Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax basically talks the New York Republican congressman into throwing his hat into the ring for 2016 -- then strangely doesn't include him in a Newsmax poll about potential presidential candidates. Read more >>
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
NEW ARTICLE: Newsmax's Peter King Presidential Boomlet
Topic: Newsmax Newsmax basically talks the New York Republican congressman into throwing his hat into the ring for 2016 -- then strangely doesn't include him in a Newsmax poll about potential presidential candidates. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:56 PM EDT
WND's Geller Freaks Out About De Blasio Changing His Name
Topic: WorldNetDaily The ConWeb freakout over Bill de Blasio changing his name has spread to WorldNetDaily's Pam Geller:
Geller goes on to bash de Blasio as "seditiou," and a "terror-supporting Marxist," and she promotes an anti-de Blasio press conference she will be holding with Accuracy in Media's Cliff Kincaid and foreigner Trevor Loudon later this week.
Posted by Terry K.
at 5:36 PM EDT
TruthRevolt Picking Up NewsBusters' Bad Habits
Topic: Horowitz TruthRevolt's aping of NewsBusters means that it's picking NewsBusters' bad habits. One of them is Heathering. An Oct. 21 post attacks Business Insider's Josh Barro for deviating from the right's anti-Obamacare dogma by dismissing him as someone "who has masqueraded as the left’s favorite conservative." Another one is promotion of discredited sources. An Oct. 22 post by Paul Bois goes after MSNBC's Chris Matthews' denial of FreedomWorks' Matt Kibbe's claim that polls showing the American public blaming Republicans for the government shutdown can be blamed on media bias:
As we've documented, Groseclose's book -- which was promoted by NewsBusters and others in the ConWeb upon its release in 2011 -- uses a methodology that is highly flawed. Under its definition, the National Rifle Association is only slightly more conservative than the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Drudge Report "leans left" because the methodology doesn't take into account Drudge's biased presentation of the news. The capper: Even though imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Media Research Center has yet to acknowledge TruthRevolt's existence.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:05 PM EDT
WND Publishes Birther's Book on Fringe Christian Conspiracy
Topic: WorldNetDaily WorldNetDaily has another dubious fringe Christian book to promote, as detailed in an Oct. 17 article by Joe Kovacs:
Your first warning flag is the book's author. Carl Gallups is better known as the force behind PPSimmons, the "online ministry" that's little more than an anti-Obama propaganda mill. Through PPSimmons, Gallups has promoted the idea that Obama is the Antichrist, and he is so friendly with birthers that Mike Zullo, leader of the increasingly discredited "Cold Case Posse" purporting to investigate Obama's "eligibility," is a regular guest on his Internet radio show. Gallups once used that show to invite any "Obot" to call in and prove that Obama is a citizen; when one did, Gallups cut him off. The fact that Gallups is a rabid birther should be enough to disqualify anything he has to say, but Richard Bartholomew raises questions about the central claim anchoring Gallups' book:
This is basically shakily sourced claims by fringe Christian activists who also happen to be birthers. WND will probably sell a few books to its target audience of fringe Christians and/or birthers, but it's not trustworthy enough for anyone else to bother with.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:38 AM EDT
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
CNS Unemployment Numbers Distortion Watch
Topic: CNSNews.com The government shutdown delayed release of the monthly unemployment numbers for a few weeks, but now that they're finally out, CNSNews.com has worked its usual cherry-picking magic to play up unfavorable numbers and hide the favorable ones. The barrage this time around comes from Terry Jeffrey and Ali Meyer:
In only one of the articles is it mentioned that unemployment went down and the number of jobs went up, and that's buried in the 9th paragraph.
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:27 PM EDT
WND's Massie: Republicans Are Gang-Raping Conservatives
Topic: WorldNetDaily Mychal Massie takes a break from lying about President Obama to to make sexually charged allegations about his fellow Republicans in his Oct. 21 WND column:
See? The headline is totally accurate.
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:44 PM EDT
NewsBusters Still Freaking Out About Redskins Criticism, Ignoring That Prominent Conservative Agrees
Topic: NewsBusters The Media Research Center continues to rage against critics of the Washington Redskins name. Randy Hall ranted in an Oct. 21 NewsBusters post:
Hall joins with his fellow MRC critics in failing to note that one of those "liberals with too much time on their hands" isn't a liberal at all. As we've documented, Charles Krauthammer -- such a rock-ribbed conservative that the MRC gave him its “William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence” last month -- endorsed a name change because word meanings have changed over the years. There is, however, a post by Brent Baker about how Krauthammer "is capable of delivering funny lines and humorous anecdotes." Of course, mentioning that one of its favorite conservatives has taken a position it opposes, and was not doing so using funny lines and humorous anecdotes, would be inconvenient to its agenda. So the MRC remains silent.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:29 PM EDT
WND Promote Bogus Story To Smear Transgenders
Topic: WorldNetDaily An Oct. 19 WorldNetDaily article certainly does its best to make transgender teens sound scary and perverted:
Strange thing, though: Nowhere in the article do McReynolds cite any specific, documented instances of behavior the transgender teen is alleged to have engaged in. That's because there aren't any. The unbylined article waits until the 20th paragraph to mention the school district's response to the claim:
WND made no apparent effort to contact the school district for an opportunity to respond to McReynold's claims. Instead, it quotes another PJI official as attacking the superintendent for speaking with a particular news outlet: "It is very revealing that the superintendent is seeking sympathy from transgender activists instead of addressing the serious concerns raised in our letter." Further, that "transgender advocate blog" also talked to another source WND couldn't be bothered to look up -- the transgender teen's family:
WND is virulently anti-gay -- it has even served as an apologist for anti-gay activist Scott Lively's links to a proposed law in Uganda that would permit the execution of homosexuals -- so maybe its reporters think it will pick up some sort of tranny cooties if they talk to a transsexual or even somebody related to one. Still, the fact that WND is uncritically promoting the PJI's discredited and dishonest take on this case is yet another reason why nobody believes WND.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:37 AM EDT
Monday, October 21, 2013
Newsmax's Hirsen Rushes to Defend Ted Cruz
Topic: Newsmax James Hirsen devotes his Oct. 21 Newsmax column to defending Ted Cruz from that mean ol' liberal media:
Hirsen's response to this? Recite Cruz's resume:
Hirsen's appeal to authority doesn't address any of the media coverage he criticizes.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:45 PM EDT
Ellis Washington: Still Flamboyantly Wrong
Topic: WorldNetDaily What is it with WorldNetDaily columnists getting their history wrong? First it was Barry Farber; now Ellis Washington writes in his Oct. 18 column:
Actually, Kennedy's executive order is a straightforward non-discrimination provision, and it does not define what "affirmative action" meant. As one history of affirmative action details, Kennedy's order was superceded by one issued in 1965 by Preident Lyndon Johnson that defined what kind of "affirmative action" was to be taken. Washington's column is, of course, an anti-affirmative action rant, and of course he makes it about himself:
Given that Washington started this rant with an incorrect claim and has a history of irrational hatred of liberals in general and President Obama in particular, as well as a penchant for getting stuff wrong and masquerading (poorly) as Socrates, it appears that Washington has never considered the possibility that he has, in fact, been judged on the content of his character and his (scant) scholarly achievements -- and found wanting.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:49 PM EDT
MRC Still Complaining That GOP Is Accurately Blamed For Shutdown
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center, it seems, still can't handle the fact that the media is accurately reporting that Republicans are to blame for the recent government shutdown. On the heels of his earlier mini-study complaining about this accurate reporting, Rich Noyes has cranked out a larger Oct. 17 study saying exactly the same thing. For the first time that we can remember, Noyes attempts an explanation for why the MRC focuses so narrowly on the TV networks and ignores cable news:
Noyes isn't going to tell you, of course, that the main complicating factor in complaining about cable news bias is Fox News, which like the MRC is a proud shill for the Republican Party, as well as pretending that Republicans had nothing to do with the shutdown. As before, Noyes never why Republicans are not to blame for the shutdown -- he merely complains that they're being blamed and Democrats aren't. He never stops to consider that this may be because these news outlets are reporting facts and that it's false equivalency to claim otherwise. Noyes finally conceded the possibility of some GOP responsibility at the very end of his study, then tries to take it back:
Earth to Noyes: "Lack of a unified conservative message" was not the problem; conservatives' insistence on deviating from longstanding practice by trying to defund an approved program by holding the rest of the government hostage was. There's also a little matter that Republicans had been planning a shutdown for months, but Noyes won't tell you that.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:03 PM EDT
WND's Barry Farber Botches Facts
Topic: WorldNetDaily Barry Farber's Oct. 15 WorldNetDailiy column is headlined "Obama's ham-handedness on Egypt." In it he writes:
First, Obama was more about praising the fact that Egypt had successfully conducted its first-ever democratic election than the specific result. The Obama administration called for Morsi to form a government with "mutual respect" for all and "respecting the rights of all Egyptian citizens – including women and religious minorities such as Coptic Christians." Second, Hitler wasn't elected. As we've previously noted, Hitler was never elected president of Germany -- he was appointed chancellor, then assumed the power of the presidency. Perhaps Farber should re-title his column "Farber's ham-handedness with the facts."
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:42 AM EDT
Sunday, October 20, 2013
MRC Hides Conservative's Endorsement Of Redskins Name Change
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center got all huffy over the past few weeks as more people argued that the Washington Redskins is a name that is somewhere between insensitive and racist and should be changed:
But changing the name is not just a liberal idea -- but the MRC won't tell you that. Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer -- normally a friend to the MRC -- opined on Fox News that while he's "in low dudgeon over this," he supports changing the name because the word's meaning has evolved: But if it were personally my choice, I think it’s over the line. I do think, because of its history, it’s something that if you can change, you would change." Krauthammer expanded on his views in his Washington Post column:
Strangely, Graham has not seen fit to attack Krauthammer for this view the way he did Costas. Then again, the MRC did give Krauthammer its “William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence” last month with special praise for "his trenchant dry humor and perfectly-timed zings at various liberals in the media." Krauthammer offered none of that in his support for changing the Redskins' name, apparently, so down the MRC memory hole it went.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:29 PM EDT
WND's Klayman Laughably Claims His Obama-Muslim Smears Are Just Metaphors
Topic: WorldNetDaily As with his frequent client Joseph Farah (for whom he loses cases repeatedly), one must admire Larry Klayman's ability to lie so brazenly. After Klayman took heat for ranting during last weekend's veterans protest in Washington that Americans should "demand that this president leave town, to get up, to put the Quran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come out with his hands up" -- something so odious and unproductive to the purpose of the protest that even WorldNetDaily refused to report Klayman's remarks even though he has said such things repeatedly in his WND column -- Klayman issued a non-apology through his one-man Freedom Watch organization. Klayman claimed that his attack was "metaphorically stated," adding, "While these references were intended to be metaphoric and not literal, they do ring true nevertheless." Klayman's claim that he was speaking metaphorically is an after-the-fact CYA action, not to mention a complete lie -- he has invoked the Obama-is-a-Muslim smear way too many times for it to be a metaphor, and he has never couched it in surrounding language that would indicate it's a metaphor (and he certainly did not do so during his speech). Klayman's press release went on to cite what he claimed were "uncontroverted" fact about Obama and his purported Muslim sympathies. But one of them is a total falsehood: "Fourth, Obama has worn a ring for decades that is inscribed with the saying that his only god is Allah." As we've documented, even birthers rushed to discredit this Jerome Corsi (and Joel Gilbert)-promoted falsehood. Interestingly, when Klayman rewrote his press release for use as his Oct. 18 WND column, that example disappeared. His lie about speaking metaphorically, however, remains intact.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:58 AM EDT
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Horowitz's TruthRevolt Copies NewsBusters, Ignores Basic Research
Topic: Horowitz A couple weeks ago, the David Horowitz Freedom Center started up a website called TruthRevolt, which claims as a goal to "unmask leftists in the media for who they are, destroy their credibility with the American public, and devastate their funding bases."It's headed by Breitbart's Ben Shapiro, who's perhaps best know around these parts for his petulant whining, as well as his ugly smear of Rahm Emanuel as a "kapo." So, yeah, Shapiro will be putting the "revolting" in TruthRevolt. So far, though, TruthRevolt is covering much the same ground as NewsBusters -- even writing blogs on the exact same subjects. Perhaps that's why we've seen no mention of TruthRevolt on any Media Research Center website. In addition, the website has earmarks of the David Horowitz cult of personality -- the TruthRevolt front page promotes two Horowitz books and "David Horowitz's Restoration Weekend." TruthRevolt is also following NewsBusters' tradition of putting its right-wing agenda before solid research. An unbylined Oct. 17 item attacks "The View" co-host Jenny McCarthy for invoking a Jewish stereotype, then added, "But McCarthy is a leftist appearing in the mainstream media, and thus escaped scot-free." In fact, both the mainstream media and the "leftist" media has been harshly critical of McCarthy for something much worse than invoking a Jewish stereotype: her promotion of the discredited theory that vaccines cause autism, which increased when she joined "The View." A quick Google search returns articles from the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The New Yorker, The Nation, Huffington Post, National Geographic, MSN and NPR. It wasn't that hard to do. We realize TruthRevolt is new to the media-monitoring game, but here's a pro tip: Do a little research before you spout off, lest you look even more like the uninformed partisans you are.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:40 PM EDT
Updated: Saturday, October 19, 2013 11:42 PM EDT
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