Topic: WorldNetDaily
Brian Fitzpatrick failed to make the cut as a WND writer. Was his work too slanted and misleading -- or not slanted and misleading enough? Read more >>
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
NEW ARTICLE: How Biased Must A WorldNetDaily Reporter Be?
Topic: WorldNetDaily Brian Fitzpatrick failed to make the cut as a WND writer. Was his work too slanted and misleading -- or not slanted and misleading enough? Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:46 AM EDT
Monday, March 28, 2011
Why Is WND Begging For Money To Run Ads For Corsi's Birther Book?
Topic: WorldNetDaily A March 27 WorldNetDaily article kicked off the rollout of Jerome Corsi's WND-published birther book,which "promises to be a game-changer on the issue of Barack Obama's eligibility." But it also came with a questionable plea for cash:
WND is not a non-profit operation -- it's a for-profit, Delaware-incorporated company that is majority owned by Joseph Farah. It has claimed to be profitable in the past. So why is Farah begging for money? Surely such a blockbuster book, with all of those advance orders Farah claims to have, should be throwing off enough cash for his envisioned publicity campaign to pay for itself, or at least demonstrate enough promise (if Farah's hype is to be believed) that WND could borrow the money to pay for the publicity campaign from a reputable financial insitution that would be paid back through the massive profits from said blockbuster book sales. Instead, Farah wants your money. What is he offering instead? Just an autographed copy of Corsi's book. Nothing else. Not a piece of his company, which any prospective donor certainly should get -- Farah wants to keep all of that for himself. Will he be offering accounting and documentation to prove that any donated money will actually go toward the book's promotion and not for, say, WND's day-to-day operations or remodeling Farah's house? He's not promising that. Seems to us that Farah is running something of a scam here, trying to personally profit from other people's money. If Farah is running his business this way, why should anyone have any sort of confidence in the contents of Corsi's book?
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:51 PM EDT
NewsBusters Touts Beck's Mocking of Alex Jones, Ignores That Beck Guest Is Jones Fave
Topic: NewsBusters In a March 25 NewsBusters post, P.J. Gladnick touts how "Glenn Beck and his radio crew produced absolute comedy gold by goofing on [conspiracy-obssessed radio host Alex] Jones' groupie-like fawning over [Charlie] Sheen." Gladnick adds, "It's going to be interesting to hear Alex Jones' reaction, if any, to Glenn Beck's comedy gold mockery of him. And no matter how many times you listen to the Glenn Beck Show clip of that impersonation, it will continues to induce uncontrollable laughter in you." Gladnick didn't mention that another Jones favorite (and fellow truther) is G. Edward Griffin, author of the anti-Federal Reserve tome "The Creature from Jekyll Island." Griffin was the lead guest on Beck's Fox News show the same day Gladnick's post appeared. We probably won't be seeing any "comedy gold" coming out of the Beck camp over that one. Not intentionally, anyway.
Posted by Terry K.
at 5:24 PM EDT
WND Unhappy Children Aren't Being Indoctrinated
Topic: WorldNetDaily WorldNetDaily regularly rails against what it claims is "indoctrination" of various kinds -- just search its archive. So it was a bit of a surprise to see a WND article complaining that children aren't being indoctrinated enough. A March 26 article by Drew Zahn features religious pollster George Barna's complain that "Christian parents have been hoodwinked by political correctness into adopting an attitude so destructive to their children's faith and future that he calls it 'laissez-faire lunacy'":
Of course, another word for getting one's children to embrace their faith is indoctrination -- a word that, unsurprisingly,appears nowhere in Zahn's article. By contrast, just this month alone at WND:
By this same standard, what Barna wants is indoctrination of children into Christianity. Why are he and WND afraid to call it what it is?
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:04 PM EDT
AIM Embraces 'Third Terrorist' Conspiracy Theory For OKC Bombing
Topic: Accuracy in Media A March 24 Accuracy in Media column by Wes Vernon rehashes the conspiracy theory that a man named Hussain Al-Hussaini -- recently arrested for alleging slashing someone with a beer bottle in Boston -- is actually the "John Doe #2" who was initially sought in connection with the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Vernon cites the work of reporter Jayna Davis, who has been pushing the theory for years -- for full conspiracy credibility, her book on the subject was published by WorldNetDaily (though today it's listed as a title by Thomas Nelson, WND's first book-publishing partner, because Nelson retained the rights to those titles published under the partnership after it ended). Vernon ranted:
One little problem: The whole "John Doe #2" thing has been pretty much discredited. As Salon reported in 2002, even anti-Muslim activist Steve Emerson disavows the idea that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh had any involvement with Muslim groups. Further, Salon notes, there's no logical reason for the feds to ignore a Middle Eastern connection to such a massively destructive bombing in the U.S. UPDATE: Vernon follows up with another AIM column pushing the same conspiracy theory and, again, ignoring the fact that it's been discredited.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:25 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, March 28, 2011 8:28 PM EDT
WND's Kupelian Embraces Homophobe's Endorsement Of His Book
Topic: WorldNetDaily We've detailed how WND managing editor David Kupelian's book "How Evil Works" is laden with factually suspect moralizing. It turns out that Kupelian has to turn to an even more morally suspect individual to promote it. Every few months or so, those on WND's mailing list can count on getting an email promotion (like this) for Kupelian's book containing a slobbering endorsement of the book by Liberty Counsel's J. Matt Barber that WND published last summer that likened Kupelian to none other than C.S. Lewis as "a wordsmith capable of so effectively, objectively and concisely distinguishing between good and evil." Of course, WND won't tell you that Barber is a notorious homophobe who once declared that homophobia is "the rational fear that 'gay sex' will kill you!" That Kupelian must fall back on an endorsement by such a hateful man is more of a sign of desperation than a shrewd marketing move. UPDATE: Most recently, Barber asserted that gay teens are committing suicide because they "know that what they are doing is unnatural, is wrong, is immoral." Is that a statement Kupelian agrees with?
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:32 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, March 28, 2011 2:02 PM EDT
Sunday, March 27, 2011
WND's Corsi Doesn't Understand Sarcasm
Topic: WorldNetDaily Jerome Corsi's March 26 column carries the headline "Ayers admits (again) he wrote Obama bio." The headline should be "Corsi admits he doesn't understand sarcasm." While Corsi avers that Bill Ayers' statement in a recent speech that he wrote Barack Obama's book "Dreams From My Father" and that "if you help me prove it, I’ll split the royalties with you" "could be explained away as a mocking irony designed only to goad Ayers's critics by yet another false admission he was the president's ghostwriter" -- indeed, the video clearly shows that Ayers was being sarcastic -- Corsi's overall tone is intent on taking Ayers' words at face value, which shows either that he doesn't get sarcasm or that it's not in his (or WND's) business interest to do so. Remember, Corsi's new WND-published birther book is coming out in May. Corsi even hauls in Jack Cashill -- whose own attempts to prove Ayers' authorship have been discredited -- to weigh in:
So Cashill is suddenly a body language expert all of a sudden? UPDATE: NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard picks this up, and completely ignores the sarcasm, insisting that it's "newsworthy that the President's first book was written by a domestic terrorist."
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:57 PM EDT
Updated: Sunday, March 27, 2011 11:34 PM EDT
MRC Officials Attack Musical They've Never Seen
Topic: Media Research Center Media Research Center chief Brent Bozell devoted his March 25 column to trashing the new musical "The Book of Mormon," asserting that it "belongs in a latrine." He went on to claim that the show's creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone of "South Park" fame, are "perpetually immature" and "growth-stunted boys" who "have spent years delivering product sure to please high school sophomores and L.A. Times film critics." But Bozell offers no evidence that he has seen the musical he's attacking -- highly unlikely since it officially opened only the night before his column appeared. Indeed, Bozell offers no personal observations of the show, only quoting others talking about it. MRC director of media analysis Tim Graham joined in the parade of deliberate ignorance in a March 26 NewsBusters post declaring his offense that a Washington Post would say nice things about this "Mormon-trashing musical." Graham offered no evidence that he has seen the show, unlike the Post reviewer he's attacking. Graham followed up with a post attacking yet another review of the show -- which, again, Graham himself has not seen. Is it too much to ask Bozell and Graham to actually experience the show they're attacking? Apparently it is.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:20 AM EDT
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Kinsolving Asks If Obama Is 'Sorry' That Illegal Immigrants Were Arrested
Topic: WorldNetDaily Yes, Les Kinsolving actually asked this question of White House press secretary Tim Carney:
And Kinsolving wonders why he -- who is so more interested in being a spiteful partisan hack instead of a real reporter -- doesn't get to ask more questions in White House press briefings (something he whines about constantly).
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:49 AM EDT
Bozell Pushes Bogus Claim That Bush Didn't Get Free Pass In Iraq War Runup
Topic: Media Research Center A March 25 NewsBusters post highlights Brent Bozell's recent appearance on "Hannity," during which he complained that the media "hammered Bush" about getting congressional approval for the Iraq War while "such scrutiny has been missing in President Obama's actions on Libya." In reality, the media mostly gave President Bush a free pass in the runup to Iraq, which even the New York Times and Washington Post have admitted. Media Matters has more.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:28 AM EDT
Friday, March 25, 2011
Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily
-- Joel Richardson, March 12 WorldNetDaily column
-- Larry Klayman, March 12 WorldNetDaily column
-- Erik Rush, March 24 WorldNetDaily column
-- Diana West, March 25 WorldNetDaily column
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:29 PM EDT
WND Revives Discredited Attacks On Gorelick
Topic: WorldNetDaily As we've detailed, WorldNetDaily and the rest of the ConWeb took great joy in falsely accusing former Clinton administration deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick of creating the "wall" that restricted the ability of law enforcement officals to share information with intelligence officials. With reports that Gorelick is a candidate to become the next FBI director, WorldNetDaily returns to the scene of the crime by reviving those bogus claims. A March 24 article by Jerome Corsi asserts that Gorelick "helped to bring us 9/11," adding:
In fact, as we earlier detailed and Media Matters also notes, the no-sharing policy began well before Gorelick's tenure; a congressional report stated that the "wall" began more than 60 years ago. Corsi fails to mention that the Justice Department under Ashcroft renewed the "wall" shortly before 9/11 -- one of his deputies wrote in August 2001, "The 1995 procedures remain in effect today." Even former Sen. Slade Gorton, a member of the 9/11 Commission, wrote that Gorelick "had nothing to do with any 'wall' between law enforcement and our intelligence agencies." Jack Cashill joined the parade in his March 24 WND column, echoing the false claim that "Gorelick penned the infamous 'wall' memo that prevented intelligence agencies from sharing information in the run-up to Sept. 11." But Cashill is actually much more interested in trying to shoehorn Gorelick into his longtime conspiracy theory that TWA Flight 800 was shot down or bombed.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:56 PM EDT
Trump Gives Newsmax License To Go Full Birther
Topic: Newsmax It should come as no surprise that WorldNetDaily is reveling in Donald Trump's outbreak of birtherism, with articles on his appearance on "The View" spewing his birther views and Sean Hannity's subsequent shift to birtherism in defending Trump and Rush Limbaugh's echoing it. The surprise is that Newsmax is following WND's birther lead. A March 24 interview by Jim Meyers and Ashley Martella touts how Trump "is not backing down from his demand that President Barack Obama produce his birth certificate and stepped up his criticism by questioning why he has not released other personal records, including college transcripts and legislative papers." The article even repeats some bogus birther tropes. Meyers and Martella write that "former Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General Philip Berg has claimed that Obama’s paternal grandmother says she was in the delivery room when he was born in Kenya," but don't mention that Berg's claim has been discredited. Newsmax followed up with a March 25 article by Dave Eberhart regurgitating Limbaugh's praise of Trump's birtherism. Newsmax has previously resisted overt birtherism despite some of its columnists (and even CEO Christopher Ruddy) embracing the idea, its coverage has been intermittent at best and certaintly nowhere near the rabidly obsessive levels of WND. But Newsmax is weirdly in the tank for Trump, beginning with Ronald Kessler's slobbering over his presidential prospects in January and even bragging about how he and his wife "spent the Martin Luther King holiday weekend with [Trump] at Mar-a-Lago, his home and club on Palm Beach." Indeed, Newsmax's Trump interview is accompanied by an article by Chris Gonsalves on how Trump's show "Celebrity Apprentice" is "drawing record viewers and topping the ratings in key demographics" and an S.E. Cupp column claiming other Republican presidential candidates could learn from Trump. Newsmax's fealty to Trump, it seems, has given it cover to go fully birther.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:50 AM EDT
Updated: Friday, March 25, 2011 11:55 AM EDT
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Meanwhile ...
Topic: WorldNetDaily A March 23 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Unruh uncriticially repeats right-wing attacks on a proposed California bill calling for the history of the gay-rights movement to be taught more extensively in social studies classes is "the worst school sexual indoctrination ever" and "sexual brainwashing." In fact, the bill instructs educators to teach about the "role and contribution of ... lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans." Media Matters has more.
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:34 PM EDT
WND's Farah Speaks At Sparsely Attended Right-Wing Convention
Topic: WorldNetDaily In February, WorldNetDaily touted how editor Joseph Farah was going to be a featured speaker at the Savef America Convention, put on by a group "ntent on seeing the U.S. Constitution upheld by elected officials." Other scheduled guests included Fox News personality Andrew Napolitano, former congressman Tom Tancredo, and G. Edward Griffin, 9-11 truther and author of the anti-Federal Reserve conspiracy tome "The Creature from Jekyll Island." Well, the three-day convention was last weekend, and according to Creative Loafing, it was something of a bust: only 300 people showed up.As Think Progress noted, there were 25 scheduled speakers, making for a ratio of one speaker for ever 12 attendees. Further, Think Progress also pointed out that all the speakers were male, and participants were prohibited from recording what the speakers said. What might Farah say that he would be afraid if it got out to the general public?
Posted by Terry K.
at 4:45 PM EDT
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