Civilian massacre next on Hamas agenda?

From HonestReporting today: “The media is a potent weapon in the hands of terrorists and Israel has been on the receiving end many times. As HonestReporting has documented in its interactive Big Lies resource (click on the image), Palestinians have scored PR victories in the cases of Mohammed al-Dura, the Jenin ‘massacre’, the Gaza Beach incident, staged photos from the 2006 Lebanon War and many other Pallywood productions. More

“Mainstream” media outlets like Newsweek are losing readers and jobs.

Before Newsweek created a controversy with its laughably absurd cover story that the Bible supports homosexual marriage, lame duck President George W. Bush declared in an interview with Cynthia McFadden of ABC News that he doesn’t believe the Bible to be the literal word of God. So Adam and Eve could just as easily be Adam and Steve? We needed a follow-up from McFadden. Read the story

Media preaching the green religion

Top: Australian editorial 17/12/08.
Bottom: Age front page 16/12/08.

On Wednesday, The Australian ran an editorial criticising the media coverage of the Rudd Government’s carbon reduction scheme white paper in particular and climate change in general.

“This has not been the fourth estate’s finest hour,” the newspaper said.

“It has exposed much of the mainstream media as naive, prone to hyberbole on environmental issues, ideologically blinkered and lacking logic and analysis skills. Many of the culprits would pride themselves on being sophisticated sceptics in other areas of life, yet without question preach the scorched-earth gospel and hang on the prophecies of Greens leader Bob Brown. More

No spin reduction in ETS coverage

Last night’s television news bulletins were dominated by the Rudd Government’s water-down emissions reduction targets - but the amount of spin they swallowed certainly wasn’t reduced. More

Let’s get militant about weasel words

One of the most disappointing aspects of media coverage of the Mumbai terrorist attacks - as with earlier attacks - has been the use of the word “militant” to describe the terrorists.

People who torture and murder innocent civilians, including women and More

Antony Loewenstein and delusions of grandeur

ON THE day before Islamic terrorists launched their latest attack on Mumbai, Sydney writer Antony Loewenstein delivered a speech at Harvard University in the US. Tim Blair

Doublespeak and American socialism

“Mortgage Rates Fall as U.S. Expands Rescue” was the page-one headline in the November 26 Wall Street Journal. The story concerned a promise from federal officials to “pump” another $800 billion into the economy, bringing the grand total of the cost of various bailouts to something over $8 trillion. The term “rescue” is laughable but is used for the obvious purpose of confusing people about the calamity that has befallen our nation. If we’re not bankrupt now, we will be someday because we are being “rescued” by the federal government. This is the ultimate in what William Lutz, in his 1997 book of the same name, called “doublespeak.” More

Crikey apology 2: if all you need is love …

As I reported earlier,Crikey editor Jonathan Green made what seemed like a half-hearted apology for the e-zine’s atrocious attack on Sarah Palin’s Down Syndrome son, whose name, as in “A Mongrel Called Trig,” was used in a Crikey contest to select a name for Barack Obama’s new puppy.

Green seemed more concerned that the appalling error of judgement and taste had allowed journalists Andrew Bolt and Tim Blair to criticise Crikey. More

Crikey editor’s mongrel of an apology

Crikey editor Jonathan Green has been forced to apologise for the online magazine’s appalling slur on the Down Syndrome baby of US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

They put forward in their “name Barack Obama’s puppy” contest the suggestion: “A Mongrel Called Trig”. More

The price of dissent on global warming

WHEN I first stuck my head above the parapet to say I didn’t believe what we were being told about global warming, I had no idea what the consequences would be. I am a scientist and I have to follow the directions of science, but when I see that the truth is being covered up I have to voice my opinions. More

BBC rapped by its own watchdog over biased Thatcher show

The BBC broke impartiality rules in documentary about Welsh politics that attacked Margaret Thatcher, MailOnline

NZ media still obsessed with Labour

The New Zealand newspaper National Business Review has an interesting take on the weekend election result and its aftermath - yet again the left-wing media favoured Labour. More

Some “conservatives” aren’t really conservative

A lot will be said and written about the presidential election, but one central fact remains: John McCain was ahead in the polls until the financial crisis emerged and President Bush was pushed by Treasury Secretary Paulson into seeking a $700-billion Wall Street bailout on September 18. The crisis benefited Obama, even though he voted for the bailout, because he was not a Republican, like McCain or Bush. Republicans were blamed because a Republican was in the White House. More

Seducing an acquiescent media …

The present press gallery enthusiasm for Kevin Rudd brings back memories of the spirit of goodwill Paul Keating enjoyed for most of his term in parliament. Keating was one of the press gallery’s darlings. Following Keating’s first attempt to oust Hawke, in mid-1991, More

Quote of the Week: Greg Craven on the Canberra press gallery

“…the Canberra press gallery has long engaged in a form of plagiarism vastly more troubling than reading the entrails of famous Kiwi conservatives. More