September 30, 2007
Just days before Rush Limbaugh was attacked by a number of press outlets for discussing "phony soldiers" on the air, ABC's Brian Ross did a segment on "World News with Charles Gibson" dealing with "phony heroes...scam artists...posing as the war heroes they never were, claiming credit for acts of courage in Iraq and Afghanistan."SO WHERE WAS MEDIA SPLATTERS? Do the have a "full transcript" of the ABC report that they could snip-snip for maximum smear potential? Why didn't they take on Brian Ross with their trademark brand of "snip-snip-then-put-into-Keith-Olbermann's-teleprompter?"Marvelously, this story was aired on Monday, September 24, just three days before Limbaugh made his comments. And, as noted in a NewsBusters posting by the MRC's Brent Baker, the report even mentioned the same "phony soldier," Jesse Macbeth (pictured to the right), that Limbaugh did on his program Thursday.
More from Peter Wehner at NRO:
What’s obviously going on here is that antiwar advocates were deeply damaged by the MoveOn.org ad smearing General David Petraeus. They were desperate to try to climb their way out of the hole they were in — and so they decided this was their opportunity to find a way out. MoveOn.org attacks Petraeus, they say, but Rush Limbaugh attacks members of the military who want to withdraw as “phony soldiers.†So if Republicans are going to criticize us for what we said about General Petraeus, they should criticize Limbaugh for his slander.Stay tuned for the next lying Media Splatters smear - sure to come at any time within the next year!The problem, of course, is that that the charge leveled against Limbaugh is obviously false; his phrase “phony soldiers†applied to Jesse Adam Macbeth — and the phrase itself was clearly based on the news headline.
This effort to manufacture outrage does not sustain even minimal scrutiny — which doesn’t mean this story won’t be picked up by some news outlets. But in the end, the truth will out. The Left in America clearly wants to take Limbaugh out, and for obvious reasons: he is a deeply influential conservative voice and during the last 20 years he has changed American politics and the American media in profound ways. The Left hates him — but they have found no way to stop him. Like the Mississippi, he just keeps rolling along. And one gets the feeling that (as Churchill said in another context) he will continue to roll on full flood, to broad lands and bright days.
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HRINFO expressed today its deep worries regarding the new sentence issued by Ras Kheima court against Majan.net writer Khalid El-Asly and Majan.net boss Muhammed Shouhi who received 5 months in prison. This is the second case against Majan.net; another two cases are expected to make it to court.The second case against Majan.net saw a new development as the verdict against El-Asly and Shouhi was based on the criminal law on grounds of defamation in addition to the testimony of Ras Kheima electronic government's head who alleged that El-Asly is the same writer who calls himself" Hair" . The testimony wasn't based on substantiated grounds. The court didn't take into account the claims made by Asly and Shouhi's defense who said that the testimony is not impartial as the head of Ras Kheima electronic government kept on attacking Majan.net staff on newspapers before giving his testimony which is lacking technical evidence.
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They provide the "full transcripts." They provide the "full audio." Sure they do. Well, five minutes of audio and 5% of a full transcript , anyway. But that's the 5% and 5 minutes that MATTERS! Raaaaacists!!
Maybe we should start our own anti-smear site called "CONTEXT MATTERS" and give these obviously fact challenged little monkeys a run for their money, huh?
And by the way, the terminally fact-challenged idiots are trying AGAIN to get Limbaugh removed from Armed Forces radio - using their latest failed smear attempt as the ammo.
Only liberal, Clinton-sanctioned messages from NPR and Air America are allowed! Nothing that actually supports America or the Troops! That's demoralizing...to Media Splatters.
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September 28, 2007
The axis of stoopid tries to pretend that Rush Limbaugh trashing serial antiwarbot Democrat fraud "soldier" Jesse Macbeth, with whom we are all intimately familiar, was actually attacking "the phony troops" who disagree with the war.
Who else couldn't be bothered to find out the truth or the basic facts? Salon, many local TV stations and their "news" teams, John Kerry, Jim Webb, and on and on. You can watch the lie spread like a virus at Radio Equalizer, who's highlighted news and MSM coverage taken from the Media Splatters site with no fact-checking, no comment from the Limbaugh show, or anything. The idiots just ran with it.
That's two boners by MSNBC in three days, for those counting.
Facts? Meh. Honesty? Meh. Truth? Meh. As long as the Democrats benefit, meh.
Quote of the day:
"A lie will make it halfway around the world before the truth even gets its boots on." - Mark Twain
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September 26, 2007
What bias?

Free advice for David Shyster: If you're going to attempt 'gotcha,' at least get the basic facts straight. An apology is owed - on air, prime time, loud and clear.
Otherwise you end up on MSNBC as a loudmouthed idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
I wonder if he'll make the Worst Person in the World segment for this cheap shot that backfired. I mean, this is a guy who reported breathlessly and with certiainty that Karl Rove had been indicted last summer, and nobody seems to care at MSNBC. Some "journalism" they've got going on over there.
C'mon, Olby. Step up to the plate.
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21 SEPTEMBER 2007
Iran - ARTICLE 19 welcomes release of scholar Kian Tajbakhsh, calls for
release of remaining Iranian-US citizen in detention
Indonesia - Police tap journalist's telephone following report on tax fraud
South Africa - Cape Town court dismisses bank's application to prevent
satirical journal from publishing information relating to alleged tax fraud
scheme
Zimbabwe - Censorship and political interference rife at state broadcaster
Maldives - Political affairs reporter banned from Parliament
India - Journalists get four-month jail terms for contempt of court
Niger - RFI and RSF correspondent held incommunicado
Fiji Islands - Blogger suspended from government job for criticising
military
Click "continue reading" to get a sense of how many governments around the world are threatened by free speech, the truth and an informed public. more...
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September 22, 2007

Quote Document Dan:
"Somebody, sometime has got to take a stand and say democracy cannot survive, much less thrive with the level of big corporate and big government interference and intimidation in news," he said on CNN's "Larry King Live."Remember when the Democrats and the former Clinton Administration threatened ABC's broadcasting license last year if they had the audacity to air something that was less than fawning idol-worship of the Clinton Administration and their "super-tough, kill-em-all" approach to fighting Islamic terrorism?
This disgraced propagandist doesn't know how right he is.
And Dan? Mary? It wasn't a big corporation that brought you down. It was your own gullibility, stupidity, bias and blind support for the Democrat Party, aided by some intrepid bloggers. No corporate influence whatsoever.
Cheers!
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September 07, 2007
Yahoo: He said Friday that such leaks to news organizations harm national security. Hayden said that in one case, news leaks gave a foreign government information that allowed it to prosecute and jail one of the CIA's sources.The fourth estate becomes a third column."The revelations had an immediate, chilling effect on our ability to collect against a top-priority target," he said.
Hayden said other media reports "cost us several promising counterterrorism and counterproliferation assets" because CIA sources stopped cooperating out of fear they would be exposed.
He said "more than one" foreign government's intelligence services have withheld intelligence that they otherwise would have shared with the U.S. government because they feared it would be leaked. "That gap in information puts Americans at risk," Hayden said, according to the written remarks.
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September 02, 2007
It was covered as a massacre, and the US troops were automatically guilty - a new "My Lai," as it were. Multiple articles in TIME (here, here and here) gleefully and breathlessly reporting the incident with no indication as to the Marine's rights to fair trial and to challenge the charges against them (which later resulted in the exonerations of several of those same Marines), as did the WaPo, NYT, the networks in general, and particularly the Tiffany network at CBS, ABC, and PBS.
No similar full-court press, however, for their exonerations and their full clearings.
Where is the full court press announcing the exoneration and innocence of the majority of the soldiers in this incident?
Where is the aggressive questioning of such charlatans as John Murtha (D) as to their premature convictions without trials of these Marines in the court of political opinion?
There certainly was a full-court media press trying to convict them, and now that the case appears to be falling apart quicker than Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the presidency, where is the full-court media press for their exonerations?
Shouldn't it be leading the newscasts on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and in the NYT, TIME magazine, the WaPo, and others?
MSM?
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August 28, 2007
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August 26, 2007
The journalist’s job is not to achieve some mythical state of equilibrium between two opposing opinions out of some misshapen respect -- sometimes, alas, reverence -- for the prevailing consensus among the powers-that-be. The journalist’s job is to seek out and offer the public the best thinking on an issue, event, or story.Just in case you're wondering why his "reporting" seems to be little more than an echochamber of DNC talking points. Sounds a lot like the Seattle Times' take on what journalism is:
It’s not about "balance," which is a false construct. It isn't even about "objectivity," which is a laudable but probably unattainable goal. It is about independent thinking and sound, facts-based journalism -- the difference between what we do and the myopic screed that is passed off as "advocacy" journalism these days.They can't seem to distinguish between fact and opinion, framing and straight reporting, journalism and punditry. These are the same types of chattering class clowns who argue that Rush Limbaugh doesn't have any "balance," and yet they admit openly (even proudly) that they don't want to nor do they need to provide any themselves. Journalists are supposed to provide "thinking," not facts. Interesting.
I think Ace said it best:
How reporters got conflated with analysts and general-purpose experts without portfolio is anyone's guess. But that conflation having been made (at least in the minds of some, particularly their own), they'll be damned if they're going to give that gig up now.Just so you all know. The mainstream press, as a collective whole, is not a neutral entity. At least more and more of them have been taking the masks off as of late.Reporters seem to think they sell the news at 75 cents a copy -- and they tell us all how to interpret and analyze that news at no additional charge.
They think they're being generous by offering us their scary talents in this regard for free.
The rest of don't give a whit how steeply-discounted their dubious expertise is offered -- we didn't subcontract our thinking to them and it will be an unseasonably cold day in hell when America complies with their demands to concede that they alone are capable of doing the intellectual work of democratic governance.
PS - If you want rich, creamy TEH STOOPID, look in the comments on the Moyers blog. Among the hilarity, you'll see commentor links to Daily Kos and Media Matters and idol worship of Moyers as a demigod. Bwahaha! Independent thinkers, those lefties.
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August 23, 2007
Stay classy, CBS.
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August 22, 2007
Of course, once caught, ABC changed it. But if it was right, why change a thing?
Democrats? 18%ers?
It’s not about “balance,†which is a false construct. It isn’t even about “objectivity,†which is a laudable but probably unattainable goal. It is about independent thinking and sound, facts-based journalism — the difference between what we do and the myopic screed that is passed off as “advocacy†journalism these days.Heh. It sure is.
MORE via Insty... It used to be "Listen to the generals." Now it's "Don't listen to the generals."
The ever-changing nuance of the Democrat "position" on Iraq. Vote for the war in Iraq, vote unanimously to approve its commanding general, and then claim you're against him and everything he says and that you're against war in Iraq.
Until you can't actually ignore the facts anymore. Then you just move the goalposts.
Rove - you magnificent, retiring bastard!
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August 21, 2007
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August 16, 2007
And this is just the well-publicized journalistic malpractice we've all heard about. It doesn't include the small dailies, the local media outlets all over the country, etc.
Remember - "It's not about balance...it's not even about objectivity..."
Or if that doesn't work, follow the money to the desired political party.
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August 15, 2007
First, the magicians and magic:
A good newsroom is a sacred and magical place in which we can and should test every assumption, challenge each other's thinking, ask the fundamental questions those in power hope we will overlook.If only that were reality. But, as evidenced most recently by the hijinx at Seattle Times, it isn't. The preaching gets funnier from there. Color me not shocked:
If we wore our politics on our sleeves in here, (ed.- IF?!!!) I have no doubt that in this and in most other mainstream newsrooms in America, the majority of those sleeves would be of the same color: blue. Survey after survey over the years have demonstrated that most of the people who go into this business tend to vote Democratic, at least in national elections. That is not particularly surprising, given how people make career decisions and that social service and activism is a primary driver for many journalists.It's not "advocacy journalism." It's just "advocacy," and that advocacy always seems to flow (with the money) to one particular political party - The Democrats.But if (ed. - again, pretending it isn't happening) we allowed our news meetings to evolve into a liberal latte klatch, I have no doubt that a pathological case of group-think would soon set in (ed. - yet again, in denial that it is actually happening). One of the advances of which I’m most proud over the years is our willingness to question and challenge each other as we work to give our readers the most valuable, meaningful journalism we can.
The result: A newspaper that is known nationally for aggressive watchdog and investigative reporting, without fear or favor. From a Democratic United States senator (Brock Adams) to our region's biggest employer (Boeing) to a large advertiser (Nordstrom) to our school districts and courts and police, we have confronted them all with tough questions to which they had no good answers. The result has been a better community, laws changed, lives saved.
It’s not about "balance," which is a false construct. It isn't even about "objectivity," which is a laudable but probably unattainable goal. It is about independent thinking and sound, facts-based journalism -- the difference between what we do and the myopic screed that is passed off as "advocacy" journalism these days.
The problem hasn't been fixed, E&P. It is rather fixed quite firmly into the culture of the daily newspaper and nearly every broadcast outlet in the United States.
You've all got a LOOOONG way to go before you can claim what you do is "independent thinking." From Dan Rather to Eason Jordan to Keith Olbermann to Chris Matthews to NPR to Pinch Sulzberger to Dana Priest to Bill Moyers to the fact that the NYT hasn't endorsed a Republican for president since Eisenhower, the evidence piles up every day. And those of us who have been paying attention, that is just a small fraction of .001% of the pile.
Need a recent case and point? The AP's favorite Democrat operative next to Jennifer Loven: Nedra Pickler.
9-1. Never forget. Money talks. Bullsh*t walks.
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August 14, 2007
Pedophiles are "controversial?"
stein hoist: SondraK.
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July 28, 2007
He tries to "chickenhawk" conservative bloggers (a popular tactic suggesting that nobody but the military is allowed to support the military), but unfortunately for this preening jackass, he has no idea what he's talking about (par for the course of the leftarded this go round):
We do know that Beauchamp worked on Howard Dean's presidential campaign, that he edited a liberal student magazine in college, and that he marched with pro-choice demonstrators in 2004. Further, we know that he enlisted in the military "just to write a book" about his experience--not the noblest of reasons, but neither does it discredit his work. Writing under a pseudonym, though, did prevent readers from understanding that his perspective was not merely that of a soldier on the ground, but of a political activist.Um, leftarded moron. Milbloggers have this little thing about them that most other bloggers don't have (especially lacking with liberal self-proclaimed-know-it-all-armchair-military-experts): THEY SERVED IN THE MILITARY - MANY IN IRAQ. THEY RAISED THE QUESTIONS ABOUT BEAUCHAMP IN THE FIRST PLACE.How dare a college grad and engaged citizen volunteer to join the Army to fight for his country! (Which is something that most of the brave souls who inhabit the milblog community prefers to leave to others.)
Got it, libtard? Get your facts straight (hard to do when you make it up as you go along) - you just embarrassed your publication due to your rigorous fact-checking practices and vast knowledge of the subject matter at hand.
Any more leftists want to embarrass themselves defending this Warrior Poet? We've had a plethora of them doing so here, that's for sure.
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The dextrosphere will be all over this guy's 'reporting' like white on rice. Can't wait for his first dispatch!
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July 26, 2007
Martin, in his letter, said government regulation was not needed to ensure public access to a wide range of opinion. "Indeed, with the continued proliferation of additional sources of information and programming, including satellite broadcasting and the Internet, the need for the Fairness Doctrine has lessened even further since 1987," he wrote.Game. Set. Match. B.
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July 24, 2007
Well anyway, whilst perusing the thread, I noticed a rather laughable lefty pretending that Republicans were trying to use the government to silence media outlets they didn't like. As a well-schooled media practitioner, I couldn't let that stand, and tried my hand uncorking an increasingly rare, civil but nonetheless righteous, rant. Windy, as it were, but righteous.
Enjoy (Comment #155).
I agree with the majority here that this is not only a bad idea, but has been decided upon already.That said, I saw this old chestnut a ways back up in the thread, and it deserves a tangentially-related response:
"seems like a typical kneejerk response by today's brand of republicans -- instead of analyzing your own failure and trying to improve, you're looking at someone else's success and saying 'we have to get the government (which we hate, of course) to STOP IT.'"
READ THE RESPONSE BELOW THE JUMP; USE IT AT COCKTAIL PARTIES! ---> more...
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- - -
Ace noticed that TNR said that they knew with "absolute certainty" that the TNR source was a soldier. The NYT, however, reported that TNR knew with "NEAR certainty," quoting the TNR author.
Then the NYT deleted the offending phrase without notice and without correction. The TNR author doesn't claim he was misquoted. What the hell is going on here?
Somebody doesn't have the story straight, and neither is coming forward to admit the error. With the infinite credibility of both TNR and NYT, we should all probably just bury our heads n the sand and stop questioning our journalistic superiors.
Bryan Preston noticed some other literary liberties "Scott Thomas" was taking with his stories as well.
Stay tuned.
A THOUGHT...If "Scott Thomas" is indeed a real soldier (which TNR strongly stands by), then this soldier is violating laws of UCMJ by failing to report such atrocious behavior up the chain of command...if it did in fact happen at all. The longer that TNR keeps him anonymous, the more abuses are likely to occur, and the more "victims" of the alleged "shock troops" have to suffer. That's why we have the UCMJ - to rectify and stop this kind of behavior if it is in fact happening (which many military bloggers and vets are surmising that it in fact did not).
So - if TNR is covering up this serial abuser and "witness" to these crimes, they're complicit in allowing them to continue. If they are lying or their source is a fake, then they're totally screwed - Truthouted, if you will. Either way, TNR is in some serious doo-doo here.
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July 23, 2007
And guess what word is curiously missing from the 1,000 word NYT story:

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July 19, 2007
That's why you're not a journalist, Mrs. Trunk. You're a self-admitted "Reifenstahlesque propagandist."
Oh, wait - you didn't actually say that? Did I misquote you? Well, too bad. You need to get over it.
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July 16, 2007
Journalists donate to Democrats by a 9-1 margin. Former journalists acknowledge the leftwing culture of the newsroom. The public perceives by almost a 2-1 margin a liberal bias in the press. Major network newscasts and newzines dedicate hours of free air-time (free campaign advertising) to Democrat political candidates, and none to GOP candidates.
Eh. Its just everyone's imagination. Its not bias if the Democrats agree with it.
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