Topic: Media Research Center
Media Research Center writers' disdain for the success of the political satire of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert sure looks a lot like jealousy. Read more >>
Thursday, February 5, 2015
NEW ARTICLE: Envy and Spite At The MRC
Topic: Media Research Center Media Research Center writers' disdain for the success of the political satire of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert sure looks a lot like jealousy. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 6:48 PM EST
WND's Anti-Vaxxer Doctor Warns Of 'Totalitarian' Implications of Vaccines
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Yes, Hieb is such an anti-vaxxer she doesn't believe in the concept of herd immunity and that only "dictators and totalitarians" would promote its benefits:
Hieb is apparently unaware that for herd immunity to work, a sufficient number of a population must be immunized, and that threshold is higher for highly communicable diseases. Hieb goes on to quote "Dr. Harold Buttram, M.D., FAACP" to further fearmonger about vaccines. Buttram has promoted the highly dubious concept (at AAPS, natch) that symptoms of shaken baby syndrome are actually caused by vaccines. As one blogger notes, "The myth that SBS is really “vaccine injury” is actually so detestable that even some of the most rabid antivaccine activists out there generally won’t touch it with the proverbial ten-foot cattle prod." But Hieb thinks Buttram is credible enough to cite in her column. That says a lot about the credibilty of Hieb and her WND-published book fearmongering about Obamacare.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:27 PM EST
Irony: Serial Liar Bozell Denounces Brian Williams' Falsehood
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center was quick to pounce on NBC anchor Brian Williams' apology for falsely claiming he was under enemy fire in an incident during the Iraq War. MRC chief Brent Bozell tweeted, "Brian Williams has to go. NBC's credibility is completely shot." That's right -- the guy who lied twice a week for more than 15 years by presenting his syndicated column as being his creation when, in fact, it was written by his deputy Tim Graham ... is bashing Williams for telling a falsehood. If Williams' credibility is "completely shot" by telling a falsehood, why isn't Bozell's? If Bozell wants to set an example Williams should follow and prove that his words have meaning instead of being empty partisan attacks, he should abjectly apologize for deceiving the public for years -- Bozell has yet to speak publicly about his years-long deception -- and resign as MRC president. But he doesn't have the guts to live up to his own rhetoric. Meanwhile, the Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard uncritically promoted Bozell's tweet without mentioning Bozell's record of lying. UPDATE: The MRC has sent out an email campaigning for Williams to be fired: The MRC does not mention Bozell's record of lying or why he has been allowed to keep his job despite that.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:13 AM EST
Updated: Thursday, February 5, 2015 2:13 PM EST
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
NewsBusters Censors Dershowitz's Alleged Involvement At 'Sex Fiend Island'
Topic: NewsBusters
Gladnick is being rather selective in his reporting on "Sex Fiend Island." He doesn't mention it, but another prominent figure who has been linked to alleged activities there -- as stated in the Newsweek article on which Gladnick based his post -- is lawyer Alan Dershowitz. Gladnick is thus following in the footsteps of WorldNetDaily, which has also failed to mention Dershowitz while reporting the allegations involving Epstein. As with WND, the reason for Gladnick's silence is likely because Dershowitz has voiced some conservative-friendly opinions. For instance, NewsBusters repeatedly touted how the "liberal" Dershowitz defended Texas Gov. Rick Perry against a supposedly "politically motivated" indictment, and Gladnick even took perverse delight in the idea that Dershowitz may have made a panelist cry during a TV debate. While Dershowitz has vehemently denied any involvement, a newly released court document by one of the woman linked to the alleged Epstein scandal claims to detail sexual encounters with Dershowitz and others. Interesting that Gladnick pounces on the Clinton allegations for salacious value -- even though he has yet to be implicated in any bad behavior on "Sex Fiend Island" -- but censors Dershowitz's alleged involvement even though his name has explicitly come up regarding bad behavior. It seems Dershowitz is feeling the Sharyl Attkisson effect -- if you say things conservatives like, the Media Research Center has your back no matter how horrible you are.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:50 PM EST
WND Cozies Up To Yet Another Murderous Dictator
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Both Weldon and Corsi, however, are silent on why we should believe anything Gadhafi had to say. After all, as the Weekly Standard notes, Gadhafi was one of the world’s foremost sponsors of terrorism , most notoriously sponsoring the bombing of Pam Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. While Gadhafi had tempered his terrorism activity in recent years, the Weekly Standard notes that he "was not a true partner against global terrorism in the post-9/11 world" because "terrorism is in his blood. It is a tool he uses quite naturally in the pursuit of his political and personal agenda, as capricious as that may be." So why is Weldon so eager to paint Gadhafi as a pussycat who wanted to leave his murderous dictatorship with "dignity"? Because he was trying to do business in Libya and fluffing Gadhafi was part of the deal. The Huffington Post reports:
We reported in 2006 how right-wing reporter Ken Timmerman, then with Newsmax, uncritically peddled Weldon's conspiracy theories and dubiously sourced attacks. Needless to say, Corsi mentioned none of this. Anyone who attacks Obama is worth promoting no matter how non-credible they are -- andthe fact that it means siding with a murderous dictator in the process is irrelevant. Which, of course, is yet another reason why nobody believes WND.
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:08 PM EST
MRC Buries Its Anti-Vaxxer Ties
Topic: Media Research Center
Drennen conveniently ignores the fact that the debate over vaccines was much different in 2008, when Obama said in a campaign appearance that the link between vaccines and autism was "inconclusive" (a statement Drennen bizarrely claims is "anti-vaccine rhetoric"). As the Washington Post notes, a Lancet article claiming such a link was hotly debated at the time, but it would be another two years before it would be retracted. Drennen omitted that crucial piece of context from his post. Drennen also omits the fact that his employer, the Media Research Center, has ties to anti-vaxxers. We've documented how the MRC engages in its own selective anti-vaccination rhetoric by fearmongering about Gardasil and other vaccines designed to prevent HPV infections that can cause cervical cancer. Further, the MRC has become a staunch defender of former CBS correspondent -- and prominent anti-vaxxer -- Sharyl Attkisson now that she has become a reliable anti-Obama activist. While the MRC has criticized her anti-vaxxer rhetoric in the past, it has not done so since she became a right-wing cause celebre. That makes Drennen's pearl-cluching about supposed (and out-of-context) liberal questions on vaccination more than a little hypocritical.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:22 AM EST
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Black WND Columnist Tells Blacks To 'Get Over Their Blackness'
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Of course, if Peterson has truly gotten over his blackness, he wouldn't be saying such things. Instead, he does, knowing he would be treated differently than if he wasn't black. And a man who has issues with women thinks he an tell others to "start building character"? Please. He needs to get over his female issues before he has any moral standing to lecture others.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:02 PM EST
NewsBusters Endorses Intimidation of Abortion Doctors
Topic: NewsBusters
Stanek's post touted the intimidation scheme of fellow anti-abortion activist Eric Scheidler, who mailed a set of plastic handcuffs to every abortion provider in the U.S., suggesting they will eventyually be arrested simply for providing abortion (which, of course, is the goal of Stanek and Scheidler). As befits someone with a dubious history of anti-abortion activism -- her career-making claim of allegedly having seen fetuses who survived an abortion left to dies was never substantiated -- Stanek saw nothing wrong with this, stating that it's a "stretch" to call Scheidler's scheme indimidation. Stanek then claimed that anti-abortion activists who cross the line into actual harrassment of abortion providers aren't "real harassers." It appears that Stanek -- and, thus, NewsBusters -- have a double standard of what constitutes initmidation and harrassment depending upon who's doing it.
Posted by Terry K.
at 4:16 PM EST
Updated: Tuesday, February 3, 2015 4:42 PM EST
WND Won't Blame Anti-Vaxxers For Measles Outbreak (But Will Blame Obama And Immigrants)
Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Jan. 31 WND article promoted a rant by far-right radio host Michael Savage (who's so buddy-buddy with WND that it hosts Savage's website) claming that the outbreak is President Obama's fault somehow: “Measles had been nearly eradicated until about 15 years ago. When Clinton busted our border with Mexico, the floodgates were opened to infected migrants. Measles, TB, even malaria is returning! This is a form of medical genocide.” The article was silent on anti-vaxxers. Barbara Simpson's Feb. 1 WND column -- headlined "Obama's plague" -- takes a similar tack by blaming Obama and immigrants for the outbreak:
But Simpson also displays her anti-vaxxer streak:
Of course, Simpson is silent about the millions of lives that have been saved by vaccines.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:04 PM EST
Monday, February 2, 2015
CNS Censors Probe That Discredits Attkisson
Topic: CNSNews.com
Hughes won't report, however, that Attkisson's claim about her computer being "compromised" has been completely discredited. A report by the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General found no evidence to support Attkisson's claim of her computer being compromised, noting that a video Attkisson posted purporting to show the hacking take place instead showed a stuck backspace key and"a standard error prompt." Despite the fact that the DOJ IG report was made public the same day as Attkisson's testimony -- and, in fact, was put into the public recoprd as part of her testimony -- Hughes makes no reference to it in her article, instead sticking with simple stenography of her discredited claims. But then, the MRC loves Attkisson (and vice versa), so she will not be the subject of critical reporting at CNS as long as she's following the MRC's anti-Obama agenda. So the IG report must remain censored.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:02 PM EST
WND's Klein Is Trying To Influence Another Israeli Election
Topic: WorldNetDaily
In 2006, Klein wrote numerous articles attacking liberal-leaning Prime Minister Ehud Olmert but reported nothing negative about Likud candidate Benjamin Netanyahu. And in 2012, Klein and WND all but ignored Likud member and Israeli President Moshe Katsav's rape scandal despite obsessing over sex scandals involving non-conservatives like Bill Clinton. Netanyahu is the prime minister now, an election is coming up, and he faces a serious challenge. Thus, it's time for Klein to run to the aid of Likud. This explains Klein's articles freaking out over a new coalition, known as V15, seeking to defeat Likud and Netanyahu getting advice from a U.S. political consulting firm made up of former staffers for President Obama's re-election campaign. A Jan. 27 WND article by Klein proclaims this "Obama's army" despite the fact nobody is actually quoted in the article using the term. Klein also baselessly implies the consulting firm's involvement is directly tied to Obama's decision not to meet with Netanyahu during an upcoming visit to the U.S. on the invitation of Republican House speaker John Boehner in order to avoid influencing the upcoming election. The next day, Klein published an article about his interview with the head of the V15 coalition. His attempts to denigrate the group's efforts stumble on contradictory language in describing the group's offices; in the lead paragraph, he describes them as being located off a "posh" Tel Aviv street, but later he describes the offices as being "on the second floor of a decrepit building" that "one m[u]st walk down an uninviting alleyway into a poorly lit entrance and up a flight of exposed concrete stairs" to get to. Klein feigned offense the the group is "decidedly anti-Netanyahu." A Feb. 1 article by Klein shows him in full partnership with Likud; it touts how Likud "shared with WND" its complaint against V15's "international" funding. The next day, Klein wrote an article claiming that V15 is "primarily financed by an American billionaire and a Mexican entrepreneur who is a U.S. resident." Needless to say, Klein is engaging in no small amount of hypocrisy when reporting on outside assistance in Israeli elections. The Jerusalem Post reports that conservative American political strategists have regularly worked for Netanyahu's campaigns, and an American consultant currently working for Likud was reportedly sent to Israel at the behest of U.S. Republicans. Klein hasn't reported a thing about that, of course. He won't report anything that might damage Likud.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:11 PM EST
Sunday, February 1, 2015
MRC's Graham Complains Politico Following In MRC's Footsteps
Topic: NewsBusters
Of course, the main reason Huckabee has spent so much time in New York was to shoot his Fox News show, so it's highly logical to assume that he was talking about women at Fox News. Unless, of course, Graham doesn't think Fox News is a "professional setting." Besides, it can be argued that Politico was simply using the MRC's own journalistic ethics in reporting the story. As we've detailed, the MRC's "news" division, CNSNews.com, insisted in 2005 that Democratic strategist Paul Begala claimed that Republicans "want to kill" Americans when, in fact, the full context of the Begala statement makes it clear that he was saying terrorists -- not Republicans -- want to kill Americans. When Begala called CNS out on its error, then-CNS editor David Thibault (a Republican activist like the intern who originally reported the story for CNS) called Begala a liar. Needless to say, CNS never apologized for its falsehood. By contrast, the seeming accuracy of the way Politico reported Huckabee's remarks was backed up by how a Fox News host responded to them. Appearing on Fox News to discuss the remarks (which he denied were targeted at Fox News women), Huckabee found himself on the other end of a mini-lecture from Fox host Megyn Kelly: "Well, I do have some news for you before I let you go. We're not only swearing. We’re drinking, we’re smoking, we’re having premarital sex with birth control before we go to work, and sometimes boss around a bunch of men. ... That's just the reality, Guv." Curiously, neither Graham nor anyone else at any MRC website has reported Kelly's retort to Huckabee. Apparently, a Fox News host, especially one as reliably conservative as Kelly, deviating from the right-wing script of promoting a persecution narrative -- and, even worse, point out that women behave like human beings -- is simply not news at the MRC.
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:22 PM EST
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch, Supersize WorldNetDaily Edition
Topic: WorldNetDaily
-- Pamela Geller, Jan. 25 WorldNetDaily column
-- Jesse Lee Peterson, Jan. 25 WND column
-- Dennis Prager, Jan. 26 WND column
-- Morgan Brittany, Jan. 27 WND column
-- Ted Nugent, Jan. 28 WND column
-- Erik Rush, Jan. 28 WND column
-- Joseph Farah, Jan. 29 WND column
-- Matt Barber, Jan. 30 WND column
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:17 PM EST
Friday, January 30, 2015
MRC Promotes Mark Levin's New Contract, Ignore His Racist Comment
Topic: Media Research Center
Thus, you will not hear a thing about Levin's racist attack on CNN host Fareed Zakaria, mocking his "broken English." You will, however, read at both NewsBusters and CNSNews.com all about Levin re-upping his radio show with syndicator Westwood One. At CNS, Barbara Hollingsworth serves up the gushy detail that "The news was hailed by leading conservatives, including fellow talk show host Sean Hannity, who called Levin 'a national treasure'." NewsBusters couldn't be bothered to put a byline on its Levin-fluffing, instead proclaiming that the contract extension is "Good news for Mark Levin fans." Of course, neither post from the MRC subsidiaries informed readers that Levin is in business with the MRC -- Levin does live-reads for the MRC on his radio show, and the MRC runs ads touting Levin's endorsement of various MRC operations. Reality, in the form of Levin's offensive words, can't be allowed to intrude on this little lovefest.
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:27 PM EST
WND Still Hiding Evidence of Fraud In Houston Anti-Gay Petitions
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Griffing is purporting to report on a trial over the petitions, and the bias is evident from the get-go. The headline of the article reads, "Big-city mayor calling own citizens 'criminals'" -- a blatant lie. The first paragraph makes it clear that one of the anti-gay ministers trying to overturn the non-discrimination ordinance is merely accusing Houston Mayor Annise Parker (who, in grand WND tradition, Griffing makes sure to inform us is a lesbian)of saying that. At no point does Griffing directly quote Parker making such a claim. WND does have a problem of falsely quoting Parker, repeatedly asserting that she claimed the ordinance is "all about me." Griffing can't be bothered to directly quote -- or even to identify by name -- any of the attorneys for the city cross-examining the anti-gay ministers trying to overturn the ordinance, but he gives one of those ministers, former WND columnist Dave Welch, plenty of space:
But nowhere in his article does Griffing explain what the petition issues are. World Magazine, a conservative Christian outlet, does a much better job than WND at doing so:
In other words, there are clear issues with the petitions, not to mention the evidence of forged signatures. But Griffing has decided to put right-wing ideology over reporting the facts -- just the way WND likes it.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:31 AM EST
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