20071001 CyberAlert

CyberAlert

Monday October 1, 2007

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1. MSNBC Smears Limbaugh with 'Phony Soldiers' Distortion

All day Friday, even after Rush Limbaugh corrected the misinformation, MSNBC promoted a story fed to them by the far-left Media Matters about how Rush Limbaugh had called military personnel who served in Iraq and oppose the war "phony soldiers."

Limbaugh opened his noon EDT radio show on Friday by explaining how he was referring not to any real soldier but a phony one, notably Jesse MacBeth, who became a hero to the left when he recounted how his Army unit murdered innocent Iraqis. In fact, he hadn't even completed basic training.

Nonetheless, MSNBC headlined a 4pm EDT segment "'PHONY SOLDIERS' INSULT; Rush Limbaugh: U.S. Troops Who Oppose Iraq War are 'Phony.'"

At the top of the next hour, Chris Matthews teased Hardball: "Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh says veterans who support withdrawing the troops are 'phony soldiers.' Those are his words."

Then at 8pm EDT, with "Limbaugh Bashes Vets for Withdrawal" on screen, and briefly "...Phony Soldiers..." over video of Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann teased Countdown: "Comedian Rush Limbaugh tries to back out of his quote: Servicemen protesting the war are quote, 'phony soldiers.'"

2. Sore Loser: With No Thomas Interview, NBC Features Anita Hill

CBS's 60 Minutes got the first interview with Clarence Thomas on the occasion of the release of his memoir and ABC's Good Morning America is in line for the morning show exclusive interview with him to air multiple days this week, thus leaving NBC News out of the mix.

So, the losing network decided to resurrect Anita Hill.

Anchor Lester Holt teased Sunday's NBC Nightly News: "Her story. Justice Clarence Thomas speaks out, and tonight so does the woman who nearly derailed his confirmation. My exclusive interview with Anita Hill."

Though Hill's charges against Thomas look pretty tame through the later revelations of Bill Clinton's actions with women, Holt depicted them as "charges of crude sexual advances" and "shocking allegations." Also, without any mention of the left-wing activists with whom Hill colluded, Holt sympathetically described her as "a reluctant witness."

3. Steph on Clinton: 'Philanthropist Who Happened to Be President'

ABC's George Stephanopoulos put on a sycophantic display in his pre-taped interview on Sunday's This Week with his former boss, ex-President Bill Clinton.

Holding up the magazine as the two sat in a room at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting, Stephanopoulos touted "this great story in The Atlantic this month about your philanthropy" which "says you're basically re-inventing philanthropy" and, quoting the author, "'history may remember Bill Clinton as the philanthropist who happened to be President.' You okay with that?"

The ever humble Clinton insisted: "I'll have to live a very long time to have as positive an impact on as many people in the United States and around the world in my after life as I did as President."

Next, Stephanopoulos oozed that the 1991 campaign slogan of "buy one, get one free" with Bill and Hillary is now "about as resonant as ever" with Hillary and Bill.

As Clinton chuckled, Stephanopoulos wondered: "Is it more true now than it was then?" In the previous segment, Stephanopoulos was a bit less celebratory about GOP prospects, asking in-studio guest Newt Gingrich: "How much are you worried that, you know, this year, 2008, is shaping up to be another 1964 for the Republican Party?"

4. ABC Lobbies for Liberal Legislation on Time Off; Touts '08 Dem

On Friday's Good Morning America, for the fourth time this year, the ABC program skewered America for not being generous with paid leave and openly lobbied viewers to support a Democratic, big government initiative.

After lumping the U.S. in with countries such as Liberia and Lesotho, as being one of only five countries that don't provide paid maternity leave, GMA contributor Tory Johnson appeared with Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd to promote his legislation. "First and most important is to make your voice heard, Johnson exclaimed. Openly advocating this government expansion, she added, "On the GMA Web site, we have links to all the Senator's and Congressmen's offices. Call them. E-mail them. Let them know where you stand."

5. Field Charges that Anti-War Comment Caused Fox to Bleep Her

Actress Sally Field charged, on Friday's Good Morning America, that Fox censored, as part of some pro-war agenda, her Emmy night remark that "if mothers ruled the world, there would be no Goddamned wars."

According to the Flying Nun star, "when it has to do with war at all on Fox, I think they all ran around like a bunch of chickens and started pulling wires, you know, 'Get her off the air!'"

Of course, the actual reason her comments were edited was because Fox feared being fined by the FCC for her use of "Goddamned."

Other edits that night included a profanity and Ray Romano's use of the word "screwing." In fact, Fox allowed several conservative-slamming, non-vulgar jokes to air unimpeded.

GMA co-host Diane Sawyer again indicated that the TV star's edited anti-war tirade at the September 16 Emmys was simply no big deal. Sawyer dismissively observed: "Again, we were saying at the time, everybody in Canada heard the whole thing, sat at home and watched it."

Agreeing with the implication of American provincialism, the Brothers and Sisters star noted, "And in London. A friend of mine in London." Sawyer added that the cultured British must have been "thinking probably nothing much of it."

6. NBC Gives Springsteen Platform for Litany of Liberal Complaints

Giving a live concert on the Friday Today show, Bruce Springsteen didn't just sing but railed against the past six years of George W. Bush's administration. Although he didn't mention Bush by name, the outspoken liberal rocker didn't need to connect the dots as he hit just about every complaint leftists have charged against the current administration. During his talk-up before his performance of "Living In the Future," Springsteen yelled about "rendition," "illegal wiretapping," "voter suppression," "an attack on the Constitution," "the neglect" of New Orleans and "the loss of our best young men and women in a tragic war."

Check Out the MRC's Blog

The MRC's blog site, NewsBusters, "Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias," provides examples of bias 24/7. With your participation NewsBusters will continue to be THE blog site for tracking and correcting liberal media bias. Come post your comments and get fresh proof of media misdeeds at: http://www.newsbusters.org

A usually-daily report, edited by Brent H. Baker, CyberAlert is distributed by the Media Research Center, the leader since 1987 in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias.

The 2,499^th CyberAlert. Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996

6:25am EDT, Monday October 1, 2007 (Vol. Twelve; No. 172)

20070522 CyberAlert

CyberAlert

A usually-daily report, edited by Brent H. Baker, CyberAlert is distributed by the Media Research Center, the leader since 1987 in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias.

The 2,413^th CyberAlert. Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996

12:25 pm EDT, Tuesday May 22, 2007 (Vol. Twelve; No. 86)

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1. NBC Impugns Limbaugh Over 'Barack the Magic Negro' Parody Song On Monday, NBC's Today allowed itself to be used as a publicity machine for a left-wing attempt to whip up an Imus-style campaign against conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh for daring to air the parody song "Barack the Magic Negro" -- a parody inspired by a black writer who used that term in March in a Los Angeles Times op-ed about Obama -- in which an Al Sharpton impersonator sings about how Barack Obama isn't an authentic black. The song has been around for two months, but NBC acted like they just found out about it. Co-host Matt Lauer charged: "Rush Limbaugh airing a racially-charged parody about presidential candidate Barack Obama. Is the radio talk show host getting a free pass? We'll have more on that in our next half-hour." The on-screen graphic also asked: "Obama Parody, Is Limbaugh Getting A Free Pass?" The story by NBC reporter Michael Okwu presumed Limbaugh guilty of some great offense, and suggested his conservative audience is also culpable: "Media watch dogs say there's no hue and cry to stop Limbaugh because he speaks to a niche audience who either expects this or is willing to let him slide." Okwu ominously wondered: "Legitimate satire, or something darker?"

2. Stephanopoulos Marvels with Pelosi About First Female President Catching up with George Stephanopoulos' interview on Sunday's This Week with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Stephanopoulos took the opportunity to banter with Pelosi about the possibility of a woman President in front of her on the podium at the next State of the Union. Over video of Congressman John Boehner back in January handing the gavel to Pelosi, Stephanopoulos, one once toiled for the administration of the only woman candidate, marveled: "Seeing you up at the podium, first female Speaker of the House. Do you ever think what it would be like to be standing at that podium as the first female President of the United States comes up to give the State of the Union?" A giggling Pelosi exclaimed: "Wouldn't that be exciting to have the woman as the President and woman as the Speaker of the House? It'd be pretty exciting..." When Pelosi soon contended that "it's harder to become Speaker of the House than President of the United States for a woman," Stephanopoulos empathized with how "you had to prove you were tough enough."

3. After a Week of False Reports of 'Record High' Gas, Reality Noted After a week of inaccurate reports about the "record high" price for gas when, adjusted for inflation, the price was still below the cost in March of 1981, on Monday night ABC, CBS, and NBC again touted a "record high" price, but at least NBC acknowledged it simply matched the real 1981 price, while CBS alluded to a 1981 comparison. With "Record Prices" on screen, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric reported that "gas is up another 12 cents in just the past week to a nationwide average tonight of $3.22 a gallon. Adjusting for inflation, that beats the all-time high set more than a quarter century ago at the start of the Iran-Iraq war." In fact, it does not beat it but only "matches" it, as NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams relayed: "For the second week in a row gas prices have hit a record high. The feds say the average price for unleaded regular soared eleven-and-a-half cents over the last week to a new record of $3.22 a gallon. That matches the peak price reached during 1981 during the Iran-Iraq war when the figures are adjusted for inflation." ABC anchor Charles Gibson, however, continued to deliver distorted reporting in which he refused to adjust for inflation.

4. GMA and Early Show Tout Immigration Bill Deal as 'Historic Day' On Friday, both CBS and ABC skewed their coverage of the Senate's immigration bill to the left. Neither network featured a conservative talking head that opposed the legislation, instead The Early Show and Good Morning America simply referred to the "critics" who believe the bill would amount to amnesty for those who came to the country illegally. However, while both networks also interviewed Senator Ted Kennedy, ABC anchor Diane Sawyer actually pressed the liberal legislator with several conservative points. GMA used flowery language to discuss the Senate's action, describing the legislation as "landmark." Co-host Sawyer asserted, "It was a historic day to see Republicans and Democrats coming forward on something together." ABC even queried illegal aliens as to what they think of the Senate's action: "Everyone taking sides. But sometimes it's good to hear the voices from the people who are at the center of the debate. And some of these illegal 12 million have been phoning in to Talk Back, which is our Web site..."

5. Couric Celebrates Cronkite for Opposing 'Another Unpopular War' Friday's CBS Evening News plugged its prime time special on Walter Cronkite with a story, as introduced by Katie Couric, about a "journalist who stood up to the Commander-in-Chief" during a time of "another unpopular war," as Couric was transitioning from a story about the debate over Iraq war funding. Couric was referring to Cronkite's decision in February 1968 to declare on the air that America would have to negotiate without victory to end the Vietnam war.

6. O'Donnell:'655,000 Iraqi Civilians Dead. Who Are the Terrorists?' On last Thursday's The View, Rosie equated the United States with terrorism, strongly implying U.S. soldiers have committed terrorist acts: "I just want to say something. 655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists?" An appalled Elisabeth Hasselbeck demanded: "Wait, who are you calling terrorists now? Americans?" O'Donnell stood her ground: "I'm saying if you were in Iraq, and the other country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us?" Then on Monday's show, O'Donnell responded to the fallout from her moral equivalency rant as she claimed some cable news outlets "twisted" her words, and then got personal with token non-liberal Hasselbeck, calling her critics the "crappy shows" that "Elisabeth watches."

Check Out the MRC's Blog

The MRC's blog site, NewsBusters, "Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias," provides examples of bias 24/7. With your participation NewsBusters will continue to be THE blog site for tracking and correcting liberal media bias.

Come post your comments and get fresh proof of media misdeeds at: http://www.newsbusters.org

20031007 In Defense of Rush by Mary Katharine Ham/Richmond County Daily Journal

Editorials: IN DEFENSE OF RUSH: The media need to call it both ways

By Mary Katharine Ham/Richmond County Daily Journal

Tuesday, October 7, 2003

All right, hold on to your hats, folks, because this white girl's about to write about race and Rush Limbaugh.

If you haven't heard already, Limbaugh resigned from his position as a commentator for ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" after being lambasted by the media for remarks he made Sept. 28 about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.

His comments went a little something like this: "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

Now comes the part where the media get to shake their collective head and tremble with manufactured outrage over Limbaugh's "incendiary" remarks, as they like to call them.

Limbaugh's "insensitive" remarks have been plastered on every sports page, sports show and newscast in the country for the past week. Newspaper coverage of his comments has been paired with "it serves that bigot right" columns from sportswriters giddy with the chance to jump on the Rush-bashing bandwagon.

So, why the rush to hang Rush? Does the punishment fit the crime?

First, it is certainly true that McNabb has not shined recently, even according to McNabb.

Whether the media give him too much credit for his team's performance is debatable, but it's certainly a valid sports opinion open to discussion on any sports show. So Rush is safe so far.

Now, here's where Limbaugh did the unthinkable. He mentioned McNabb's race.

Limbaugh claims McNabb is overrated because the sports media are concerned about the status of black quarterbacks in the NFL. Are they?

Of course they are. If there wasn't social concern for the status of black athletes and coaches in the NFL, there would not have been such a stink over the Detroit Lions hiring Steve Mariuchi (a white coach) before interviewing any black candidates.

Any guess who that stink was raised by?

That's right, the nation's sports media - the same media which now claim to be socially un-concerned with the performance of black QBs and coaches in the NFL.

Whether you agree with Limbaugh's comments, they're neither totally off the wall nor racist. Limbaugh mentioned McNabb's race, but didn't disparage it. I can't count the number of times I've heard mainstream sports journalists refer to McNabb's race, so what's the difference?

Make no mistake about it, the problem is not what was said, but who said it.

Limbaugh is a conservative, white man who, in the eyes of the overwhelmingly liberal media, has no right to talk about race. As soon as the word "black" comes out of his mouth, he's a racist.

On the other hand, if you're a minority or a liberal, you can say pretty much whatever you want and the press, ever the rooter-out of racism, has nothing to say about it.

Take Dusty Baker, who is black. The Chicago Cubs manager made some gross ethnic generalizations in July when he said:

"Personally, I like to play in the heat," he said. "It's easier for me. It's easier for most Latin guys and easier for most minority people.

"Your skin color is more conducive to the heat than it is to the light-skinned people, right? You don't see brothers running around burnt and stuff, running around with white stuff on their ears and nose and stuff."

And what did the press do? It didn't demand an apology; it didn't call Dusty a bigot.

In fact, very little was written about the incident. Conservative critics roared that white men would have lost their jobs for comments like that.

In fact, two white men already had.

In the late 80s, sports commentator Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder and Dodger executive Al Campanis were both fired for making racial statements very similar to Baker's.

And it's not just sports where racist remarks from minorities are treated with kid gloves.

New York City Councilman Charles Barron attended a reparations rally in Washington, D.C., in August 2002. The black councilman addressed a crowd of several thousand, including many reporters, saying: "I want to go up to the closest white person and say 'You can't understand this, it's a black thing' and then slap him, just for my mental health."

You probably never even heard this before I wrote it, did you?

That's because only Reuters news service wrote a story on it. Evidently, the other reporters didn't think it was a story, even though it was an elected official, speaking in a public forum, making violent threats based solely on race.

Barron's response to criticism from conservative radio broadcaster Steve Malzberg was that he was using a form of humor called "black hyperbole" that "y'all wouldn't understand because you're uptight and you're gonna take it where it was not intended." (WABC Radio, Aug. 18, 2001.)

Maybe Rush should try that.

But the double standard doesn't stop there. As long as you're liberal, you're safe it seems.

Take Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), a white man and former member of the Ku Klux Klan who used the "n-word" twice in one interview on Fox News in March 2001.

Did you hear about that one? Probably not.

The New York Times ignored the story. CNN did one report, according to Newsmax.com, a conservative news Web site.

California's Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante addressed the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists in 2001 using the "n-word." The press has yet to publicize the incident during the California recall race, in which Bustamante is the Democrats' best hope to defeat Republican front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger.

If the press is going to cast itself as racism's biggest enemy, it should fight it on all fronts instead of creating it where it doesn't exist.

But the liberal press is on a witch-hunt.

Not for racists, but for white conservatives it can portray as racists. Limbaugh has made that point many times and now the media are clamoring for all they're worth to prove him right.

If you want a witch worth hunting, start looking for corrupt journalists. You won't have to look very hard.

Contact reporter Mary Katharine Ham at 997-3111, ext. 19; e-mail mkham@yourdailyjournal.com

http://www.yourdailyjournal.com/articles/2003/10/07/news/editorials/oped02.txt