Monday, October 20, 2008

McClatchy quotes "expert" who claims hate speech from the right is worse than we've seen -- but doesn't disclose the "expert" is a partisan activist

McClatchy reporter David Lightman published a piece Monday full of dark warnings over supposed bigotry and hate speech coming from the right. To help make the case, he quotes an "expert in political speech" -- but didn't disclose she is a partisan activist who opposes John McCain. Here are the first two paragraphs:

An ugly line has been crossed in this presidential campaign, one in which some people don't mind calling Barack Obama a dangerous Muslim, a terrorist and worse.


"To me, this all feels much worse than we've seen in some time," said Kathryn Kolbert, the president of People for the American Way, which monitors political speech.
Lightman should have informed readers that People for the American Way is a left-wing activist group which is working to elect Barack Obama.

Worse, Lightman doesn't tell readers that People for the American Way has a current fund-raising campaign, where they are soliciting money to "fight the hate from the right." (Go here if you want to make a donation to help Kolbert fight hate.) The web site claims: "The hate and bigotry that has been encouraged by the Right’s campaign tactics has no place in America."

The fund-raising angle means Kolbert has a financial incentive to make the situation seem worse than it is. Lightman should have disclosed this to his readers.

If you want more evidence that Kathryn Kolbert is a left-wing partisan, you can see her writings and blogs at left-wing sites Crooks and Liars and Huffington Post.

We last saw reporter David Lightman when he was giving McClatchy readers important news about Joe the plumber, such as, his real first name is "Samuel," and that Joe has a tax lien.

Do you trust McClatchy to be fair and objective with political news?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights? by Orson Scott Card, Democrat.

Some excerpts.

"This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was ... the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was ... the Republican Party.

Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout!

What? It's not the liar, but the
victims of the lie who are to blame?"

More.

"So I ask you now: Do you have any standards at all? Do you even know what honesty means?

Is getting people to vote for Barack Obama so important that you will throw away everything that journalism is supposed to stand for?

You might want to remember the way the National Organization of Women threw away their integrity by supporting Bill Clinton despite his well-known pattern of sexual exploitation of powerless women. Who listens to NOW anymore? We know they stand for nothing; they have no principles.

That's where you are right now.
"

Read the whole thing.

Anonymous said...

Democrats are Dead Wrong from Dr. Sanity. This puts it all into perspective.

"they took questions from the audience and one questioner stuck in my mind. She identified herself as a Canadian and asked a question that I think captures the essence of the issue: "Why, she asked (and I paraphrase), are Americans so down on President Bush? Since 9/11 he has managed to keep your country from being attacked again and taken the battle to the enemy...he was right about the surge and now your troops are coming home victorious after freeing the Iraqi people from oppression? And, during all those years when the Iraq war was not going well, he and the Republicans persevered under difficult circumstances AND kept the economy of your country doing well.

And now, (she went on) you seem to be ignoring the fact that the Democrats have controlled Congress for the last two years and since they took over, the economy has totally tanked.
"

Based on the performances of the Republican and Democratic Congresses, if you want success and wealth for all, vote Republican. If you want failure and an economic desert, vote Democrat.

Anonymous said...

But ... but ... what about the scat?

Anonymous said...

The problem with your Republican slant is you have had 8 years and look where we are. Are we better off today than we we're 8 years ago? The answer my friend is "HELL NO" and the polls indicate MOST people agree. So better luck next time you've lost this time no matter how much hate you try to spread.

Anonymous said...

John McCain accidentally left on campaign bus overnight

See the shocking truth here:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/john_mccain_accidentally_left_on