Meaningless Poll of the Day Topic: Newsmax
NewsMax is polling its readers about the idea of Katie Couric as CBS Evening News anchor, as if 1) its polls mean something, and 2) biased, unreliable opt-in polling plays a role in the hiring process. Oddest question: In asking "who would you prefer be CBS News anchor?" NewsMax serves up the options of Couric, Bill O'Reilly, and Lou Dobbs.
Just in case there was any doubt about how NewsMax wants its readers to vote in this poll -- particularly on the question "Do you believe Katie Couric is fair or biased as a journalist?" -- a companion article by Jim Meyers regurgitates a Media Research Center compendium of Couric's alleged liberal bias. As a bonus, Meyers cites a NewsBusters poll on Couric's purported bias without telling readers that the opt-in poll is just as unreliable and meaningless as the poll NewsMax is doing.
WND Hearts Olmert? Topic: WorldNetDaily
Could this be? Nice things about Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert appearing in a WorldNetDaily article?
It's true: In an April 5 commentary, Michael Evans does with WND Jerusalem report Aaron Klein won't, not only describing Olmert's background but explaining the Kadima party's plan to establish a permanent border for Israel with or without the cooperation of the Palestinians.
It's telling, however, that Evans' article is relegated to WND's commentary page, while Klein's much more biased articles are presented as "news."
New Article: Even More Less-Than-Wholeness Topic: WorldNetDaily
Why does it matter that WorldNetDaily's Diana Lynne is being dishonest about the Terri Schiavo case? Because dishonesty is the fuel that runs WND. Read more.
Lack of Disclosure Watch Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily scores a two-fer today in failing to disclose its personal or business interests in the subjects it covers:
-- WND promoted the latest Minuteman border-watching campaign while not disclosing that WND editor Joseph Farah is a member of the group.
-- WND reported on a meaningless NCAA basketball bracket-style presidential poll that has Tom Tancredo in the lead without disclosing that it is publishing Tancredo's new book.
A Question for the MRC Topic: Media Research Center
If Chris Matthews really is the unrepentant, biased liberal the MRC loves to portray him as, why was Matthews the first major media person with whom Tom DeLay broke the news that he was resigning from Congress?
CNS Buries, Spins DeLay's Corruption Links Topic: CNSNews.com
Two April 4 CNSNews.com articles by Susan Jones about the resignation of Tom DeLay from Congress were less than eager to note DeLay's links to congressional corruption scandals -- and then, when it was broached, to repeat DeLay's spin on it.
The first Jones article appeared to take offense that "a report posted on the Washington Post website Tuesday described DeLay as 'succumbing to scandal.'" Jones then told the tale of DeLay's indictment with a barely disguised attack on the legal process:
A Texas grand jury -- one of several called to hear the evidence against him -- finally indicted DeLay last year on conspiracy and money laundering charges stemming from campaign fund-raising technicalities. A Texas judge later threw out the conspiracy charge.
Jones then inserts a little more pro-DeLay, anti-Democrat spin: "Abramoff has not publicly accused DeLay of corruption, nor has his former aide Rudy. But the congressman's close ties to those two men has given Democrats all the political ammunition they need." As we've previously noted, CNS regularly portrays Democrats as being motivated only by the prospect of political gain.
In Jones' second article, she puts DeLay's attack on the guy he's no longer running against ahead of any mention of corruption, waiting until the ninth paragraph to bring it up. Jones also repeated without challenge that "DeLay said the Left has tried to brand him with guilt by association."
Ironically, in a separate April 4 article -- which repeats criticism by Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson of Rep. Cynthia McKinney over an altercation with Capitol Police -- Jones repeats Peterson's guilt-by-association attack against McKinney:
He said McKinney could have defused the situation by apologizing for not wearing the special pin that identifies members of Congress. "Instead, she held a press conference flanked by known racists such as Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, and members of the NAACP.
"The real racists here are Cynthia McKinney and her racially divisive supporters," Peterson said.
Myers also states: "The Clintons had used the White House to court fund-raisers, putting up political supporters in the Lincoln Bedroom. The Bushes, on the other hand, have given overnight privileges only to dignitaries, family members and longtime friends." In fact, the Bush Lincoln Bedroom guest list between 2000 and 2004 included "at least nine of his biggest campaign fund-raisers," according to the Associated Press.
Myers claims that the "Hillary Clinton supporters" at Vanity Fair are "attacking" Kessler's book as a "valentine" to Mrs. Bush filled with "fluffball quotes" and "dubious factoids." Myers hasn't exactly proved VF wrong here; the fact that NewsMax is selling the book is more evidence of that. And Myers' claim that VF is a seething den of "Hillary Clinton supporters" is undercut by the fact that, as NewsMax itself reported, VF published the first excerpts from Edward Klein's dubious Hillary-bashing book that NewsMax loved so much.
Checking In With Cinnamon Topic: NewsBusters
Remember back in January, when we profiled Cinnamon Stillwell, the NewsBusters contributor who had defended right-wing Jewish extremist and convicted bombing plotter Earl Krugel? (Read about it here and here.) We thought we'd check in to see what she's up to these days.
Not much beyond the usual right-wing causes, it turns out. But interestingly, she hasn't posted anything at NewsBusters since around the time we posted the profile of her.
Oddly, though, she has linked to our posts about her on the "media" page of her personal website. But she hasn't responded to it anywhere that we know of.
Who's Cynical? Topic: NewsBusters
In an April 2 NewsBusters post bashing Newsweek for daring to examine the issue of illegal immigration from the perspective of "the plight of illegal immigrants," Mark Finkelstein wrote that it was "cynical" for Newsweek to observe that CNN anchor Lou Dobbs' ratings have gone up with his crusade on the issue.
But just three days earlier, NewsBusters' Matthew Sheffield was making a similarly "cynical" observation about MSNBC host Keith Olbermann's increased ratings amid his battle with Bill O'Reilly. The headline on Sheffield's post: "Olbermann Cashes in on Feud with O'Reilly."
NewsBusters clearly has no problem peddling such alleged cynicism. So why take offense when Newsweek does it?
Flashback: When the ConWeb Loved McKinney Topic: The ConWeb
The ConWeb's has thrown its reporting energies into documenting Rep. Cynthia McKinney's alleged hitting of a Capitol Police officer. CNSNews.com has generatedthreearticles out of it; WorldNetDaily has printed an article and a column by Les Kinsolving on it. (NewsMax has thus far run only Associated Press articles on the incident.)
But there was a time when the ConWeb was respectful of McKinney's opinions -- of course, she was bashing Al Gore at the time. Prior to the 2000 presidential election, McKinney assailed Gore for having a low "Negro tolerance level" because "I've never known him to have more than one black person around him at any given time." As ConWebWatch previously noted, NewsMax soberly reported McKinney's statement, while CNS and WND didn't find it offensive enough to note.
Ironically, WND's Kinsolving now cites her Gore statement as evidence that she's "looney," an assessment we could find no record of Kinsolving making at the time.
Morgan Falsely Defends Kaloogian Topic: WorldNetDaily
A March 31 WorldNetDaily column by Melanie Morgan tosses out several red herrings and misleading claims to defend her buddy at Move America Forward, Howard Kaloogian.
Morgan claims that in during the 2004 presidential election, "mainstream media anchors and reporters openly expressed their contempt for Bush and laid bare their adoration for the liberal Democrats Al Gore and John Kerry," but she offers no evidence of it. Then she claimed that "the media is back to smear campaigns against Republicans" -- right before she smeared Francine Busby, the Democratic candidate in the California House race for the seat of disgraced Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, as an "extremely liberal anti-war Democrat" and an "abortion militant." Kaloogian is one of 14 candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the seat; Morgan says only that Kaloogian is "on the other side" of Busby and fails to mention the other 13 candidates.
Morgan then delves into the meat of her column -- portraying the mini-controversy over a picture on Kaloogian's website labeled as having been taken in Baghdad, when in fact it was taken in Istanbul, as "an innocent mistake" turned into an "international firestorm" by a "liberal news media ... determined to destroy him."
That's not quite how it went down. Kaloogian has offered shifting and dubiousexplanations for the photo mixup. It has further been revealed that Kaloogian has claimed at least three fake endorsements for his campaign, as well as solicited business for his GOP consulting firm while visiting Iraq.
Morgan is silent on those last allegations, preferring instead to portray Kaloogian as "a fine, honorable and honest man" (italics hers) who is "surging in the polls."
Less-Than-Wholeness, Part 5 Topic: WorldNetDaily
Diana Lynne's bias never stops.
In her March 31 WorldNetDaily article on the case, Lynne's failure to present the Terri Schiavo case fairly continues. She resumes her quest to paint Michael Schiavo as a vicious monster who "seeks to settle some scores" in his new book, "incessantly taking swipes at the Schindlers' faith and ridiculing pro-life advocates"; by contrast, the Schindler family is portrayed as using its book to "introduce us to the fun-loving and compassionate Terri Schiavo, comparatively few people had the pleasure of knowing prior to her injury than after." Lynne writes that the Schindlers offer "more details they consider incriminating evidence against Michael Schiavo," but she doesn't give Michael Schiavo a chance to respond to them.
Lynne also writes that Michael Schiavo "echoes the conspiracy theory espoused by one of his attorneys, Jon Eisenberg, in his book, "Using Terri," disingenuously adding: "A WND analysis published earlier this week exposed the hypocrisy of the book's central theme and the lack of documentation supporting it." No, it didn't; Lynne never disproved Eisenberg's claim that the religious right used the Schiavo case for its own ends. (Lynne might also have noted that she herself wrote that flawed "analysis.")
This article is accompanied by another unbylined article (but more than likely written by Lynne, who is currently WND's point person on the Schiavo case and related issues) about the Schindler family's foundations "devoted to activism on behalf of the disabled." In it is the line: "Bobby Schindler said people should read Diana Lynne's book." In other words, it's official confirmation that Lynne has taken sides and can't be trusted to tell this story fairly.
That tells you all you need to know about Lynne's lack of perspective and her refusal to offfer a fair and complete portrayal of the Schiavo case.
Today's Less-Than-Wholeness Topic: WorldNetDaily
In today's WorldNetDaily Schiavo article du jour, Diana Lynne tears herself away from explicitly smearing Michael Schiavo long enough to detail a case in Zimbabwe, which she describes has having "eerie parallels" to the Terri Schiavo case.
The main parallel we're seeing, though, is Lynne's one-sided treatment of the story. Lynne describes the victim, a 42-year-old man who was struck by lightning eight years ago and who died in December 2005, as "a perfect double for actor Kiefer Sutherland." As in her Schiavo coverage, Lynne focuses on only one side of the story, that of the man's mother; nobody on the other side -- the man's wife or his doctors -- was interviewed for the article, and the mother's demonization of them is accepted unquestioningly by Lynne.
A quick Googling turned up no objective account of this story elsewhere (here's a non-objective one), making it next to impossible to fact-check. Perhaps that was the point of digging up a story from Zimbabwe.
Smearing Al Gore Never Gets Old Topic: NewsBusters
A March 30 NewsBusters post by Tim Graham complaining that "No one requires Hillary to apologize when she clumsily hops over the line of rhetorical civility," Graham made the following claim: "We saw in the 2000 election cycle that one way national reporters protected Democratic presidential contender Al Gore was to ignore wild or embarrassing things he said in public." As evidence, Graham linked to a March 1999 MRC item complaining that "Al Gore's gotten a free pass on gaffes."
First, March 1999 is not quite the "2000 election cycle." Second, Graham ignores that by the time we actually reached the 2000 election cycle, some of the items of the MRC's list were routinely bandied about in the media. Third, some of Gore's alleged "gaffes" weren't gaffes at all -- something we don't recall the MRC ever reporting to its readers.
One of the alleged gaffes is Gore's statement that "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."We can go back to the very first ConWebWatch article in April 2000 for proof that it's actually true, confirmed by the "father of the Internet" himself, Vinton Cerf.
Also on the list "Gore told Time's Karen Tumulty he and Tipper were the inspiration for Erich Segal's novel Love Story." Also essentially true -- author Erich Segal confirmed that Gore was a model for the lead character -- but the MRC's depiction of the claim is false. Gore wasn't bragging about it; according to the New York Times, Gore said he had heard that author Erich Segal had said that and that was "all I know."
Additionally, the MRC claimed that Gore said "he was a farm boy who plowed steep hillsides with mules." As Bob Somerby points out, that's true, too, confirmed by arguably hostile Regnery-published Gore biographer Bob Zelnick.
If one is going to make accusations of bias, it helps to have facts on hand. In this case, Graham and the MRC don't.
NewsBusters' Scarf Obsession Topic: NewsBusters
Poor Mark Finkelstein. He really does seem to think that anyone wearing a black-and-white scarf is expressing solidarity with the Palestinians.
He did it last December, when Matt Lauer wore one. And he does it again in a March 30 NewsBusters post, in which a college student being interviewed on TV was shown wearing one. The post is categorized as "humor," but Finkelstein seems deadly serious about the alleged threat: In the post's comments thread, he noted: "I don't think there's any doubt this is a Palestinian scarf. What wraps it up for me is the fringe, which is very typical of the keffiyeh."
In looking for a conspiracy, Finkelstein seems to ignore the idea that black-and-white is a popular color combination and, more often than not, a scarf is just a scarf.