias Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Feb. 27 WorldNetDaily article by Aaron Klein repeatedly calls groups such as the Israel Policy Forum and Americans for Peace Now as "leftist," but it describes the American Israel Public Affairs Committee only as "powerful" despite its apparent conservative leanings (which it denies).
This follows a pattern we've observed of Klein regularly using terms such as "liberal" or "leftist" -- but rarely "conservative" or "rightist" -- in his Israel-related articles.
A search of the WND archives shows that the word "conservative" appears in only seven Klein articles, and he is applying that word to a political figure in only one apparent instance, a reference to "Conservative Rabbi Avraham Reisner" in a July 2004 article. But in this case, he may also be referring to the Conservative branch of Judaism, as described by Klein in an April 2005 article. The word "rightist" appears in only one Klein article, in a quote.
The word "leftist," meanwhile, shows up in 33 WND articles; an example is a Jan. 4 article that describes one group as "an extreme leftist Israeli organization" and a politician as a "[f]ar-leftist Israeli lawmaker."
Of course, given Klein's history of whitewashing the violent history of the extremists he lovingly covers, such behavior is not surprising.
P.S. In his mention of AIPAC, Klein also neglected to note the fact that a Defense Department analyst pleaded guilty to giving classified information to AIPAC lobbyists.
False Equivalence Alert Topic: NewsBusters
A Feb. 24 NewsBusters post by Ken Shepherd (expanded upon at the MRC's Free Market Project) asks why the media reported the connections Enron officials had with the Bush administration when the company collapsed, while it paid less attention to the fact that the CEO of scandal-ridden Fannie Mae "served in the Clinton White House and was speculated to be on presidential hopeful John Kerry’s short list for Treasury secretary."
Ummm ... because the Bush administration was in office at the time of the Enron collapse, while the Clinton admininistration has been out of office for five years and discussion of Kerry's cabinet picks is moot because he didn't win the election?
New Article: Some Conservatives Are More Equal Than Others Topic: The ConWeb
The ConWeb ignores doubts -- raised by their fellow conservatives -- about the credibility of Bill Tierney's claims about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. Read more.
Preview: Bad WND Reporting Topic: WorldNetDaily
We'll have a detailed report on this next week, but we wanted to note this Feb. 22 WorldNetDaily article by Joseph Farah purporting to be an "analysis of Justice Department statistics." This article is a mess. it doesn't support the claims Farah makes -- specifically, that "the most likely victim of a hate crime in the U.S. is a poor, young, white, single urban dweller," emphasis on "white" -- the headline implies something the article doesn't support, and Farah ignores statistics from the federal study he cites that don't support his predermined conclusion, like any mention of sexual orientation as a motivating hate-crime factor.
In other words, it's basically the same junk journalism WND engages in. Stay tuned.
