Topic: Horowitz
Sadly, No! catches FrontPageMag passing off a movie still as evidence of "a girl buried before being stoned to death for alleged sexual offenses."
Friday, September 28, 2007
Meanwhile ...
Topic: Horowitz Sadly, No! catches FrontPageMag passing off a movie still as evidence of "a girl buried before being stoned to death for alleged sexual offenses."
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:34 PM EDT
MRC, Maloney Still Can't Get Facts Right
Topic: NewsBusters As it did with Bill O'Reilly, the MRC again farms out its defense of right-wing hosts saying controversial things -- this time, Rush Limbaugh calling anti-war members of the military "phony soldiers -- to Radio Equalizer's Brian Maloney. In yet another overheated post, Maloney still can't get basic facts right. As he did in his defense of O'Reilly, Maloney insisted that Media Matters (my employer) is "George Soros-funded." Brian, honey: It's not. And yo, MRC guys: "Research" is in the name of your organization; try it sometime. Coping false claims from bloggers -- even if they are your "friend" -- is not "research."
Posted by Terry K.
at 5:50 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, September 28, 2007 5:51 PM EDT
MRC-Fox News Appearance Watch
Topic: Media Research Center A Sept. 28 appearance by the Media Research Center's Rich Noyes on "Fox & Friends" to tout the MRC's demand for CBS and CNN to apologize to Bill O'Reilly followed the template: no co-panelist with an opposing view, and the MRC is never identified as conservative. Further, "Fox & Friends" co-host Steve Doocy served as a cheerleader for Noyes' viewpoint, saying at one point: "CNN and CBS and MSNBC for that matter as well, why would they get in bed -- essentially, they've stopped reporting. You know, 'We're just going to be spoon-fed by this leftie outfit Media Matters.' " Ironically, he's saying that as he's being spoon-fed by a right-wing outfit.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:25 AM EDT
WND Ignores Full Story of Gun Law Poster Boy
Topic: WorldNetDaily A Sept. 27 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Unruh is headlined, "Ex-military to be denied gun ownership." That's wildly overstating the issue at hand; the article is about right-wing group Gun Owners of America's fight against a proposed law designed to put enforcement behind federal bans on gun ownership by those with certain mental health conditions. Nowhere does the article state that all "ex-military" would be "denied gun ownership" as the headline blares; rather, GOA head Larry Pratt is complaining that the law would bar gun ownership by "battle-scarred veteran[s] suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," without ever explaining why that's a bad thing. Unruh went on to uncritically relate a GOA-promoted anecdote:
In fact, Horasio Miller -- Unruh got his name wrong, apparently because GOA misspelled it -- is not unacquianted with law enforcement. From a June 23 article in the Harrisburg, Pa., Patriot-News:
So, contrary to the GOA's assertion, Miller did not lose his gun privileges merely for making a "stupid statement," and there was a clear reason he was "committed involuntarily." We found this information about Miller pretty easily, and even got Miller's name right. Why didn't Unruh?
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:02 AM EDT
Dick Morris Non-Disclosure Watch
Topic: Newsmax For the second time in a week, Dick Morris has written a NewsMax column attacking Hillary Clinton. And, as with his previous Hillary-bashing columns, neither of them disclose that Morris is actively working against Hillary's presidential campaign, which undermines his objectivity as a political analyst.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:39 AM EDT
Thursday, September 27, 2007
The
Topic: Media Research Center Taking a page from its Ann Coulter defense playbook, a Sept. 27 Media Research Center press release reports that Brent Bozell "is calling upon CBS and CNN to distance themselves from left-wing hate groups and apologize to Bill O’Reilly for their participation in the smear campaign against him, " further referencing "dishonest, far-left, hatemongering organizations such as Media Matters." So, if Media Matters (my employer) is a "left-wing hate group," doesn't that make the MRC a right-wing hate group? (Oh, and Bozell falsely claims that Media Matters is "funded by ultra-leftist billionaire George Soros." Doesn't anyone at the MRC do any actual research?)
Posted by Terry K.
at 6:09 PM EDT
NewsBusters' O'Reilly Silliness
Topic: NewsBusters Now that the Media Research Center has decided to defend Bill O'Reilly, it's time for the folks at NewsBusters to weigh in: -- Ken Shepherd plays the distraction card by claiming that Keith Olbermann "made a cryptic crack that could be taken to be racially insensitive, if not racist." Missing is how exactly name-checking "Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles" is racist. And shouldn't Shepherd be providing the entire Olbermann transcript so it can be put in its full context? -- Noel Sheppard endorses Tammy Bruce's defense of O'Reilly, while overlooking the irony of Bruce deploring "the left's" purported campaign to "demonize" those they disagree with while calling those she disagrees with "the Gestapo." -- Mark Finkelstein seems to think it was OK for Al Sharpton to defend O'Reilly without actually having listened to what O'Reilly said. -- Sheppard joins O'Reilly in warning against "factually inaccurate statements promulgated by leftwing websites and organizations," but he doesn't explain how O'Reilly's own words are "factually inaccurate."
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:45 PM EDT
Updated: Thursday, September 27, 2007 4:37 PM EDT
Brent Baker's Double Standard
Topic: Media Research Center A Sept. 27 NewsBusters post (and CyberAlert item) by Brent Baker attacked coverage "pushed by a far-left group to suppress Bill O'Reilly over a supposedly racist remark." That "far-left group" would be Media Matters (my employer). Baker claimed one TV story " failed to identify the ideology of Media Matters." If identifying a group's political ideology in the media is so important, why hasn't he or anyone at the MRC complained every time Fox News fails to identify an MRC spokesman who appears on it as conservative? Tim Graham certainly didn't demand it yesterday during his appearance on Neil Cavuto's show. Nor did Brent Bozell during his solo appearance on "Fox & Friends" earlier today. Despite calling Media Matters' documentation of O'Reilly's remarks a "left-wing smear" (as if one can be "smeared" by one's own words), Baker makes no attempt to discuss or refute O'Reilly's remarks, instead copying-and-pasting a post from Brian Maloney's conservative blog Radio Equalizer hyperbolically declaring it "by far the most disgusting attempt at taking words out of context we've seen in a long time." Maloney (and Baker) cite Juan Williams' defense and support of O'Reilly as some sort of mitigating factor when Williams has been a longtime defender of O'Reilly and thus not exactly unbiased on the issue. Maloney also muffs basic facts, for instance, falsely calling Media Matters "Soros-funded."
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:37 AM EDT
Updated: Thursday, September 27, 2007 1:53 PM EDT
NewsMax's Brennan Follows Anti-Global Warming Script
Topic: Newsmax In a Sept. 25 NewsMax column, Phil Brennan lashed out against the "mass hysteria over the alleged warming of the planet." He threw a bunch of numbers out to try and back it up. For instance:
The folks at RealClimate have taken the trouble to look at the facts as well, and they pretty much debunk Brennan's numbers. Don't expect Brennan to report that, of course.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:06 AM EDT
MRC-Fox News Appearance Watch
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center's Tim Graham appeared on the Sept. 26 edition of Fox News' "Your World with Neil Cavuto" to bash Katie Couric for having an opinion on the Iraq war that he disapproves of. As per usual, the MRC is not identified as conservative, but Fox News departed from typical procedure by pairing him up against Democratic strategist Kirsten Powers (who is identified as a Democratic strategist). The NewsBusters post promoting Graham's appearance happily quotes Graham saying that Couric "really sounds like... a light-headed Hillary [Clinton] and it sounds like she's trying to claw back into the good graces of MoveOn.org and maybe she's trying to rub the belly of the Buddha, Frank Rich, and everybody who attacked her for being some sort of Bush tool when she went to Iraq." And the MRC complains about Democrats spouting their "two minutes hate"?
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:20 AM EDT
Timmerman Continues Anti-Sulick Crusade
Topic: Newsmax Ken Timmerman is ramping up his war on Michael Sulick. In a Sept. 25 NewsMax column, he extensively quotes Republican Rep. Peter Hoekstra further bashing Sulick, who had resigned from the CIA in 2004 but recently returned as head of the CIA's clandestine service. As he did in his previous attack article on Sulick, Timmerman teased a Sulick-bashing anecdote from "my new book, 'Shadow Warriors: Traitors, Saboteurs, and the Party of Surrender,' which will be released in early November," but he offered no support for his claim. Presumably, Timmerman is waiting until he can sell some copies of said book until he reveals his purported evidence. Timmerman makes no apparent effort to contact Sulick for a response to his and Hoekstra's accusations, though he does reprint some praise of Sulick. Timmerman lets his bias nakedly show by noting that he asked a White House spokesperson "why President Bush would reappoint Sulick and Kappes to top CIA positions after they had tried to undermine Bush administration policies." It appears that Timmerman is a Bush dead-ender for whom disloyalty to a man is a graver offense than service to country. Timmerman doesn't address the possibility Sulick believed that to best serve the country, Bush administration policies perhaps needed to be undermined.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:06 AM EDT
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
'Squinting Two-Minute's Hate'
Topic: NewsBusters A Sept. 26 NewsBusters post by Matthew Balan noted that Bill Clinton "blasted 'disingenuous' Republicans for their 'feigned outrage' over MoveOn.org’s ad attacking General David Petraeus." The headline: "Bill Clinton's 'Squinting Two Minute's Hate' on CNN." Balan also made sure to call Clinton an "impeached former president" and claimed that "Clinton put on his best 'angry face' during the clip." It's unclear why Balan felt the need to put "Squinting Two Minute's Hate" in quote marks, since Balan doesn't indicate he's lifting that quote from anyone and, apparently, just made it up himself. And these are the folks who are so easily offended when someone says something mean about President Bush?
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:48 PM EDT
WND Still Doesn't Support Pro-Lifers' Libel Claim
Topic: WorldNetDaily A Sept. 25 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Unruh reported that "pro-life protesters who are opposing the opening of a mega-clinic abortion facility" in Illinois are filing a libel lawsuit against Planned Parenthood for "publicly accusing peaceful pro-life activists of having a record of advocating violence." Unruh repeats claims by the lawyer for the activists, that the acts of violence it cited are a "legal nullity" because the case in which they were cited -- a lawsuit by the National Organization of Women claiming that violent abortion protests fell under federal RICO organized crime statute -- was ruled against by the U.S. Supreme Court. As we noted when Unruh last reported on this, the fact that the RICO ruling does not necessarily mean the alleged incidents cited as support in that case didn't happen, as Unruh and the "pro-life activsts" appear to be suggesting. None of the specific claims made by Planned Parenthood against Joe Scheidler and his Pro Life Action Network are refuted by Unruh, Scheidler or his attorney. (Scheidler now runs the Pro-Life Action League, which is spearheading opposition to the Illinois clinic.) The Thomas More Society, the conservative legal group by whom, according to WND, the "lawsuit is being prepared," has not yet posted the lawsuit on its website. One would presume such a lawsuit would specifically refute those claims.
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:56 PM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 8:01 PM EDT
Kessler's Nose Is Growing
Topic: Newsmax Ronald Kessler begins his Sept. 26 NewsMax column by claiming, "As Hillary Clinton rises in the polls, her nose grows longer and longer." But it's Kessler who has the proboscis problems. Kessler started by asserting:
Kessler gets the story slightly closer to the truth this time by using something approximating Hillary's actual words from a September 2001 appearance on NBC's "Today": Hillary did indeed say that Chelsea "was going to go down to Battery Park, she was going to go around the towers." The last time Kessler made this claim, he falsely asserted that Hillary said that "Chelsea was actually at the World Trade Center when the bombs -- when the planes hit. She's going to Starbucks. She was jogging around. She heard the crash. She saw the smoke. Oh my God, isn't that scary." Though he had to change Hillary's words to reflect the truth, Kessler's insistence that what Hillary said contradicts Chelsea still doesn't hold water. He offers no evidence that Chelsea wasn't planning to "jog at Battery Park near the towers." Kessler also misleadingly describes Chelsea's location. The Talk article stated that Chelsea was in an apartment at Union Square, not "Park Avenue South," the southern terminus of which is at Union Square. (Perhaps Kessler was trying to paint Chelsea as a snobby elitist by linking her with snobby Park Avenue.) And Union Square, also known as the Flatiron district, is not on "the other side of town"; it's about two miles away from the World Trade Center site. Kessler then stated:
But Kessler omits that, as we've noted, Clinton voted for a similar resolution that criticized not only the MoveOn ad but Republican attacks against Democratic members of the military. Kessler also wrote:
This is cribbed straight from Republican talking points. In fact, Clinton wasn't voting against body armor and combat helmets as Kessler suggests; Clinton said she voted against the bill because it didn't include a timeline for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Kessler also doesn't mention that Clinton voted for a previous version of the bill. Kessler goes on to rewrite other sections of the same Republican National Committee press release from which he lifted the claim about Clinton voting against body armor. Is mindlessly repeating GOP talking points the best Kessler can do? Well, as history shows, it appears so.
Posted by Terry K.
at 5:40 PM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 5:41 PM EDT
While We're On the Subject of Things NewsBusters Won't Mention...
Topic: NewsBusters A Sept. 22 NewsBusters post by Warner Todd Huston attacked the Colorado State University student newspaper for its "F*** Bush" headine, calling the paper's editors "anti-intellectual collegians," "low-end compatriots," and "anarchist wannabes" and asserting that they "seemed to imagine that journalism should reflect some trash mouthed, morning disc jockey's schtick instead of serious, reasoned debate." Yet nowhere on NewsBusters is any condemnation -- or, in fact, any mention whatsoever -- of the following epithets from an arguably anti-intellectual anarchist wannabe: "piece of shit," "worthless bitch," and "worthless whore." Who said those horrible things? Ted Nugent, about Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Dianne Feinstein, respectively. Nugent also told Clinton to "ride one of these into the sunset," referring to the assault rifle he was holding. If NewsBusters is going to condemn one offensive epithet directed toward a politician, shouldn't it condemn them all?
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:32 AM EDT
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