Topic: CNSNews.com
Not only does CNSNews.com publish statements by President Trump and his White House that are false (which it would know if it ever bothered to fact-check him), Trump may actually be CNS' assignment editor. Read more >>
Thursday, May 14, 2020
NEW ARTICLE: At CNS, Trump Stenography Is Job 1
Topic: CNSNews.com Not only does CNSNews.com publish statements by President Trump and his White House that are false (which it would know if it ever bothered to fact-check him), Trump may actually be CNS' assignment editor. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:12 AM EDT
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
MRC Is Mad Athlete's Controversial Tattoo Got Exposed
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center's mysterious sports blogger, Jay Maxson, tried his best to put an imaginative frame on an uncomfortable situation in an April 28 post:
In fact, the tattoo -- the Roman numeral three -- predates Rohrwasser's tattoo as a symbol of a white supremacist group, in this case the Three Percenters, a militia group that played a role in the Charlottesville protests defending Confederate statues. Rohrwasser has claimed the tattoo was a show of support for the military and was unaware of any white supremacist connotation when he got it and says he will have the tattoo removed. Hill busted Rohrwasser pretty cleanly. But Maxson has credulously accepted his explanation, and is mad at Hill for painting Rohrwasser as a white supremacist, huffing: "As 'judge' and 'jury,' Hill is not to be confused with the facts; her mind is made up. Rohrwasser is a white supremacist and the case is closed." But Maxson doesn't actually know what the facts are; he/she has merely accepted Rohrwasser's explanation at face value while making no effort whatsoever to look further. Maxson was further angered that a "left-wing media source" looked into Rohrwasser's social media history and found that he apparently shows an affinity for people like Jordan Peterson.We last saw the right-wing-leaning Peterson here in the form of the MRC promoting his "free speech" website (where, conveniently, the MRC was a beta tester) that appeared to be little more than a cash grab for Peterson -- and about which we've heard basically nothing since. In summary, Maxson is mad that some folks he happens to not like reported facts that he finds inconvenient. Which means there's no real reason for this post to exist other than to give Maxson a chance to rant and fulfill his/her post quota.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:49 PM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, May 13, 2020 9:50 PM EDT
Is Trump Working As CNS' 'News' Assignment Editor?
Topic: CNSNews.com The Washington Post reported regarding President Trump's April 19 press briefing:
The very next day, CNS reporter Patrick Goodenough cranked out an article designed to flesh out that Trump talking point -- almost as if CNS was working as an arm of the Trump re-election campaign:
After noting that Trump had brought up the Democratic debate the day before, Goodenough added more pro-Trump talking points:
This is what happens when you make Trump -- and not, say, an actual journalist -- the assignment editor on your "news" desk.
Posted by Terry K.
at 5:08 PM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, May 13, 2020 8:20 PM EDT
WND Coronavirus Conspiracy Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily
-- Hanne Nabintu Herland, April 22 WorldNetDaily column
-- Rachel Alexander, April 27 WND column
-- Barbara Simpson, May 1 WND column
-- W. Scott Magill, May 5 WND column
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:30 AM EDT
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Flashback: MRC Held Trump Sexual Assault Accuser To Different Standard Than Tara Reade
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center has continued its obsession with Tara Reade, the woman who's accusing Joe Biden of sexual misconduct -- it has referenced her in 85 items as of this writing. The MRC has relentlessly pushed Reade's alleged credibility, attacked anyone who questioned said credibility or dared to say anything nice about Biden and even did lame "studies" on coverage -- most ludicrously complaining that news channels (excluding Fox News, natch) covered Vice President Mike Pence's potentially dangerous gaffe of refusing to wear a face mask while visiting the Mayo Clinic than the Reade allegations. This, of course, has nothing to do with "media research" and everything to do about partisan politics. The MRC cares nothing about the well-being of Reade; since it's an arm of President Trump's re-election campaign, it cares only about hurting Trump's opponent, Biden. This was further proved last year, when it treated similar allegations against President Trump much differently. As we documented, the MRC repeated attacked and denigrated E.Jean Carroll after she accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. Let's count the ways the MRC's double standard has shown itself:
We can go back even farther to 2016, when Trump was caught on the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape bragging about what Biden has been accused of doing. When that tape came out, MRC chief Brent Bozell was not concerned that his favored presidential candidate was a sex-crazed pervert; he blamed the media for its release in a full-frothing rant that accused the media of colluding with Hillary Clinton's campaign and demanded they apologize to Trump for the tape's release. By contrast, the MRC has not accused Reade of having political motivations, even though her lawyer has donated to Trump. You may also recall that the MRC was largely AWOL when Fox News personalities and its founder and longtime leader, Roger Ailes, were accused of systematic sexual harassment, while it obsessed over sexual harassment scandals elsewhere. Again: The MRC doesn't give a damn about Tara Reade -- to them, she's only a toll to harm Biden. If the MRC cared about women, it would have treated Carroll the same way it's treating Reade.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:43 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, May 12, 2020 11:50 PM EDT
By Refusing to Fact-Check, CNS Privileges Even More Bogus Claims By Trump And Crew
Topic: CNSNews.com CNSNews.com loves simply transcribing whatever President Trump says without any regard as to whether it's true or not -- its writers simply can't be bothered to fact-check him. It hasn't really stopped, even though the stenography shows how servile CNS is to Trump. Susan Jones wrote in an April 15 article headlined "Trump: 'I'm Not Going to Put Any Pressure on Any Governor to Open'":
Jones didn't mention that Trump's statement was a complete flip-flop from just the day before, when he claimed "total" authority over governors to reopen their states, and that "a torrent of backlash from governors and even members of his own party pointedly reminding him of the constitutional restraints on presidential power" forced Trump's flip-flop. And a few days later, when Jones and Melanie Arter noted criticism of Trump's tweeted calls to "liberate" certain states, they didn't mention that this was a flip-flop of his promise not to "put any pressure on any governor to open." The same day, Arter uncritically repeated Trump's threat to adjourn Congress over its alleged refusal to vote on some of his nominees. She didn't mention the 1) the Senate is controlled by Republicans, the part of which Trump belongs, or 2) the president has no power to adjourn Congress except in extremely limited circumstances. On April 20, Craig Bannister took the stenography baton:
Since Bannister wouldn't fact-check Crenshaw's video, it was left to an actual news outlet to do so, which found that it contains "misrepresentations, incorrect and context-free claims and false choices." Arter served up more stenography in an April 24 article:
Arter didn't mention that -- as an actual news outlet did -- Trump is trying to hurt Amazon because he doesn't like its founder Jeff Bezos, that arbitrarily jacking up shipping prices is stupid because shippers would instead use FedEx or UPS or, in Amazon's case, its own delivery system, and Trump has not offered any evidence that its shipping prices are so low that it loses money on every package it delivers. Trump's press secretary got a pass on the most basic issue in a May 1 article by Arter:
Arter didn't tell her readers that McEnany did, in fact, tell lies starting just 15 minutes after she pledged not to. Because at CNS, stenography, not facts, are what matters.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:14 AM EDT
Monday, May 11, 2020
AIM President Goes On Anti-City Tirade
Topic: Accuracy in Media Accuracy in Media president Adam Guillette hadn't really shown the kind of next-level craziness demonstrated by his AIM forbears like Cliff Kincaid (though, frankly, that make AIM pretty boring), even though he came to AIM from the disreputable Project Veritas. Guillette finally popped his crazy cherry, as it were, in an April 29 column in which he ranted that coronavirus proves that cities suck:
Congratulations, Adam. You might just be fringe enough to have a career at AIM after all.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:20 PM EDT
MRC Still Complaining that Social Media Is Removing Coronavirus Misinformation
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center keeps being bizarrely unhappy that misinformation about coronavirus is getting blocked on social media. Corinne Weaver did so again in an April 29 post:
After noting that major medical organizations have denounced the video, Weaver added in defense: "However, Erickson and Massihi seemed to only question the reasoning behind the quarantines and the shutdowns." In fact, Erickson and Massihi were claiming that, based on the patient population they claimed to have studied, coronavirus is no serious than the flu. But as an actual news outlet reported, experts point out that the doctors' patient sample was not representative of the general population, with one likening it to "estimating the average height of Americans from the players on an NBA court." Another doctor, who is also a state legislator, stated that the doctors "basically hyped a bunch of data and weren’t transparent about their methods." Erickson and Massihi also suggested that local hospital administrators had pressured doctors to report COVID-19 as patients’ causes of death in order to "make it look a little bit worse than it it, but they offered no proof or possible justification for doing so other than to conspiratorially hint that "there is something else going on." Weaver went on to tout that "major figures such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the doctors 'make good points.'" Musk also predicted that human language could be obsolete in five years and gave his baby an unprounceable name, so maybe he's not the best person to quote authoritatively. The day before, Alexander Hall played the conspiracy card by claiming that YouTube is "clamping down on reports of potential treatments that are being developed' by removing a video about a potential coronavirus treatment through use of ultraviolet light inside the body, going on to quote the head of the company developing the device claiming that "Big Tech allegedly got in line to shut [the device] out of the conversation" after President Trump made bizarre coments suggesting ingesting disinfectants to kill coronavirus. But the company's own website states that the device "has not been reviewed by the FDA" and that it -- or even the concept of it -- "is currently not indicated for use in the treatment of COVID-19." Some experts have also stated that the type of ultraviolet light the device uses is not effective in killing viruses. Crying "censorship" over content that misinforms and could even be dangerous is not a good look for the MRC.
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:14 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, May 18, 2020 12:36 AM EDT
Statistical Abuse From A WND Columnist
Topic: WorldNetDaily Jonathon Moseley began his April 21 worldNetDaily column by complaining that Democrats want to make gullible people think that Donald Trump did not handle the COVID-19 pandemic well," which he rebutted by citing actions the Trump administration took, such as "a declaration of a health emergency through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services" and a limited "shut[ting] down travel from China." And then he made this claim:
Um, no, that's not how statistics and predictions work. The 2.2 million number Moseley cited comes from a New York Times article noting one analyst's worst-case projection, and the number was based on governments doing nothing to mitigate the virus.The 60,000 number came from a different prediction model -- which has also proved to be inaccurate, since the number of coronavirus deaths in the U.S. as of this writing is more than 80,000. Moseley also doesn't bother to prove that the actions from Trump he cites are solely responsible for the reduction in predicted deaths. He also conveniently ignores how Trump has repeatedly downplayed the threat of coronavirus. So, Moseley is making a dumb assertion based on assumptions he can't prove. Par for the course for a WND columnist.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:03 AM EDT
Sunday, May 10, 2020
Defending The Indefensible: MRC Finds Ways To Deflect From Trump's Injecting-Disinfectant Remarks
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center will find a way to defend anything and everything President Trump says, no matter how indefensible. Trump's suggestion of ingesting disinfectant or bleach to kill coronavirus was as indefensible as they come, but the MRC will never say so. Instead it focused on parsing his words to make them less indefensible and attacking anyone who criticized them. Typical was Curtis Houck, who hyperbolically claimed in the headline that CNN "RAGES" about Trump's remarks:
Houck also gratuitously mocked CNN's Anderson Cooper as "a gay Keith Olbermann that whined that Trump was the “five-year-old” child. Clay Waters spun further by blaming the media for misinterpreting Trump and not Trump himself for saying dumb things: "President Trump performed some confusing speculation on the efficacy of ultraviolet light and disinfectants during his coronavirus briefing Thursday, and as usual, the New York Times overstated the facts to push its anti-Trump agenda." Jeffrey Lord, unsurprisingly, went into full defense mode: "Supposedly sensible adults in the national media deliberately - say again deliberately - twisting the words of the President of the United States in the middle of a national emergency. Bad enough under any circumstances, but now?" After citing Saavedra's alleged fact-check -- not the actual content of it, mind you, just the headline -- he went on an anti-media rant:
Nicholas Fondacaro conceded only that Trump's remarks were "sloppy," but didn't criticize him -- since that would violate the terms of his employment at the MRC -- and instead bashed CNN's Jake Tapper for a "bitter, self-indulgent rant" that criticized Trump and accused Republicans (and, therefore, Fondacaro) of failing to "acknowledge the reality of the situation." Brad Wilmouth downgraded Trump's remarks even further, declaring that he was merely "spitballing about disinfectants and ultraviolet light to treat coronavirus patients." Corinne Weaver seized upon a Facebook fact-check -- weird, since the MRC hates Facebook and hates that particular fact-checker for its purported liberal bias -- to trumpet the idea that because Trump did not explicitly "urge" people to inject disinfectants, it's false to say he suggested it. Weaver did not indicate whether she and the MRC would walk back its previous attacks on that fact-checker, Lead Stories. Meanwhile, the MRC seemed to be tiring of having to defend Trump's words here. Kristine Marsh followed up by saying Trump's remarks were merely "sloppy," and Gabriel Hays claimed the interpretation that Trump suggested people ingest disinfenctants were just "media spin." Waters returned to grumble that Trump's "confusing speculation" and "admittedly rambling comments" about disinfectants has cause the Times "to imply the president is a dim bulb." Kathleen Krumhansl tried for the full-defense gambit, accusing Spanish-sopeaking channels of having "joined their mainstream counterparts in a fake news offensive against President Trump," declaring that Trump was just making "comments on a study about the role of disinfectants and UV light in killing the coronavirus" and pretending that Trump never said anything controversial or irresponsible. Finally, Wilmouth admitted that Trump was making a "confused suggestion" about disinfectants, instead criticizing CNN's Christiane Amanpour for asking a guest and praising the interviewee for nmot being "directly critical of President Trump."
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:50 PM EDT
Updated: Sunday, May 10, 2020 10:56 PM EDT
CNS Thinks Kevin Sorbo's Anti-Government Rant Is 'News'
Topic: CNSNews.com Craig Bannister apparently thinks anything fringe-right actor Kevin Sorbo says is newsworthy, so we have this April 20 blog post:
Given that Bannister is trying normalize this kind of thinking, that summary doesn't do justice to Sorbo's fringe ranting.For example, tweeted this: "When the State prevents you from buying cucumber seeds because it's dangerous, but allows in person lottery ticket sales and When the State tells you it's dangerous to go golf or fish alone but they can get make up and hair done for 5 TV appearances, it's not about your health." So "the State" is having makeup done for TV appearances? That doesn't even make sense. Sorbo concluded with the call of the conspiratorial ranter: "WAKE UP PEOPLE — If you think this is all about your health you’re mistaken! Please open your eyes! Stop being lead like blind sheep." The only reason Sorbo gets any press at all these days is beause hence played Hercules on TV, a past he has apparently renounced in order to appear in a series of Christian movies. Bannister won't tell you how far to the fringe Sorbo has moved; another recent tweet, for example, promoted the film "Out of Shadows," delcaring in all caps, THIS ONE NEEDS TO BE SEEN BY ALL." In fact, the film promotes the far-right Pizzagate and QAnon conspiracy theories. And yet, CNS loves him (and his wife, an anti-public school activist) and thinks he's some kind of sage.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:07 PM EDT
Saturday, May 9, 2020
MRC Adds To CNS' Bad Take on Religion and Coronavirus
Topic: Media Research Center Since CNSNews.com embraced the bad take of painting the closing of mass religious services as an issue of religious liberty rather than public health, it was inevitable that its parent, the Media Research Center, would as well. The MRC's Gabriel Hays ranted in an April 13 post:
Note that Hays included only allusions to the coronavirus pandemic and largely ignored the public health issues that forced the church gathering to close in the first place.And Hays talks a lot more about people's alleged "celebrating their constitutional right to be in their churches" more than he does any constitutional right not to have one's personal liberty violated in the form of reckless, unhealthy behavior that can spread a disease that has already killed tens of thousands in the U.S.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:45 AM EDT
WND Touts Malik Obama's Endorsement of Trump, Censors His Credibility Problems
Topic: WorldNetDaily WorldNetDaily remains so in the grip of Obama Derangement Syndrome after all these years that it's still promoting lame attacks on the former president by his disgruntled half-brother. Last year, it served as Malik's willing stenographer, and it did so again in an April 16 article:
As expected, WND failed to mention Malik's credibility problems -- which it should know because it uncharacteristally busted him. In 2017, WND ruled that a purported birth certificate Malik tweeted how showing that Barack Obama was born in Kenya "is not a valid document" (even though it spent two months claiming it was, in fact, valid when it first surfaced in 2009). Malik Obama also endorsed Trump in 2016, largely out of spite; he's been trying to ride the coattails of his half-brother's fame for years, and Barack has generally not been having it. As one website in Malik's native Kenya put it: "While Africans have the Ubuntu spirit of rising together, that does not mean sitting pretty and waiting for handouts from a successful relative. It also does not allow you to hate and besmirch the character of your successful relatives when they do not send as much resources as you would wish." Don't expect WND to bring that up.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:16 AM EDT
Friday, May 8, 2020
MRC Whitewashes Franklin Graham's Anti-LGBT Beliefs
Topic: Media Research Center Franklin Graham hates gay people, and the Media Research Center does too. So when Graham's charity Samaritan's Purse set up a temporary field hospital to tend to coronavirus victims, the MRC was quick to defend Graham against those (accurate) homophobia accusations. Gabriel Hays wrote in an April 15 post:
But in framing Graham as merely being against same-sex marriage, Hays strangely omitted the part of the Ingraham interview where he claimed that "I don't bash homosexuals" -- which is pretty clearly a lie. Claiming that "none other than Satan himself" is behind LGBT rights and that "gay children" are "the enemy "is most definitely bashing. Instead, Hays fretted that "the reverend’s first amendment rights are what's being discriminated against." Also:" De Blasio is a "lawmaker"? He's the mayor of New York City. Two days later, Matt Philbin complained that criticism of Graham's homophobia meant that "even in a massive health crisis, toeing the progressive line trumps all." He went onto tout how "FNC’s Shannon Bream explained that the Christian charity on the front lines fighting the Chinese virus will finally get some positive reinforcement this Sunday night in the form 'Hope Rising,' a streaming concert to benefit the group and the people it’s helping.The show is 'aimed at supporting their work while also encouraging you if you are struggling through these dark days,' Bream said." Philbin noted that "Lefties woried about 'discrimination' in the treatment of patients (apparently, they don’t really understand the 'Samaritan' reference, and what a dispicable charge that is to level at people who work under that name)" but, like Hays, failed to mention Graham's anti-LGBT history. After copying-and-pstsing Hays' weird line referencing "Democratic Lawmakers like Bill De Blasio," Philbin touted how "Christian actor and activist Kirk Cameron and his sister Candace will host 'Hope Rising'" and promoted it on Fox News. He didn't mention that Cameron has spoken out against gay marriage, declaring, "I would never attempt to try to redefine marriage. And I don't think anyone else should either." Philbin concluded by sneering that the benefit concert could be streamed "even by LGBT people."
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:51 PM EDT
CNS Obsesses Over Rogue Trump-Loving Democrat
Topic: CNSNews.com CNSNews.com is way too excited about a rogue Democratic politician in Georgia. Michael W. Chapman wrote in an April 17 article:
Chapman served up more gushing over Jones' pro-Trump views, but he didn't tell his readers the full story about Jones. As a real news outlet reported, ones is a Republican in all but name, supporting Republican presidential candidates and even receiving a campaign donation from the notoriously right-wing National Rifle Association. CNS continued to follow Jones' antics anyway. On April 22, Craig Bannister highlighted Jones' delcaration that he would resign his legislative seat but "has no plans to leave the Democrat Party [sic]," using a deliberately incorrect name for the Democratic Party even though Jones himself never used it. Jones flip-flopped on resigning the next day, and CNS covered that too, leaving Melanie Arter to do that writeup; she also used the deliberately wrong "Democrat Party" name. Obsessing over a conservative-friendly politician and not only failing to report the full story but putting delilberately false information in its stories is, sadly, par for the course for CNS these days.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:36 AM EDT
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