Right Wing

Bill O'Reilly Decides, You Shut Up

by Sheldon Rampton — August 27, 2003 - 11:00pm

"Fox News channel talk show host Bill O'Reilly says 'shut up' the way other people say 'um,'" observes Jack Shafer. "On his daily show, The O'Reilly Factor, he uses it as a place-holder for an idea still formulating in his brain. As a way to begin a sentence, end it, or punctuate it. ... He's even heaved this impolite language at entire nations, demanding they recuse themselves from the international conversation. In the half-decade his top-rated show has been on the air, he's called for the muzzling of practically everybody.

Main Source:

Slate, August 28, 2003

Fox's Suit Sells More Books

by Laura Miller — August 24, 2003 - 11:00pm

"I'd love to make the case that Fox News will suffer irreparable damage to its reputation as a result of its frivolous lawsuit against satirist and author Al Franken, but I can't," writes Paul Holmes for PR Week. "Because the kind of people who take Fox News seriously won't care, and the kind of people who care are already incapable of taking Fox News seriously. ...

Main Source:

PR Week, August 25, 2003

Fox's Lying Liars Lose in Court

by Sheldon Rampton — August 22, 2003 - 11:00pm

A federal judge has ruled against Fox News in its lawsuit attempting to suppress publication of liberal satirist Al Franken's book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.

Main Source:

CNN, August 23, 2003

The Terminator's Political Machine

by Sheldon Rampton — August 12, 2003 - 11:00pm

Who are the figures behind actor Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign to become the governor of California? Max Blumental looks at the behind-the-scenes political operatives who have orchestrated the state's recall election. Schwarzenegger's high-priced consultants, George Gorton and Don Sipple, have worked with Republican operatives including Howard Kaloogian, David Gilliard, and former Enron pollster Frank Luntz, who "devised a strategy for the recall campaign centering around negative character attacks and avoidance of policy discussion," Blumenthal writes.

Main Source:

American Prospect, August 13, 2003

Fox Sues Franken

by Sheldon Rampton — August 11, 2003 - 11:00pm

The Fox News Network is suing comedian Al Franken in an effort to block publication of his upcoming new book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.

Main Source:

New York Times, August 12, 2003

Suit Challenges Global Warming Report

by Laura Miller — August 6, 2003 - 11:00pm

The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington DC-based think tank that is funded by right-wing foundations and industries that deny global warming, sued the Bush administration over its 2000 report on climate change. The New York Times reports CEI is trying to stop the government from distributing the report, saying it is inaccurate and biased.

Main Source:

New York Times, August 7, 2003

What Would Jesus Pay for Drugs?

by Sheldon Rampton — July 22, 2003 - 11:00pm

The Traditional Values Coalition, which bills itself as a Christian advocacy group, has received money behind the scenes from the pharmaceutical industry to campaign against legislation that would enable U.S. citizens to import low-cost prescription drugs from countries like Canada. The drug industry opposes the law because it would undercut the high prices they charge in the U.S.

Main Source:

Washington Post, July 23, 2003

Worse Than Gay: Canadian!

by Sheldon Rampton — July 16, 2003 - 11:00pm

After ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman reported on complaints from U.S. soldiers in Iraq, the White House tried to smear him by leaking the word to cyber-gossip Matt Drudge that Kofman is gay and Canadian.

Main Source:

Washington Post, July 17, 2003

Rise of the Machines

by Sheldon Rampton — July 6, 2003 - 9:32pm

In the past, the lobbyists who populate Washington's K Street were about as likely to be Democrats as Republicans, a practice that ensured lobby firms would have clout no matter which party was in power. But as Republican-dominated national politics have created an increasingly one-party system, the GOP has made a determined effort to undermine the bipartisan complexion of K Street.

Main Source:

Washington Monthly, July/August 2003

The "Left-Wing" Media?

by Sheldon Rampton — June 25, 2003 - 11:00pm

"If we learn nothing else from the war on Iraq and its subsequent occupation, it is that the U.S. ruling class has learned to make ideological warfare as important to its operations as military and economic warfare," write Robert W. McChesney and John Bellamy Foster in this excerpt from their upcoming book, The Big Picture: Understanding Media through Political Economy.

Main Source:

http://monthlyreview.org/0603editr.htm