NewsBusters h/t:
Biased Media
The Same Media Outlets (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington-Washington Post-USA Today-AP and Reuters) That Sued The Bush Admin Are Quiet Now? Hmmmm
Rachel Maddow Crazy Rants Refuted
This is a great story coming from Big Journolism, let me post a summation of it here:
Rachel Maddow does in her extremely lame attempt to prove that Fox News in general and Bill O’Reilly in particular are trying to make white people afraid of black people. She gives us the following examples:
- The Shirley Sherrod video
- ACORN sting videos
- Van Jones is a Marxist
- Eugene Robinson “traffics in racism”
- Black/White divide on limited government
Here is John Sexton’s response:
- On the Sherrod video, O’Reilly’s report didn’t appear until after she’d been fired at which point it quickly became national news. CNN also ran the clip twice the same night. Is Anderson Cooper trying to scare white people too?
- …Clark Hoyt, ombudsman at the New York Times, looked at all the evidence and concluded that the manufactured sideshow about what the pair wore did not change the fact that they had presented themselves as a pimp and prostitute, nor did it cause the entire sting to unravel…
- As for Van Jones, he is a self-identified Marxist and co-founder of the explicitly communist group STORM. You can read a pdf put out by the group itself here…
- Eugene Robinson writes frequently about racial topics, including this defense of Harry Reid’s statements about the “light-skinned” President. I don’t consider that piece racism, but Robinson definitely traffics in race. Maybe O’Reilly misspoke. Even if he didn’t, where exactly is the fear factor here…
- As for Maddow’s final clip, to which she devotes the most screen time, O’Reilly was discussing the findings of this Gallup survey. How can Maddow, minutes after blasting O’Reilly for his stance on the Sherrod video, then edit the clip of O’Reilly so dishonestly that viewers will have no idea of the proper context of his statements? That level of bullpucky should give Maddow whiplash, but apparently it doesn’t.
…(read more)…
LA Weekly Editor Slams Media
Fired for Saying Dems Received More Oil Money
This goes out to a NewsBusters h/t:
Long-time DC TV news anchor Doug McKelway has been suspended by local ABC affiliate WJLA-TV (owned by Allbritton Communications, the same people who own the paper and website Politico) after a standup report last month from a liberal cap-and-trade rally trying to capitalize on the BP oil spill.
“According to several of McKelway’s colleagues,” reported Paul Farhi in The Washington Post, “the newsman’s reporting may have lapsed into partisan territory when he commented live on the air about the oil industry’s influence in Washington, particularly its contributions to Democratic politicians and legislators” — which must have included bigtime BP recipient Barack Obama.
Don’t question the Democrats from a liberal protest! Then came trouble: “The episode led to a meeting between McKelway and Bill Lord, WJLA’s station manager and news director, that featured sharp exchanges between them,” anonymous WJLA sources told the Post. They insisted the issue wasn’t the lines about Democrats, but about “insubordination.”
[….]
When asked late last month by morning radio host Elliot Segal if he had been fired, McKelway said, “All I can say is, I got a great lawyer.”
…(read more)…
The Michael Jordan of Political Commentary Slam Dunks Again!
NewsBusters h/t:
NewsBusters Top 5
…(read more)…
- …how CNN’s Kyra Phillips was the original Gossip Girl [“Oops! CNN Airs Anchor’s Girl Talk Over Bush Speech” August 29, 2006]
- …why dogs are NOT a liberal journalist’s best friend [“Dog Urinates on Katie Couric Ice Scultpture” from December 9, 2005]
- …how geography clearly wasn’t Ann Curry’s best subject in school [“NBC’s Ann Curry Can’t Find Illinois on Map” from February 4, 2008]
- …how typos can be really inconvenient in the age of Osama Obama [“Oops! During Segment on Bin Laden, CNN Graphic Asks ‘Where’s Obama?’ from January 2, 2007]
JournoList & Names (Trevor Loudon-Part Two)
Here is part of an article by Trevor Loudon entitled, “Socialist ‘JournoListas’.” It is a very imprtant aspect of the JournoList (JourNOlist) story. For all the links out and emphasis on persons and writing, please read Trevor’s post… it is very important!
JournoList was not just a bunch of “liberal’ journos with too much time on their hands.
It was a network of high level opinion makers, united by a “progressive” vision for America. They believed that their superior judgment and insight obligated them to present Americans with a view of reality that they would be too stupid and reactionary to grasp unaided.
At least a few, perhaps many, were committed Marxists who saw journalism, not as a profession, but as a revolutionary tool.
This disgraceful episode should dispel forever the “progressive” lie that the American MainStreamMedia and its “liberal” core, can be trusted to uphold the objective standards of their profession.
- Marc Ambinder – The Atlantic
- Greg Anrig – The Century Foundation
- Ryan Avent – Economist
- Dean Baker – The American Prospect. in 2009 Dean Baker was a Contributing Editor for In These Times.
- Nick Baumann – Mother Jones
- Josh Bearman – LA Weekly
- Steven Benen – The Carpetbagger Report
- Jared Bernstein – Economic Policy Institute
- Michael Berube – Crooked Timber (blog), Pennsylvania State University. In April 2003, Michael Berube signed a “Statement on Cuba,” initiated and circulated by prominent Democratic Socialists of America member Leo Casey, calling for the lifting of trade sanctions against Cuba.
- Lindsay Beyerstein – Focal Point (blog) (formerly Majikthise). In 2009 Lindsay Beyerstein was listed as a member of the Drum Major Institute Netroots Advisory Council.
- Joel Bleifuss – In These Times editor, long-time Democratic Socialists of America affiliate. In October 2008, Joel Bleifuss was one of several thousand college professors, students and academic staff to sign a statement to “Support Bill Ayers,” in solidarity with former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.
- John Blevins – South Texas College of Law
- Sam Boyd – The American Prospect
- Rich Byrne – Playwright and Freelancer
- Ta-Nehisi Coates – The Atlantic
- Jonathan Chait – The New Republic
- Lakshmi Chaudry – In These Times
- Isaac Chotiner – The New Republic
- Michael Cohen – New America Foundation
- Jonathan Cohn – The American Prospect, The New Republic. In 2009, Jonathan Cohn was a Senior Fellow of New York-based think tank Demos, which is an Institute for Policy Studies partner organization.
- Joe Conason – The New York Observer
- David Corn – Mother Jones
- Daniel Davies – The Guardian
- David Dayen – FireDogLake
- Brad DeLong – The Economists’ Voice, University of California at Berkley
- Ryan Donmoyer – Bloomberg
- Kevin Drum – Washington Monthly
- Matt Duss – Center for American Progress
- Eve Fairbanks – The New Republic
- Henry Farrell – George Washington University
- Tim Fernholz – The American Prospect, New America Foundation
- James Galbraith – University of Texas at Austin, Campaign for America’s Future
- Todd Gitlin – Professor of Journalism, Columbia University, former leader of Students for a Democratic Society, Campaign for America’s Future founder, Democratic Socialists of America member, In April 2003, Todd Gitlin signed a “Statement on Cuba,” initiated and circulated by prominent Democratic Socialists of America member Leo Casey, calling for the lifting of trade sanctions against Cuba. Progressives for Obama endorser.
- Ilan Goldenberg – National Security Network
- Dana Goldstein – The Daily Beast
- Merrill Goozner – Chicago Tribune, The American Prospect
- David Greenberg – Slate
- Robert Greenwald – Brave New Films, a production company that produced a documentary for Ronnie Earle during the case against Republican Party leader Tom DeLay.
- Chris Hayes – The Nation
- Don Hazen – Alternet
- Michael Hirsh – Newsweek, Take Back America conference, 2008
- John Judis – The New Republic, The American Prospect. A former leader of Democratic Socialists of America‘s preceding organization, the New American Movement, which was formed from the Students for a Democratic Society and the Communist Party USA. Judis is the former Editor of Socialist Revolution magazine and is an Institute for Policy Studies affiliate.
- Michael Kazin – Georgetown University. A founder of Campaign for America’s Future, editor of the Democratic Socialists of America-controlled Dissent magazine and co-author of a history of the Communist Party USA with D.S.A. member Maurice Isserman. In April 2003, Michael Kazin signed a “Statement on Cuba,” initiated and circulated by prominent Democratic Socialists of America member Leo Casey, calling for the lifting of trade sanctions against Cuba. A veteran of the 1969 Venceremos Brigade to Cuba.
- Ed Kilgore – Democratic Party Strategist
- Richard Kim – The Nation
- Mark Kleiman – The Reality Based Community. In 2005 Mark Kleiman served as an affiliated scholar of Center for American Progress.
- Ezra Klein – Washington Post, Newsweek, The American Prospect, 2010 Business Section columnist, Washington Post, formed JournoList, February, 2007
- Joe Klein – TIME Columnist
- Paul Krugman – The New York Times, Princeton University, economics, world affairs and Pulitzer Prize winner (Neo-Marxist).
- Lisa Lerer – POLITICO
- Daniel Levy – Century Foundation
- Alec McGillis – Washington Post
- Scott McLemee – Inside Higher Ed, Democratic Socialists of America affiliate.
- Ari Melber – The Nation
- Seth Michaels – MyDD.com
- Luke Mitchell – Harper’s Magazine
- Gautham Nagesh – The Hill, Daily Caller
- Suzanne Nossel – Human Rights Watch. In 2005 Suzanne Nossel served as an affiliated scholar of Center for American Progress.
- Michael O’Hare – University of California, Berkeley
- Rick Perlstein – Author, Campaign for America’s Future. Democratic Socialists of America affiliate.
- Harold Pollack – University of Chicago
- Foster Kamer – The Village Voice
- Katha Pollitt – The Nation, a member of Democratic Socialists of America and a supporter of Feminists for Peace and Barack Obama. In April 2003, Katha Pollitt signed a “Statement on Cuba,” initiated and circulated by prominent Democratic Socialists of America member Leo Casey, calling for the lifting of trade sanctions against Cuba.
- Ari Rabin-Havt – Media Matters
- David Roberts – Grist
- Alyssa Rosenberg – Washingtonian, The Atlantic
- Alex Rossmiller – National Security Network
- Laura Rozen – Politico, Mother Jones. In 2009 Laura Rozen was listed as a Senior Correspondent of The American Prospect.
- Greg Sargent – Washington Post
- Thomas Schaller – Baltimore Sun
- Noam Scheiber – The New Republic
- Michael Scherer – TIME
- Mark Schmitt – The American Prospect. New America Foundation, former Director of Policy and Research at the Open Society Institute.
- Adam Serwer – The American Prospect
- Thomas Schaller – Baltimore Sun (Columnist), University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Professor), FiveThirtyEight.com (Contributing Writer)
- Julie Bergman Sender – Balcony Films
- Walter Shapiro – PoliticsDaily.com
- Nate Silver – FiveThirtyEight.com
- Jesse Singal – The Boston Globe, Washington Monthly
- Ben Smith – Chief Writer/Columnist for the POLITICO
- Sarah Spitz – NPR
- Adele Stan – The Media Consortium
- Kate Steadman – Kaiser Health News
- Jonathan Stein – Mother Jones
- Sam Stein – The Huffington Post
- Jesse Taylor – Pandagon.net
- Steven Teles – Yale University, New America Foundation Fellow
- Mark Thoma – The Economist’s View (Blog), University of Oregon (Professor)
- Michael Tomasky – The Guardian, Contributing Editor of The American Prospect
- Jeffrey Toobin – CNN, The New Yorker, writer for The New Yorker Magazine – POLITICO
- Rebecca Traister – Salon (Columnist)
- Tracy Van Slyke – The Media Consortium, Take Back America conference, 2008, former Publisher In These Times
- Dave Weigel – Washington Post, MSNBC, The Washington Independent
- Moira Whelan – National Security Network
- Scott Winship – Pew Economic Mobility Project
- Kai Wright – The Root, The nation, The American Prospect, ColorLines, a radical publication of the Communist Party USA connected to Applied Research Center.
- Holly Yeager – Columbia Journalism Review
- Rich Yeselson – Change to Win Labor Federation
- Matthew Yglesias – Center for American Progress, The American Prospect, The Atlantic Monthly, Blogger, POLITICO, Open Society Institute affiliation.
- Jonathan Zasloff – UCLA
- Julian Zelizer – Princeton Professor and CNN contributor.
- Avi Zenilman – POLITICO
JournoList & Socialist Ties (Trevor Loudon-Part One)
Here is part of an article by Trevor Loudon entitled, “Socialist ‘JournoListas’.” It is a very imprtant aspect of the JournoList (JourNOlist) story:
The now closed down JournoList, has caused considerable controversy in recent weeks. According to its opponents, JournoList teamed up some 400 prominent “progressive” journalists in an effort to smooth Barack Obama’s path to the White House.
There have been accusations that “Journolitstas,” deliberately sought to downplay Obama’s association with the Marxist Rev. Jeremiah Wright and tried to smear conservatives or opposing journalists as “racists.”
This post looks at 106 reported “Journolistas” to look for connections or common threads.
Of the known “Jounolistas” and organizations listed below, many can be linked back to two interrelated groups Democratic Socialists of America, the U.S.’s largest Marxist-based organization and the D.S.A.’s “brain,” the Washington DC-based, far left “think tank,” the Institute for Policy Studies.
Between them, D.S.A. and the I.P.S. dominate or influence several organizations affiliated to JournoList, including:
- The American Prospect – Founded in 1990 by D.S.A. affiliate Robert Kuttner. Current editor-at-large, is leading D.S.A. member Harold Meyerson.
- Mother Jones – Includes D.S.A. member Adam Hochschild on its Board of Directors, plus some D.S.A. affiliated staff and contributors. Hochschild was a supporter of Progressives for Obama.
- Economic Policy Institute – Led by D.S.A. member Larry Mishel and I.P.S. affiliate Jeff Faux and several D.S.A. affiliated board members. This organization has contributed at least three officials to the Obama Administration, including Obama economic adviser and ‘Journolista’ Jared Bernstein.
- Center for American Progress – Several staff and officials are affiliated with D.S.A. and the I.P.S. Writing of the Center’s relationship to the Obama Administration, former Weather Underground terrorist leader and Progressives for Obama supporter Mark Rudd said “There’s a whole govt. in waiting that Podesta has at the Center for American Progress. They’re mostly progressives, I’m told…”
- The Nation – Edited by I.P.S. trustee Katrina vanden Heuvel, who presides over an editorial board which includes D.S.A. members Norman Birnbaum, Barbara Ehrenreich (also an I.P.S. trustee) and Deborah Meier, plus I.P.S. affiliates Tom Hayden and Roger Wilkins.
- In These Times – Created by I.P.S. and run mainly by D.S.A. members and affiliates. Based in Chicago, I.T.T.’s board of editors includes former Weather Underground terrorists and Obama associates Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.
- Progressives for Obama – Established by D.S.A. members Barbara Ehrenreich, Tim Carpenter and Bill Fletchers, Jr. Ehrenreich and Fletcher are also I.P.S. affiliates, as were two more of P.F.O.’s six founders: Tom Hayden and Danny Glover.
- Campaign for America’s Future – Founded in 1996, by several dozen D.S.A. members and I.P.S. affiliates, C.A.F. is a major coordinator of the U.S. “progressive” movement. In recent years it has organized several major Take Back America and America’s Future Now! conferences in Washington DC – which are attended by the cream of the U.S. progressive movement, including Barack Obama himself.
Apart from the D.S.A./I.P.S. connections, leftist institutions like The New Republic and the New Century Foundation are well represented. There are two known connections to George Soros‘ Open Society Institute.
Many major newspapers are also represented, as is national public radio, CNN and a host of leading “progressive” blogs and websites and leftist media “watchdog” Media Matters.
…(read more)…
Anderson Cooper Apologizes? Bravo! (Update: Chris Matthews vs Howard Dean)
Chris Matthews is right, by the way (is Hell frozen over??), Shirley’s whole story of redemption was included in the original video. (see my video posted July 19th – its Breitbart’s release).
Also note that FoxNews didn’t talk about this story until the White House had already moved on it, which Chris Matthews points out. Anderson Cooper admitting? Bravo.
On Thursday’s Anderson Cooper 360, anchor Anderson Cooper faulted himself for not pressing Shirley Sherrod when she appeared on the show back on July 22 and claimed that conservative Andrew Breitbart was a “vicious” racist who “would like to get us stuck back in the times of slavery.”
Cooper now says he should have challenged Sherrod to support such an inflammatory charge with facts: “I believe in admitting my mistakes….I didn’t challenge her that night and I should have.”
[….]
COOPER: I interviewed Shirley Sherrod last Thursday. And in the course of that interview, I failed to do something that I should have. I believe in admitting my mistakes. I looked at the interview again today, and Ms. Sherrod said during that interview that she thought Mr. Breitbart was a racist. She said, quote, “I think he would like to get us stuck back in the times of slavery.” She went on to say she believed his opposition to President Obama was based on racism. Now, she, of course, is free to believe whatever she wants, but I didn’t challenge her that night and I should have.
I don’t want anyone on my show to get away with saying things which cannot be supported by facts. I should have challenged her on what facts she believes supports that accusation. That’s my job, and I didn’t do it very well in that interview, and I’m sorry about it. If I get a chance to talk to her again, I will.
…(read more)… Here is Dennis Prager on the issue:
Prager Discusses the Race Card and Howard Deans Use of It from Papa Giorgio on Vimeo.
Nope, No Bias Here
Reminds me of this (same networks too):
Open Letter To the Washington Post
This “JourNOlist” thing gets worse and worse as time progresses. Here is a portion of an open letter from Brent Bozell to the Washington Post:
The JournoList scandal is getting worse every day and The Washington Post is at the center of it. Blogger Ezra Klein ran the operation and at least three other staffers were members. (Blogger Greg Sargent claims he wasn’t a member after he joined the Post.) In addition, at least one member of Slate and two from Newsweek, also owned by Washingtonpost. Newsweek Interactive, were members.
The almost constant revelations of political activism and journalistic conspiracy raise an enormous number of questions about Post policies, professionalism and ethics. As a conservative, and therefore a member of the movement JournoListers sought to demonize, I feel Post readers are owed full disclosure.
Any understanding of the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics makes clear this list and the Post’s involvement violate a number of ethical guidelines. In fact, much of the code seems to have been ignored. Here are just a few examples from the code.
Journalists should:
- “Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting,”
- “Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection,”
- “Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived,”
- “Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests [emphasis added] and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.”