MRC Continues To Falsely Cry 'Censorship' Over YouTube Videos
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center just loves to cry "censorship" over thing that are not, in fact, actual censorship. Catherine Salgado complained in a Dec. 7 post:

Apparently history is too dangerous to teach children. YouTube has censored a Young America’s Foundation (YAF) video about “Victims of Socialism,” restricting the video on the grounds that it is not “suitable” for kids.

YAF said it was notified by YouTube that the “Victims of Socialism” lecture video “may not be suitable for viewers under the age of 18.” The lecture or talk by retired Unitek Information Services, Inc. Chief Financial Officer George Harbison is now age-restricted and bears a warning that “This video may be inappropriate for some users.”

Harbison warned in the talk about the rise of socialism’s popularity in America, speaking on socialism’s many tragic victims, “slain innocents,” to explain why Americans should be alarmed by the trend.

Harbison’s presentation included images of victims of socialist regimes, including children. YAF tweeted a purported screenshot of YouTube’s censorship, saying, “Meanwhile, content featuring drag queens and transgenderism is available on-demand to viewers of any age.”

First: Neither Salgado nor YAF provide any evidence that Harbison has any sort of special expertise on "the victims of socialism" -- he worked in finance, after all.Has Harbison's presentation been vetted by actual historians, or is it just a right-wing rant from a right-wing group? We don't know.

Second: Putting an age restriction on a video is not "censorship." We don't recall the MRC ever claiming that keeping children from viewing materials that are insufficiently hateful of LGBT people was "censorship." Nevertheless, Salgado went on to complain:

YouTube has a history of putting age restrictions on videos it dislikes. The preview for Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s documentary series “Patriot Purge” about the events of Jan. 6 recently received age restrictions and a warning that the content “may be inappropriate for some users.” Former ABC reporter John Stossel’s anti-socialism video was age-restricted in 2018 by YouTube.

As with the YAF video, Salgado didn't explain why we should treat the work of a right-wing "reporter" like Stossel at face value. She also failed to prove her contention that YouTube adds age restrictions only on "videos it dislikes" -- which, in Salgado's biased telling, involves only right-wing videos; she cited only a couple of cherry-picked examples. Indeed, we didn't have to look far to find that a video referencing World AIDS Day had an age restriction placed on it, something we don't recall Salgado or anyone else at the MRC complaining about.

The MRC is more and more crying wolf by continuing to cry "censorship" when no censorship is actually happening.

Chuck Norris Abuses His WND Column Again By Shilling For His Gold-Selling Employer
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Chuck Norris just loves to abuse the privilege (such as it is) of writing a column for WorldNetDaily by using it to shill for the gold-selling company he's a spokesman for. (WND doesn't have a problem with it, though, which tells you all you need to know about its editorial standards.) Norris' Nov. 8 column is his most blatant column ad ever, mostly because he's selling a silver coin with his likeness on it -- with a healthy dose of right-wing fearmongering and shilling for his employer:

I am so happy and honored to introduce to you the very first ever Chuck Norris Limited Edition Silver Coin from GOLDCO, a leader in the precious metals industry for whom I am honored to be a spokesman. Making the coin available is my way to show my appreciation to all of you who have supported me throughout my life. I want you to reap the benefits of silver to build long term wealth and protect your family's financial future, too.

Today, in our unstable economy and jobs that offer little to no long-term security, you never know when what you have can be totally lost or taken away. I don't have to remind you that America has lost her way and is in chaos on so many fronts. The proof is all around us. Goods are being held offshore. A massive and growing shortage of truck drivers to deliver those goods paralyzes commerce. Shelves in stores are already empty and projected to be wastelands for the holidays. With millions losing their jobs over refusals to be vaccinated, Biden's mandate mania is driving hundreds of thousands of more companies and local businesses to the brink of bankruptcy. As if lockdowns didn't do enough needless damage?

And let's not forget inflation is at a 30-year high, crazy high government spending is out of control, already leaving us with a gargantuan federal debt that will surpass $30 trillion by the end of the year. And to add insult to injury, the White House and Democratic Congress just passed another spending bill that will add another $2 trillion to the national credit card! Is Washington government run amok or what?

That is why there has never been a better time to diversify and invest in precious metals. Whatever minor fluctuations there are in year-to-year markets, precious metal investments are some of the most sound and rewarding, according to financial experts. And silver is your perfect option. As one charter financial analyst and precious metal expert estimated: "Uptrend in Silver Prices Looks Promising, Might Hit $50 per Ounce."

So, why not start or add to your silver collection with the brand-new Chuck Norris Silver Coin? Each coin weighs 31.10g, contains 1.0 Troy Ounce of 0.999 pure Silver, and is the size of a Silver Eagle. The reverse of the coin is engraved with the 5 principles for life that my mother instilled in me: Faith, Family, Fitness, Freedom, and Fight. A Certificate of Authenticity is included. The obverse of the coin features the Niue effigies Coat of Arms and Public Seal. This first-ever, legal tender Chuck Norris coin comes ready to showcase and enjoy with its own real wood display stand and patriotic packaging as an ode to my and others' military service.

Norris also wamts you to know that this coin -- worthless outside of its silver value (which in itself doesn't make it the "legal tender" Norris claims it is) and alleged collectible -- makes a great Christmas gift, and that he had this extremely stilted conversation with his mother:

My 100-year-young mom was so thrilled to receive her first Chuck Norris Silver Coin. As she did, she said to me, reflecting back upon the struggle of our family's early years in poverty, "This sure will buy a lot of caramels!" We both laughed out loud!

But then I said quite seriously, "Mom, thanks to our GOLDCO precious metal investments, we and our family will never have to face a future of financial uncertainty again."

My wife, Gena, and I pray your family members will be able to say the same. We believe they can, and it all could start with gifting them their first limited edition Chuck Norris Silver Coin. Supplies are limited, and the coins are almost all gone, so please get yours today here.

You mean all those years of TV andmovie acting didn't shore up Norris' finances? Or even the money GOLDCO is paying Norris to turn his column into the crassest form of self-promotional advertising?

NEW ARTICLE: CNS And The False School Board Narrative
Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com parroted its Media Research Center parent in pushing the falsehood that a national school boards group and the Justice Department want to criminalize all people who speak out at school board meetings. Read more >>

MRC Psaki-Bashing, Doocy-Fluffing Watch, Doocy-Free Edition
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center's Curtis Houck found a biased right-wing reporter whose name wasn't Peter Doocy to ask hostile questions to  Jen Psaki during the Dec. 6 White House press briefing:

During Monday’s episode of The Psaki Show, New York Post reporter Steven Nelson made the most of his infrequent opportunities to question Press Secretary Jen Psaki by invoking news about Hunter Biden’s Chinese business dealings and Miranda Devine’s new book about Hunter’s laptop. However, Psaki wanted nothing to do with either of them

Nelson began by citing a new and “big report” out of the Biden administration concerning “corruption” as a way of asking “two quick and hopefully pretty easy questions about that”(which ironically cited art sales as a key vehicle for money laundering).

[...]

Predictably, Psaki dismissed its importance since “the President’s son is not an employee of the federal government, so I’d point you to his representatives.”

As for the Devine book, The Laptop From Hell, Nelson said he “was hoping that you could confirm that the laptop is indeed authentic and not Russian disinformation as you seemed to suggest on Twitter last year.”

Psaki’s answer? She was even less interested: “And, as it relates to the book, I have neither had the time nor interest in exploring or reading the book.”

Nelson attempted to follow up, but Psaki wanted to go to the next reporter, arguing she had “answered your question” and reiterated he “can go to the representative of the person who’s not an employee of the federal government.”

Houck didn't mention that Nelson was shilling for his employer -- Devine is a fellow New York Post writer -- or that the Post is a right-wing newspaper owned by Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch.

Houck had another Doocy-less briefing on Dec. 7, but he found another Fox reporter to crush on for pushing her employer's anti-Biden talking points:

Tuesday’s White House press briefing was jam-packed amid Russian troops gathering on the border with Ukraine and a high-stakes call between President Biden and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, so it was a welcome sight when Fox’s Jacqui Heinrich and others highlighted the U.S.’s acquiescence to Russia on the Nord Stream II pipeline, Biden’s lack of public comments about the tensions, and whether he’ll handle it differently than Afghanistan.

Following lengthy remarks and a Q&A with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, CBS’s Nancy Cordes set up Press Secretary Jen Psaki by wondering whether the White House has “put plans in place in case Americans in Ukraine need to be evacuated quickly.”

[...]

As for Heinrich, she had two questions about Nord Stream II with one pertaining to whether the administration regrets greenlighting it and about whether they believe Russia is “using gas as a geopolitical weapon.”

[...]

Heinrich ended with a question on rising crime and specifically whether the White House agrees with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) that claims of a rise in smash-and-grab robberies are fake news:

Then, for unexplained reasons, Houck took the rest of the week off. Perhaps Psaki-bashing isn't enough if he can't also engage n Doocy-fluffing?

More COVID Misinfo Courtesy of Joel Hirschhorn
Topic: WorldNetDaily

The torrent of COVID misinformation from WorldNetDaily columnist Joel Hirschhorn has not abated. In his Nov. 16 column, he continued to insist that mRNA-based COVID vaccines are actually gene therapy, and the government is lying by calling them vaccines:

The Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, once was a federal agency that nearly everyone respected. That no longer is the case. Now there are many reasons why the CDC should be widely disrespected. With over 10,000 Americans dying weekly from COVID-19, the CDC is not protecting public health. Its latest debacle is how it changed the definition of "vaccine."

Just imagine this: The entire push for COVID "vaccines" was based on a lie – they did not meet the official CDC definition of a vaccine. Through deception, the government could coerce the entire population to get the shot. Calling them "vaccines" was the biggest lie from Anthony Fauci and the key to drug companies making many billions of dollars.

Why would the government's key public health agency change the definition of what a vaccine is in the midst of a pandemic? And after millions of Americans have taken the shot? Now millions more are being beaten into taking it for the first time and others to get booster shots.

Here is the key point. It became widely recognized by medical experts and informed citizens that COVID vaccines clearly did not fit the official CDC vaccine definition. CDC thought the answer was not to fix what was deficient with the vaccines or stop their use by most people, as so many medical experts advised. The agency's response was to change the vaccine definition to fit the so-called vaccines.

This was done so that vaccine mandates could keep getting pushed by the government. Of course, the COVID "vaccines" should be referred to as gene therapy products, even more accurate than calling them experimental vaccines.

Again: mRNA vaccines are not gene therapy because they do not alter your genes.

Hirschhorn ranted against vaccines again in his Nov. 23 column:

Big Government, Big Pharma and Big Media have colluded to keep pushing mass COVID vaccination despite all the evidence that it is not stopping spread of the virus. High vaccination rates are not producing good results in many counties, states and countries.

Americans may not be mentally prepared to hear the really bad news: The COVID pandemic is not going to end What the government is doing (and not doing) will ensure no end to the pandemic. Keeping it going means more money for big drug companies and more preventable deaths.

 

[...]

An endless pandemic will mean billions of dollars going to big drug companies for vaccines and a new group of expensive pills announced by Merck and Pfizer; the U.S. government is paying $700 for the former and $500 for the latter treatment. They want to compete with cheap, established early treatment protocols, including use of ivermectin.

Here is the crucial point to keep in mind. Current vaccines, including booster shots, do not kill the virus and do not prevent spread of the virus from fully vaccinated people. And the loss of effectiveness, especially for variants like delta, explains why countless more people will get breakthrough infections that are killing some people, like what happened to Colin Powell recently.

Hirschhorn went on to reference one of his favorite COVID misinformers, "the eminent Dr. Peter McCollough," as well as Steve Kirsch, another misinformer who rants against vaccines and pushes dubious treatments like hydroxychloroquine. He continued to rant:

The government keeps the pandemic alive by pushing high numbers of cases, though these are not very meaningful medically speaking. They are not accurate measures of serious COVID infection. PCR testing is commonly manipulated to yield positive results by running the test beyond 25 cycles. That manipulation promotes vaccination. But positive tests say little about whether the infection is serious, which it is not for nearly all people. We approach 50 million cases in the U.S., but only about 1.6% are COVID deaths (mostly for elderly people).

This should be clear: Mass vaccination and mandates will not end the pandemic. But there is no hint that government leaders are interested in taking a new fresh approach to addressing the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of people will die unnecessarily in the U.S. and even more globally. More deadly than the virus are feckless government officials.

In his Dec. 3 column, Hirschhorn rushed to embrace the analysis of "esteemed senior French scientist Dr. Jacques Fantini" regarding the Omicron variant -- even though its existence had only been made public just a few days earlier and much of the news coverage was speculative:

A review of studies found unequivocally that COVID vaccines do not stop viral transmission, with no difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated people. So, all real-world evidence is that omicron cannot be effectively addressed by COVID vaccines. Together with Fantini's work, the proper conclusion it that omicron will not be very transmissible nor be more infective than delta.

Because mutations will continue to produce variants, it is critically important to use the work of Fantini to accurately assess whether or not a new variant should evoke the fears and government responses that have sprung up so quickly for omicron.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Omicron has proven to be much more transissible than even the Delta variant, given how rapidly it has become the dominant variant the U.S.

Newsmax Censors Full Story About Abortion Pill Reversal
Topic: Newsmax

Eric Mack "reported" like he was writing a press release in a Nov. 8 Newsmax article:

A group of pro-life doctors is launching a campaign to promote "abortion-pill reversal" (APR) for women who suddenly regret their decision to take a chemical abortion pill.

"The Abortion Pill Rescue Network needs pro-life medical professionals like you to provide urgent care to women who regret starting medication abortions," the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) website reads. "Abortion Pill Reversal uses Progesterone to reverse the effects of Mifepristone."

The APR can halt and reverse the effects of unwanted chemical abortions, and the website urges pro-life doctors to become providers and educate women on the life-saving drug.

"Abortion Pill Reversal is a method of attempting to block or reverse the effect of mifepristone on the developing fetus in order to save the life of the preborn child for women who regret their abortion decision," the website reads. "It is based on basic pharmacokinetic principles and the existing literature shows that it is safe and effective."

In fact, there's lots of evidence that abortion pill reversal is not "safe and effective," and little evidence that it works at all. Critics of the procedure have noted that studies claiming success are undermined by shoddy methodology,  and another study had to be halted because patients were suffering severe bleeding.

It seems Mack is taking the "news" out of Newsmax.

CNS Unemployment Coverage Distortion Watch
Topic: CNSNews.com

CNSNews.com reporter Susan Jones primed the upcoming report on November's emloyment numbers with a Dec. 1 article noting that both Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell agree that the "single most important thing" that will bring workers back into the workforce is "getting past the COVID-induced disruptions." She also tried to justify her selective obsession with the labor force participation rate (which occurs only when a Democrat is president) by cheering a Republican senator referencing it, then adding:

According to the Congressional Budget Office, "Labor force participation is an important component of economic growth: As more people participate in the labor force, firms are able to expand employment and increase production."  

Moreover, CBO notes: "Greater labor force participation is associated with higher tax revenues because the number of employed people, and therefore the number of people paying income and payroll taxes, tends to rise. It is also associated with lower spending on means-tested programs (which provide cash payments or other forms of assistance to people with relatively low income or few assets), such as Medicaid, and on refundable tax credits.”

Thus, in her Dec. 3 article after November's numbers came out, she led once again with the labor force particiipation rate, though it was actually good news:

In November, 99,977,000 people in this country did not have a job and were not looking for one -- a decrease of 473,000 since October and the lowest number since Joe Biden became president, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday.

This number reached a record high of 103,418,000 in April 2020, the fourth month of the coronavirus pandemic, and it has remained above 100,000,000 for 14 straight months until now.

Among those not in the labor force in November, 1.2 million people said were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic, little changed from October.

Interestingly, Jones avoided mentioning who was president in April 2020. Also interestingly, she waited until the 11th paragraph of her article to mention the very good news that the unemployment rate went down to 4.2 percent. But Trump did get a name-check from Jones, when she once again reminded us of how good the economy was under him before the pandemic:

The labor force participation rate reached a Trump-era high of 63.4 percent in January 2020, just before the onset of COVID. In April 2020, the rate fell to a 47-year low of 60.2 percent. It has moved up since then, but until this month, it remained within a narrow range of 61.4 percent to 61.7 percent since June 2020.

Jones also rehashed her obsession with the labor force rate again, while also looking down on anyone who isn't working:

BLS describes labor force participation as an important labor market measure because it represents the relative amount of labor resources available for the production of goods and services.

Also, people who work contribute payroll and Social Security taxes that help support programs for people who do not work.

CNS didn't supply any of its usual sidebars on government employmenet and Hispanic employment. Perhaps that news was too good, and good economic news when a Democrat is president is bad news for CNS.

MRC Amplifies Its Lie About Networks Pushing Border Patrol Whips Claim
Topic: Media Research Center

A while back, we busted Media Research Center writer Nicholas Fondacaro for falsely asserting that evening network newscasts reported that Border Patrol agents on horseback were whipping Haitian migrants -- despite the fact that none of the cliips he supplied ever showed anyone using the word "whips." Curtis Houc repeated thte lie in a Nov. 17 post:

On Tuesday night, the liberal major broadcast networks ignored on an important update to the investigation on the fake whips story along the southern border as the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general declined to investigate claims that Border Patrol agents used whips in September against Haitians illegally crossing into the U.S., passing the probe onto its Office of Professional Responsibility.

Of course, NewsBusters readers may recall that, when such claims were leveled on the week of September 19, ABC, CBS, NBC, and a whole host of fellow liberal outlets eagerly claimed without evidence that border officials were engaged in racism by whipping Black people longing to seek the American Dream. 

And just as they’ve done with the Steele dossier, the media are refusing to admit their mistake.

Despite the fact that they have been debunked, Houck went on to link to Fondacaro's discredited posts to bolster his own bogus argument:

Flashing back to September, these networks were eager to boast of these debunked claims as if they were fact. 

On ABC, World News Tonight anchor David Muir boasted on September 20 that they were “alarming images” and correspondent Kenneth Moton dubbed it “chaos and despair.” CBS correspondent Manuel Bojorquez was similarly unconcerned about facts that day, claiming U.S. officials were “threatening” illegal immigrants “with what appears to be horses reins or ropes.” Predictably, Telemundo also joined in the misinformation campaign.

The next night, the same two networks were up to no good while ABC kept up the lie into September 22.

Again: Fondacaro never quoted anyone from CBS or ABC using the word "whips."

Houck concluded: "If the liberal media admitted their mistakes, perhaps more people would trust them." How ironic that Houck made that statement while spreading a lie he will never admit telling, let alone apologize for.

CNS -- Which Touted Silver Linings To Pandemic -- Complains That Harris Sees 'Opportunity'
Topic: CNSNews.com

Susan Jones complained in a Nov. 12 CNSNews.com article:

Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at the Paris Peace Forum on Thursday, focused on what she called the "dramatic rise in inequality" -- gaps between the rich and the poor that she says were made worse and more visible by the global coronavirus pandemic.

She called the pandemic "an opportunity" to address those gaps.

Then, at a news conference on Friday, Harris said she and other world leaders discussed "what should be the norms and the rules of the 21st Century."

[...]

Today, at a news conference marking the end of her visit to Paris, Harris said it's up to the United States and its partners and allies to "focus on what should be the norms and the rules of the 21st century."

"We are at the beginning of a new era, as highlighted by the pandemic, to be sure. But also marked by the increasing awareness...of the climate crisis and immanency of that and the urgency of this moment. Technology, what it has done in terms of creating opportunities but also creating real concerns about security.

"We are at the beginning of a new era," Harris repeated.

Jones diidn't mention that, as we've documented, CNS previously had no problem publishing writers who claimed to find silver linings in the pandemic:

• Managing editor Michael W. Chapman touted evangelist Anne Graham Lotz. who claimed to find a "blessing in the coronavirus" in that God is perhaps using the pandemic "to get our attention so that we will listen to His message," and that this will spark a "national spiritual renewal."
• CNS published a column by Tony Perkins of the conservative Family Research Council literally headlined "A Silver Lining to the Dark Cloud of COVID-19," in which he gushed that while thousands may have died, but people are "turning to God"
• A CNS column by John Stonestreet and Shane Morris promoted the alleged silver lining that divorce rates have gone down during the pandemic.
• A CNS column by Stan Greer of the National Institute for Labor Relations Research declared of the pandemic: "One potential silver lining of this catastrophe is that it could force many elected officials in states that have granted monopoly-bargaining privileges to government union bosses at last to recognize that they have a duty to revoke all such privileges."
• Erica Sanzi declared in her Oct. 15 CNS column: "It feels wrong to assert that there might have been a silver lining to the pandemic, but if one does exist, it’s that so many families got a front row seat for their children’s day-to-day education and were deeply unhappy with what they saw."
  

Jones didn't explain why these CNS columnists and writers are allowed to find silver liniings in a pandemic that "killed millions" but Harris isn't.

NEW ARTICLE -- The MRC's War on Jen Psaki (And Man-Crush On Peter Doocy): October 2021
Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center's Curtis Houck pulls back a bit on his obsessive, predictable Doocy-fluffing and Psaki-bashing. Read more >>

Trump Trashes Farah's Daughter -- And Farah Stays Silent
Topic: WorldNetDaily

On Nov. 15, Donald Trump went nuclear on one of his former White House staffers, Alyssa Farah, after she did a guest stint on "The View" and -- presumably more triggering -- said in a CNN interview that she had a conversation with Trump before leaving the White House in which he admitted he lost the election:

Heard that Alyssa Farah was terrible on The View – they could have asked the people who know her and saved a lot of time. She was a “backbencher” in the White House, and is now a nobody again. We put her out there to face the public as little as possible. It’s amazing how these people leave with respect and adoration for me and others in the White House, but as soon as CNN or other cameras get shoved in their face, or the losers from the The View ask a question, or money gets thrown at them, or someone writes a fake book, inglorious lightweights like Farah change so quickly. I watched this clown on television saying exactly what they wanted her to say and I watched the lies. Was she paid by low-ratings CNN? By the way, as soon as the Crime of the Century happened on November 3rd, I knew the Election was Rigged and Stolen, and never changed my view on that one bit. I did not go soft on the “Real” Big Lie, the Election Scam, and never will. Backbencher said I told her I lost the Election – never did. I virtually never even spoke to Farah (it’s like she didn’t even exist in the White House). Anybody who ever says that I thought the Election was legit, even for a moment, is wrong. All you have to do is look at the thousands of pages of documents and evidence-which continues to mount. When we told Alyssa to “hit the road,” she wrote a very nice letter stating that working for “Trump” was “the honor of a lifetime” and she was “deeply proud of the incredible things we were able to accomplish to make our country stronger, safer, and more secure.” Show the rest of the letter Alyssa, and explain why you wrote it!

And what was the reaction at WorldNetDaily, the website run by Alyssa's father, Joseph Farah? Crickets. In the month-plus since Trump's rant, Joseph Farah has not mentioned it in any of his columns, and no WND "news' story has mentioned it.

We've documented the apparent rift between Joseph Farah and his daughter. He is firmly in thrall to Donald Trump and an enthusiastic promoter of Trump's Big Lie that the election was stolen from him; Alyssa Farah, meanwhile, stepped down from her last Trump White House job as communications director about a month before the Jan. 6 riot because, she said, she could no longer stomach Trump's refusal to admit that he lost.Since then, she has said that Trump demonstrated "a flagrant lack of regard for public health and for the well-being of others" by keeping a positive COVID test secret for days until it was ultimately revealed, and she has also signed on to be a commentator at CNN, which presumably galls her father too. She also got married recently, and she happened to be on her honeymoon when Trump dropped his rant dissing her.

There's a lot going on in her life, yet you will read nothing about it at WND. Joseph Farah is clearly too afraid of the fallout from his beloved Trump if he defends his daughter against him. But even then, you'd think he would be proud enough of his daughter's marraige to declare a point of personal privilege and mention it in one of his weekday columns. Instead, nothing but crickets.

There's definitely an ongoing rift in the Farah family, and it appears it won't be repaired anytime soon.

From Vile To Victim: The MRC's Flip-Flop on Dave Portnoy
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center used to understatnd that Barstool Sports and its founder Dave Portnoy were terrible, and it even called them out as such.

In October 2017, Jay Maxson cheered ESPN ending a partnership with Barstool Sports, "one of several vulgar media catering to left-wingers," which occurred after "revelations of Barstool's 2014 misogynistic trashing of ESPN's Samantha Ponder (see photograph) came to light." Maxson also noted a YouTube video by Portnoy that "viciously attacked Ponder," adding, "No self-respecting media organization would go within a hundred miles of people like this." In 2019, Maxson criticized a Barstool Sports writer for trying to "excuse away the recent arrest of [New England Patriots] team owner Robert Kraft on the charge of soliciting sex."

However, the MRC didn't heed Maxson's advice about not getting close to Portnoy. An April 2020 post by Jonas Wells touted how "Barstool Sports President, Dave Portnoy" -- no mention of the vile misogyny that goes on with him and his site -- "kept his opinion short and to the point," attacking sportswriter Jemele Hill as "absolutely idiotic" for pointing out that Kraft flying a planeload a N95 masks from China at the start of the pandemic had more to do with his being a buddy of Donald Trump than any magnamious motives.

In September 2020, as a way to attack "The View" co-host Sunny Hostin for the offenise of criticizing right-wing-friendly podcaster Joe Rogan, Kristine Marsh hyped criticism of Portnoy Hostin had made a few months earlier, noting after an interview Portnoy conducted with Trump that "over a dozen women, Barstool Sports reporters refused to sit down with HBO because they feared rape threats, he’s been on video using the n-word and, so, it’s not surprising to me that Trump would sit down with someone with that kind of reputation." Marsh linked to a Fox News article on Portnoy's response, in which he narrowly complained that Hostin told a "flat lie" because he "never made a rape threat." In Marsh's post, however, there was no reference to rape threats, only a statement that Portnoy "pushed back on saying she lied about him."

Portnoy got sanitized further in a December 2020 post by Joseph Vazquez, who gushed that Portnoy "exemplified the Christmas spirit by raising millions of dollars to help small businesses suffering under state-imposed lockdowns. The “ Barstool Fund ” has amassed a whopping $6,687,624 with 60,929 supporters so far. The funds have already helped 19 small businesses." Vazquez made not mention of the skeeviness of Portnoy or his website.

From there, it was a short trip to full victimhood, as he ultimnately met the MRC threshhold of getting brieflly suspended by Twitter. Autumn Johnson sympathetically wrote in a June 18 post:

Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, was inexplicably suspended from Twitter on Friday.

@BFFsPod, the Twitter account for the weekly podcast hosted by Portnoy and TikTok star, Josh Richards, tweeted screenshot of Portnoy's account with the message "Account suspended."

The account tweeted out the screenshot along with the newly trending hashtag, #FREEPORTNOY. The podcast added that “you’ll want to tune into next week’s episode.”

Although Twitter appeared to provide no reason as to why Portnoy was suspended, The Daily Wire reported that some users speculated that he was targeted after he threatened to “drop my nuts on your head” during a debate on Penn National Gaming stock.

However, the platform’s terms of service allow it to suspend accounts for little to no reason.

Johnson didn't explain why she didn't find that remark offensive. Instead, she continued to portray Portnoy as a peach of a guy, highlighting how "Portnoy talked with Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire about why he is willing to engage with critics on social media."

Believe it or not, the MRC went even farther than that by giving Portnoy a pass on his personal sleaziness. When Business Insider published an account of numerous women who described humiliating and violent sexual encounters with Portnoy, Tierin-Rose Mandelburg used her Nov. 17 podcast to not only declare that Portnoy was a victim of a "hit piece," shes completely refused to pass judgment on Portnoy despite the disturbing details in the article because he's allegedly a real "American":

Beleive it or not, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy was just censored. Portnoy doesn't come off as politically right or left, but he does come off as American and supports the idea of saying whatever you want. That's a concept the left doesn't like. Now. I'm not going to sit here a defend Dave Portnoy. He's had his slew of sexual misconduct allegations that you could look at and and believe or not on your own time.

Having washed her hands of moral judgment of Portnoy -- even though moral judgment is kinda the MRC's thing -- Mandelburg complained that Twitter temporarily locked Portnoy out of his account, allegedly because he posted a conversation between him and Business Insider editors when the refused to appear on Portnoy's podcast. She offered noproofthis is what happened, but declared that "Insider is clearly leftist and so is Twitter, so it makes sense."

That's the level of "media research" the MRC has descended to these days -- all for the benefit of anyone who can help advance its right-wing agenda, no matter how sleazy. It's another example of the MRC mainstreaming extreme and/or terrible people to own the libs.

Yes, Mr. Brown, It *Is* Fake Outrage
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Another attempt from WorldNetDaily to push dishonest right-wing narratives about schools came in a Oct. 27 column by Michael Brown, under the headline "No, Mr. Obama, this is not 'fake outrage'":

Former President Obama made a terrible mistake when he said earlier this week in Virginia, "We don't have time to be wasted on these phony trumped-up culture wars, this fake outrage, the right-wing media's peddles to juice their ratings."

Mr. Obama, the culture wars are anything but trumped-up, the outrage is quite real, and this is hardly a right-wing publicity stunt to generate ratings. Quite the contrary.

The people of Virginia – more specifically, the parents of Virginia – and the nation are saying enough is enough. You do not mess with their children.

[...]

Mr. Obama, was the Loudoun County, Virginia, school board "just trying to keep [the] kids safe" when they hid the fact that a girl had been raped in the girls' room by a boy wearing a skirt?

And was it their zeal to keep the kids safe that moved them to allow males to use the girls' bathroom based solely on a boy's preference? Really?

As we've documented when the Media Research Center tried to exploit the issue, that sexual assault was much more complicated than the transphobic Brown would have you believe. The boy and girl had previously had sexual relations before in this very same bathroom, and this encounter began with the girl inviting the boy to the bathroom for sex; the girl withdrew consent, the boy wouldn't stop, and that's when it became a sexual assault. Also, the assault occurred well before the Loudoun County schol district started discussions about transgender rights for stiudents, so the assault had absolutely no connection with it.

Brtown concluded:

For many years now, I have been saying that the left will overplay its hand, resulting in a cultural pushback. Be assured that the pushback is very real – not trumped up, not fake and not the creation of right-wing news media. Let the parents lead the way!

Ah, but it very much was the creation of right-wing media. Why? Because they wanted a Republican, Glenn Youngkin, to be elected governor of Virginia, and hyping hot-button culture-war issues was considered the best way to do that. Curiously, Brown made no mention of this race in the context of these issues being hyped, outside of a reference to Terry McAuliffe that didn't even mention that he was the Democratic candidate for governor against Youngkin. 

As we've also noted, the fact that right-wing media largely abandonded the story after it served its purpose by getting Youngkin elected more demonstrates how fake that outrage was. 

Indeed, Brown cheered how the culture wars got Youngkin elected in his Nov. 3 column, insisting that it showed "the culture wars are real, and parents have said enough is enough. Whether the issue was the dangerous, radical transgender agenda in children's schools ... or a destructive, overemphasis on racism in school curricula ... it appears that the voters spoke on these issues too." He went on to gloat that "it appears that the shocking news that the rape of a Loudoun County teenage girl in the girls' bathroom by a boy wearing a skirt was covered up by the local school board drew a sharp response from many parents. (And remember: the apparent cover-up was in the specific context of supporting transgender extremism in the schools.)"

So, yes, the culture wars were manufactured here to get a Republican elected. But Brown will never admit that truth, because his livelihbood of hating LGBT people depends on those culture wars looking as organic as he can make them. And part of that manufactured culture-war outrage is loudly insisting that it isn't being manufactured.

Newsmax Personnel Roundup: Fewer Anti-Vaxxers, More Accused Sexual Harassers (And A Turkish Propgandist)
Topic: Newsmax

It looks like Newsmax will be down a couple anti-vaxxers on its staff.

After making a huge ruckus about Newsmax's proposed vaccine mandate  policy for its employees, host Steve Cortes has left Newsmax, though it's unclear whether he quit or was fired. Numerous other issues appear to have played a part, inculding Cortes' allegedly terrible ratings. Meanwhile, Newsmax's White House correspondent Emerald Robinson has officially departed; she had been taken off the air in early November after she was caught spouting bizarre, bogus COVID conspriacy theories on Twitter.

Newsmax announced Robinson's replacement -- while remaining comploetely silent about the fact that he was a replacement -- in a Dec. 7 article by Brian Truesdell:

Newsmax announced today that veteran Washington reporter James Rosen will join the network as Chief White House Correspondent.

Rosen’s move to Newsmax — the nation’s fourth highest-rated cable news channel — marks an exciting new chapter in a singular journalism career.

As a top correspondent at Fox News and the Sinclair Broadcast Group over the last two decades, Rosen has reported from the White House, the State Department, Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court, the Pentagon, and the campaign trail. He has filed stories from nearly all 50 states and some 40 foreign countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, China, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, and Haiti.

[...]

"James Rosen is not only a reporter’s reporter, but also a great thinker and author who can share complex issues on a TV screen and explain them in clear and understandable ways," Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media, said.

"We are pleased and proud to have him as a key part of our growing news team," Ruddy added.

Not only did Truesdell fail to mention that Rosen was replacing Robinson, he forgot to note that Rosen left Fox News under a cloud of sexual misconduct allegations. NPR reported that Rosen "had an established pattern of flirting aggressively with many peers and had made sexual advances toward three female Fox News journalists, including two reporters and a producer." Adding that Rosen is "married with young children." NPR continued:

In the winter following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, a female Fox News reporter joined the bureau from New York. In a shared cab ride back from a meal, Rosen groped her, grabbing her breast. After she rebuffed his advance, Rosen sought to steal away her sources and stories related to his interests in diplomacy and national security. That's according to four colleagues who say she relayed the episode as a warning about Rosen's behavior. The reporter declined to comment for this story. (NPR has decided not to name the women in this article as they have not granted permission to do so.)

In a subsequent episode several years later, a female producer covering the State Department alleged that Rosen had directly sexually harassed her. A foreign national, she subsequently accepted a deal from Fox that enabled her to extend her stay in the U.S. in exchange for not making her complaint public, according to several of her former colleagues. The producer, who now works for a foreign-based news organization, is abroad with family and did not respond to several detailed messages left by email and phone seeking comment.

Late last spring, Rosen turned his attention to a younger female reporter, according to two colleagues who say she told them of the incident shortly afterward. Returning from a lunch together, Rosen physically tried to kiss her in the elevator ride back to the office, and once refused, attempted forcibly to kiss her again. According to a colleague, he then asked the reporter to keep the approach quiet and offered her unsolicited help in getting more time on Bret Baier's nightly political newscast, Special Report.

At Newsmax, Rosen joins Eric Bolling as another former Fox News host who is also an accused sexual harasser.

Also, Nancy Pelosi rather famously dismissed Rosen as "Mr. Republican Talking Points." Of course, being Mr. Republican Talking Points is a key reason that Newsmax hired him.

On the other hand, Newsmax seems to be taking cues from Fox News' history of objectifying females by having attractive women on-air. A Dec. 20 article announced the hiring of Sarah Williamson as New York correspondent; she comes to Newsmax from Israeli channel i24. Williamson was reportedly called the "world's most beautiful news anchor," and she allegedly left i24 after lashing out at her native country of Australia over COVID lockdowns, ranting that "brainwashed" Aussies were living in a "totalitarian society" and huffing that "I'm not proud to be Australian at the moment." Sounds like she'll fit in fairly well at Newsmax.

Meanwhile, Newsmax is pulling new hires out of much more obscure places. A Dec. 13 article announced the hiring of Kilmeny Duchart as a congressional correspondent; her previous job was as host of a U.S.-based show for the Turkish TV channel TRT World, a network that is actually a propaganda outlet for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But, hey, being a skilled propagandist is not an impediment to getting hired at Newsmax.

UPDATE: Media Matters has a list of all the accused sexual harassers working for Newsmax.

CNS Falsely Portrays Biden, China's Xi As 'Old Friends'
Topic: CNSNews.com

Patrick Goodenough uncritically wrote in a Nov. 16 CNSNews.com article headlined "China’s Xi Greets ‘Old Friend’ Biden, Urges ‘Peace’ and ‘Win-Win Cooperation’":

“I’m very happy to see my old friend,” Chinese President Xi Jinping told President Biden on Monday evening as the two began what Biden said would be a “candid and forthright discussion.”

Speaking through an interpreter and appearing on television screens in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Xi said that the world’s two largest economies “need to increase communication and cooperation.”

Because Goodenough likes making Biden look bad, he didn't explain that despite Xi's greeting,Biden does not see Xi as an "old friend."As a news organization that cares about fully reporting on issues explained:

Asked what Xi was getting at -- and if Xi was trying to undermine the U.S. -- White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates didn't answer directly, but reiterated that Biden doesn't see Xi as an "old friend."

"I'm not going to speak for President Xi," Bates told a reporter on Air Force One as Biden headed to New Hampshire.

"But like you just mentioned," Bates continued, "you've heard explicitly from the president himself, that he has a longstanding relationship with President Xi. They've spent a great deal of time together. They are able to have candid discussions, be direct with each other, which helps them be productive. But he does not consider President Xi an old friend."

[...]

Experts have tried to interpret Xi's use of the phrase -- whether it was genuine goodwill or meant to gain control of the narrative over Biden.

Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, told Reuters Xi's use of the phrase is a show of genuine goodwill, while Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Renmin University of China, told the news outlet "an 'old friend' doesn't necessarily mean he is still a real friend."

This isn't even the first time Goodenough has done this. He wrote in a June 16 article:

President Biden was asked Wednesday whether, given how much time he says he has spent in the past with Chinese President Xi Jinping, he would consider calling him up – “old friend to old friend” – and urge him to cooperate in the coronavirus origin investigation.

Biden, who was taking reporters’ questions after the U.S.-Russia summit in Geneva, disputed the characterization of Xi as an “old friend,” but did not otherwise answer the question.

Goodenough censored two things about this exchange: Biden's full, forceful response -- "Let’s get something straight. We know each other well. We’re not old friends. It’s just pure business" -- and the fact that the question was asked by Fox News' Peter Doocy. As we noted, Doocy's hostile question was such a screw-up on his part that Curtis Houck, his biggest champion at CNS's parent, the Media Research Center, buried the exchange in his usual Doocy-fluffing reports on White House press briefings.