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All The Lies, Fiction,
And Bias That's Fit To Print

By
Allan C. Stover

   
Today's Bestselling
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Bias
Bias:
A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distorts the News

by Bernard Goldberg

In nearly thirty years at CBS News, Bernard Goldberg earned a reputation as one of the preeminent reporters in the television news business. When he looked at his own industry, however, he saw that the media far too often ignored their primary mission: to provide objective reporting. Again and again he saw that the news slanted to the left. …
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Invasion
Invasion:
How America Still Welcomes Terrorists Criminals & Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores

by Michelle Malkin

"The 19 hijackers who invaded America on September 11, 2001, couldn't have done it without help from the United States government," charges Michelle Malkin. "We unlocked our doors, spread out the welcome mat, and allowed these foreign visitors to plot death and destruction in the comfort of our home. And they could do it again in a heartbeat." …
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Coloring the News
Coloring the News : How Crusading for Diversity Has Corrupted American Journalism
by William McGowan

A fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, presents evidence in which, reporters and editors got stories wrong or ignored topics worthy of coverage because of their liberal ideologies and their fear of offending African-Americans, gays or feminists. (Admitted to by many of the journalists later.)  … Read more



You Don't Say
You Don't Say
by Fred Gielow

Prominent, influential liberals reveal with their own words they are anti-religion, anti-family, anti-truth, anti-freedom even anti-civilization! "You Don't Say" exposes liberals hidden agenda … Read more



The Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers :
In Modern Language

Indexed for Today's Political Issues by Mary E. Webster

Mary Webster has performed a great service by editing the Federalist Papers into modern language and indexing them for present-day political issues
… Read more



Why Men Don't Iron
Why Men Don't Iron :
The Fascinating and Unalterable Differences Between Men and Women by Anne & Bill Moir

So much for the politically correct sacred gender cows of feminism and the cultural marxists. The authors blend research data and an entertaining writing style to make this among the best books on understanding the differences between men and women …
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Communism : A Brief History
Communism :
A Brief History

by Richard Pipes

The tragedy of communism is that its history was anything but brief. This is a devastating critique of Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, and everything else that fits under the awful rubric of Communism … Read more



The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates
The Anti-Federalist Papers
and the Constitutional Convention Debates

Ralph Ketcham (Editor)

Many of the anti-government ideas of today have their roots in the Anti-Federalist currents circulating at the time of ratification of our Constitution. Thank the Anti-Federalists for our the Bill of Rights …
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The Black Book of Communism
The Black Book
of Communism

by Stephane Courtois, et al

Communism killed 25 million in Russia, perhaps 65 million in China, 2 million in Cambodia, millions more in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America … Read more

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Toogood Reports [Tuesday, May 20, 2003; 12:01 a.m. EST]
URL: http://ToogoodReports.com/

The recent scandal involving New York Times reporter Jayson Blair is neither the first instance of media lies nor the worst. Decades before Blair falsified quotes, invented newsworthy scenes, and plagiarized other news articles, another Times reporter was responsible for a deadly series of published lies.

Walter Duranty reported for the New York Times (motto: "All the news that's fit to print") in the early days of the Soviet Union. His dispatches grew increasingly biased in favor of its brutal government. He called Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin a "great statesman" rather than the murderous thug that he was. (Duranty's biased reporting brings to mind the leftist journalists, politicians, and celebrities who praise the oppressive regime of Cuba's Fidel Castro.)

In its summary at Amazon, the book Stalin's Apologist: The New York Times Man in Moscow, reveals Duranty's cruelest lies: "Thus during the great Ukrainian famine of the early 1930s, which Stalin engineered to crush millions of peasants who resisted his policies, Duranty dismissed other correspondents' reports of mass starvation and, though secretly aware of the full scale of the horror, effectively reinforced the official cover-up of one of history's greatest man-made disasters."

Millions of Ukrainians perished during the famine, a disaster that might have been averted had the world known about it. Andrew Stuttaford noted in National Review: "Had he told the truth, he could have saved lives." Stuttaford wrote: "Today's revisionists, I suppose, can at least claim the excuse that they were not there. By contrast, Duranty was right on the spot, in Moscow and briefly, even, in the killing fields of the Ukraine itself. He knew." Duranty's misleading reports on the Soviet economy won him a Pulitzer Prize, an award many now want revoked. For his lies and bias, the Soviets awarded Duranty "access" at the highest levels, including an interview with Stalin.

Ah yes, access, that most valuable of commodities for journalists. The Washington Times reported: "Yesterday, CNN executive Eason Jordan claimed that the network had not covered up evidence of atrocities in Saddam Hussein's Iraq because it wanted to ensure access, but because it was worried about putting people's lives in danger." The paper, however, found a witness to refute Jordan's claim: "Writing on today's Op-Ed page, former CNN Baghdad correspondent Peter Collins, who personally witnessed Mr. Jordan and network President Tom Johnson unsuccessfully begging for an interview with Saddam, makes a strong case that Mr. Jordan is lying when he denies that ensuring access was a motive for CNN's shading of the truth on Iraq."

Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke wrote "Jimmy's World," the poignant tale of an eight-year-old heroin addict. It tugged at heartstrings everywhere and earned her the Pulitzer Prize. There was one problem. Jimmy didn't exist. The story was untrue, fabricated from the thin air of Janet's mind. The Post returned her Pulitzer and accepted her resignation.

The New Republic fired Stephen Glass for fabricating parts of 27 stories. Associated Press reported: "Notable subjects included drug-taking young Republicans and 'The First Church of George Herbert Walker Christ.'" MSN Slate's Jack Shafer found Glass's fabrications entertaining "According to the Business Times of Singapore, there's a bond dealer at the New York firm of RBL who keeps a hand-held urinal at his desk so he never misses a market turn. And according to both the Independent and the Sunday Times of London, the booming Monica Lewinsky novelty market includes 3,000 items, such as 'Monicondoms . . . talking Lewinsky dolls, and Monica birthday cards. . . ." (I've deleted Monica's product descriptions in case your kids read the article.) Other fabrications included the nonexistent organizations Climate Lookout, Truth in Science, the Association for the Advancement of Sound Water Policy, and the Committee for the Former President's Integrity.

Glass has put his fictionalizing talents to good use: He has published his first novel. And he graduated from law school, so his talents will serve him well as a lawyer.

The Associated Press sacked reporter Christopher Newton for fabricating sources, quotes, and organizations in some 40 stories. MSN Slate reported that Newton fabricated the organizations Voice for the Disabled, Education Alliance, and Institute for Crime and Punishment in Chicago. A New York Times reporter blew the whistle on him.

Slate has also had its problems. Reporter Jay Horton fabricated parts of an article on "monkeyfishing" in Florida. His companions baited a fishhook with fruit and cast it ashore. The monkeys supposedly grasped the fruit, got impaled on the hook, and were reeled in.

Columbia Journalism Review has documented instances of plagiarism. Ruth Shalit was another New Republic writer who admitted plagiarism in her stories. Laura Parker, Washington Post's Miami bureau chief, quoted people she never interviewed. She borrowed her quotes from Miami Herald and Associated Press stories. New York Times sportswriter Ira Berkow "borrowed" material from an article by Bonnie DeSimone at the Chicago Tribune. Mark Hornung, editorial page editor for Chicago Sun-Times, lifted material from a Washington Post editorial. Bob Hepburn, Toronto Star's Washington bureau chief, plagiarized three paragraphs from a Washington Monthly story. Los Angeles Times reporter Edwin Chen wrote a book entitled Cheating Death, based on a Vanity Fair story by Ann Louise Bardach. He included forty passages that resembled Bardach's piece. Fox Butterfield, New York Times's Boston bureau chief, borrowed five paragraphs from a Boston Globe story on, of all subjects, plagiarism. Orlando Sentinel columnist Bob Morris wrote a column that Reader's Digest reprinted; it was essentially identical to one published eleven years earlier by columnist Mike Harden.

The bottom line: We can't trust anything we read and hear unless it's from a source we can trust, maybe our mother and some (but not all) conservative publications, websites, and talk radio hosts. Nowadays, we have to keep our "credibility bar" high even for them.

To comment on this article or express your opinion directly to the author, you are invited to e-mail Allan at acstover@comcast.net .


NOTICE TO WRITERS: To obtain required information prior to submitting your essay to Toogood Reports for publication send for “Commentary Submissions” guidelines. Nonconforming submissions will not be considered for publication.


May 20, 2003


RECENT COLUMNS: Archives are shown, going back nine months, from the date of this article. To see articles older than that, consult the archive listings accompanying earlier articles.


05/13/03: Why They Hate The National Rifle Association
05/06/03: Another Leftist Lie, That America Executes Juveniles And Children
04/29/03: Why Are Anti-American Foreigners Reporting America's News?
04/22/03: The Real Story Behind Museum Looting, WMD, And Little Ali
04/15/03: The World's Leftists And Losers Versus America And Friends
04/08/03: What Do You Do If A 10-Year-Old Runs At You With A Live Grenade?
04/01/03: Now We Know Who Our Friends Are
03/25/03: Hollywood: Sinful, Stupid, And Anti-American
03/18/03: U. S. Navy Must Abandon Vieques, So Let's Abandon Puerto Rico
03/11/03: Iraq Isn't The First Nation Where Weapon Inspections Failed
03/04/03: Do Rogue Nations Now Control The World, Courtesy Of The United Nations?
02/25/03: France: Why Is This Irrelevant, Weak Nation Still On The United Nations Security Council?
02/18/03: The Destructive Generation's Domestic Terrorists Finally Pay Part Of The Price
02/11/03: Let's Stop Helping The World: They Don’t Appreciate It Anyway
02/04/03: If Saddam’s Terrorist Henchmen Attack Us, Whom Do We Blame?
01/28/03: U.S. Should Grant Political Asylum To Africa's White Farmers
01/21/03: Invasion Of The Illegal Aliens: An American Horror Story
01/14/03: Let's Start Hanging American Traitors
01/07/03: A "Living" Constitution Is A Dying Constitution
12/31/02: How Israel Got Revenge: A Lesson In The War On Terror
12/29/02: Who Is Destroying America?
12/24/02: Will December 25th Soon Become "Happy Holiday" Or "Inclusion Day"?
12/17/02: When Will Saddam's Weapons Kill A Million Americans?
12/03/02: What Would We Get In Return For Reparations?
11/26/02: They're Coming After Your Milkshakes, Shoes, And Holiday Turkey
11/19/02: Will We Fight Civil War II Over The Southwest U.S.?
11/12/02: Khilafah: The Move Toward A One-World Islamic Government
11/05/02: Send The Illegal Haitian Immigrants Home – Now!
10/29/02: Is America Going Insane?
10/22/02: The Nobel Peace Prize: Leftist "Messages" From Five Political Appointees
10/15/02: This Is Your Life, Osama Bin Laden
10/08/02: Another State Supreme Court Disregards Laws And The Constitution?
10/01/02: A "Fair" Political Debate? With A Kennedy? In Maryland?
09/24/02: Islamists: In A State Of War Against The West Since 1970
09/17/02: Why The United Nations And Other International Organizations Should Be Irrelevant
09/10/02: Are We The Wimpiest Generation?
09/03/02: Nothing Much Happened On September 11, 2001
08/27/02: Will The UN Indict Mugabe For Crimes Against Whites?
08/20/02: Do Europeans Really Hate America?
08/13/02: How Liberals Win The Talk Show Wars
08/06/02: Future Naval Officers: Warriors Or Wimps?
07/30/02: Jihad Johnny: A Kid, An Idealist? Give Us A Break!
07/23/02: Hijackers, Suicide Bombers, And Child Murderers Are … Brave?
07/16/02: World Government Fanatics Are Destroying America
07/09/02: All Right, Already, Enough Media Terrorist Alerts
07/02/02: A Leftist Pledge Of Allegiance



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

The Evil OnesToogood Reports contributor and "Best of the Web" award-winning writer Allan Stover is the author of The Evil Ones, America’s first conservative novel. He has been published in numerous magazines and journals. His first book was honored by the National Science Teachers Association. His second book was republished in Mandarin for mainland China. He has worked abroad twenty years in Asia, Europe, South America, and the Middle East; survived a terrorist attack in Sri Lanka; went behind the Iron Curtain into Communist East Germany; and lived in the Philippines while President Marcos seized power and established a dictatorship. Visit Allan's website or you may E-mail him at acstover@comcast.net.



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