Tag Archives: Benghazi

On last week’s 60 Minutes, CBS News presented an account from a British security contractor who claimed to be an eyewitness to the attack against U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya. But the contractor’s own incident report revealed that he was nowhere near the facilities and was instead at a beachside villa. [1]Journalistic malpractice? Tell CBS to fix this faulty reporting.The 60 Minutes report largely hinged on revelations from “Morgan Jones,” who CBS News claimed “witnessed the attack.” In an interview with correspondent Lara Logan that sounded like the script for an action movie, “Jones” described scaling the wall at the burning compound, fighting off terrorists inside, and gaining access to the hospital to view the remains of Ambassador Chris Stevens.

The CBS News report quickly fueled the ongoing right-wing politicization of the terror attack and provided renewed vigor to accusations of a “Benghazi cover-up.” [2]

The problem? “Jones,” whose real name is Dylan Davies, previously wrote that he “could not get anywhere near” the diplomatic compound that night. In the incident report submitted to his employer, Davies stated that, due to roadblocks, he spent most of the night of the attack at his Benghazi beachside villa, only learning of the Ambassador’s death from a Libyan colleague’s cellphone picture. Davies later claimed that he lied in the employer report, not the story he gave to the media. Either way, the discrepancy is troubling. [3]

Veteran journalists agree that the new details raise questions about whether 60 Minutes properly reviewed Davies’ story before it aired. “Other sources, even if those were off the record sources, they could have done something to address this discrepancy,” said Kelly McBride, ethics instructor at The Poynter Institute and co- author of the new book the New Ethics of Journalism. Dave Cuillier, Society of Professional Journalists president, agreed: “Accuracy’s number one and we’ve got to get it right and if we don’t, which is going to happen inevitably, then we need to correct it. That applies in every situation, whether it’s an obit in the Green Valley News or 60 Minutes.” [4]

What’s more, CBS Corporation owns Simon & Schuster, which published Davies’ “eyewitness” memoir about the attack. The ties between 60 Minutes and the publisher of Davies’ book were not disclosed when 60 Minutes was promoting Davies’ story. Given the financial relationships involved, it’s especially concerning that CBS News did not properly address the discrepancy between Davies’ stories. [5]

Whether due to negligence or a deliberate lack of disclosure, CBS News failed to properly verify its source in pursuit of a scoop.

Will you join the call for CBS News to explain the discrepancies or retract its report?

In 2004, when questions were raised about 60 Minutes reporting on documents involving President George W. Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News appointed an independent panel “to help determine what errors occurred in the preparation of the report and what actions need to be taken.” [6] Following the investigation, CBS News fired four producers connected to the story, and chose not to renew correspondent Dan Rather’s contract.

To maintain its reputation as a respected news organization, CBS News needs to respond to this instance of questionable journalism with the same professionalism it has displayed in the past. Can you help us remind CBS News that journalism and the facts matter?

Sign the letter to CBS News: http://action.mediamatters.org/cbs_benghazi

We’ll send the letter next week, so sign on by Monday to ask CBS News to take responsibility for the problems in its report. Your participation makes a difference.

Cynthia Padera Campaigns Manager Media Matters for America

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[1] 60 Minutes Benghazi Report Takes A Huge Credibility Hit http://mm4a.org/1aZgivt [2] Conservative Media Praise CBS’ 60 Minutes Report On Benghazi http://mm4a.org/16h0mpS [3] CBS “Eyewitness” Admits He Lied About Benghazi Attack While Bashing Critics http://mm4a.org/1aUykCt [4] Veteran Journalists Criticize 60 Minutes For “Serious Problem” With Benghazi “Witness” http://mm4a.org/1h6tur2 [5] 60 Minutes’ Benghazi Eyewitness Asked Fox News For Money http://mm4a.org/17sky9b [6] David Brock Calls On CBS To Retract Faulty Benghazi Story http://mm4a.org/1iAIgBK

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10 Crazy Things the Right Did This Week

09/16/2013 Nativegrl77

By CAP Action War RoomThe summer may be over, but it’s never the end of crazy season when it comes to conservatives–from the silly to the serious.

1. Republicans Threaten To Push Nation Into Default Unless Obama Agrees To Delay Obamacare For One Year: Ironically, the proposition could actually increase the deficit by billions of dollars.
2. Secret Koch Fund Decries ‘Corporate Welfare’ And Stimulus But Funds Their Top Defender: A tax-exempt group claims to fight runaway stimulus spending and “corporate welfare” but gave millions to the Chamber of Commerce, perhaps the top backer of those programs.
3. GOP Tries To Sink Uncontroversial Energy Bill With An Obamacare Amendment: An energy efficiency bill would be the first major energy legislation passed in the Senate since 2007, but Republican amendments aiming to repeal Obamacare threaten to sink a long-awaited bill that has broad bipartisan support.
4. Heritage Puts Anti-Obamacare Billboard In Times Square After State Announces Huge Premium Drop: The message is just the latest political stunt from the organization that first developed the individual health care mandate and later touted Obamacare-like reforms in Massachusetts.
5. The Origins Of An Epidemic: How Right-Wing Religious Communities Give Measles A Chance To Spread: A recent measles outbreak in Texas was traced to an evangelical church that preached against vaccines. That’s not an isolated incident.
6. Five Reasons Congress Can’t Blame The Calendar For Delaying Immigration Reform: House Republicans are telling the media they simply don’t have time to pass immigration reform this year. They’re wrong.
7. Benghazi Conspiracy Rally On Capitol Hill Attracts Dozens Of People: It was meant to be a rallying moment for thousands of conservatives to demand the truth about Benghazi. Less than a hundred bothered to show up.
8. Conservatives Pressure Textbook Publishers To Downplay Existence Of Climate Change, Evolution: Prominent creationists with little scientific background or training are asking publishers include disclaimers about existing scientific theories.
9. Meet The Maryland Republicans Who Want To Secede: The group, which calls itself the Western Maryland Initiative, is dissatisfied with the fact that, in a democracy, people with minority views are frequently outvoted by people with more common views.
10. Mitch McConnell Exploits Syria Conflict For Campaign Fundraising: The letter opened with the claim that Mitch McConnell “does not politicize issues of national security” but went on to argue that the senator’s opposition to the authorization for use of force is “a ringing example of why we need to keep Mitch fighting for us in the United States Senate.”

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Watch As The Lies Fall Apart

09/13/2013 Nativegrl77

Too often on cable news, it seems like everything just goes according to plan. What we’re looking at this week are times when guests have stood up for the truth – even if it didn’t make their hosts happy.

John Whitehouse Twitter: @existentialfish

Benghazi Lies, Shot Down

Fox News wanted to spend the first anniversary of the attack on Benghazi the way they had spent the prior year: pushing a cacophany of lies and misinformation. But as Ari Rabin-Havt explains, Fox‘s guests actually knew what they were talking about this time and shot down the lies live on air. http://mm4a.org/17qBk7l Related: The complete explainer of every Benghazi lie, from fake concussions to fake emails and everything in between: http://mm4a.org/17VPz2Q

What’s Happening In Oklahoma

An Oklahoma law that’s currently before the Supreme Court forces doctors to ignore safe medical practice for medication abortions. National Review Online would have you believe that Oklahoma legislators know better than doctors — and that abortion access is not under attack. Meagan Hatcher-Mays explains why they’re wrong. http://mm4a.org/1eFhFnS Related: Every show has its detractors (and CNN’s Crossfire is certainly no exception) but the Daily Caller‘s attack on Stephanie Cutter was rank, sexist, and demonstrative of why the Daily Caller is a completely discredited outlet: http://mm4a.org/17O3jhP

Homophobia And Fox News

Fox Sports fired a contributor in part because of homophobic remarks he made while running as a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Texas. This raises the question: How homophobic does one have to be to get fired from Fox News? Luke Brinker runs down the network’s worst offenders: http://mm4a.org/15TeYHx

FEATURED VIDEO

Despite its best efforts, Fox News’ facade of Benghazi lies occasionally collapsed. Here are 8 times that Fox’s Benghazi charade fell apart: http://mm4a.org/18bK2Jj

NEW MMFA WEB SERIES

We’re excited to launch our original web series After It’s News. A bit cheeky, AIN features original content, an interview, and best of all it’s pretty short. Check it out: http://youtu.be/EQx8nkTBUtU

AMERICAN RACISM

Why are conservative media so often pushing racist arguments? Because the man at the epicenter of it is. A new study shows that Matt Drudge’s race-baiting has skyrocketed since Obama took office. http://mm4a.org/1fGfr5k

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Jon Stewart On Fox News And Syria

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Rallying Around Lunacy

05/31/2013 Nativegrl77

Have you signed our letter asking ABC News to make an on air correction for their faulty Benghazi reporting yet? We’re about to send it to the network, so sign before it is too late. Here are some of the stories from the past week, from the lunatic world of gun radio to sexism on Fox.John Whitehouse Twitter: @existentialfish

Lunatic Gun Radio

There’s a lot of fringe radio and media figures who engage in wild conspiracy theories that are best to ignore most of the time. But in recent months as America has engaged in a debate about gun violence, these fringe hosts have attracted prominent gun activists to give them validation and attention. Matt Gertz and Ben Dimiero venture into the lunatic world of gun rights radio. http://mm4a.org/19mpWdK

Cable News Misses Economic News

The housing sector recently grew significantly, a good prospect for the economy as a whole. But cable news in total spent less than 10 minutes covering that news. Instead, they’re focused on covering the nonstop D.C. scandal machine. Media Matters‘ senior economics researcher Albert Kleine looks at media coverage of the economy. http://mm4a.org/ZtFJ8P

Blatant Sexism On Fox

It started bad enough, with a panel of four men and zero women on Fox to discuss the rise in the number of female breadwinners in families. It managed to get even worse, with one Fox contributor even saying that “the male typically is the dominant role” in nature. Emily Arrowood dissects the segment. http://mm4a.org/12PUhML

FEATURED VIDEO

Even as the conservative Wall Street Journal called the idea “dumb,” Fox News really wants a special prosecutor. In fact, they can’t stop mentioning it. Whatever you do, do not actually play this drinking game (seriously). http://youtu.be/QKdAezLYvwA

ARMED MARCH COMING TO A STATE CAPITOL NEAR YOU?

Adam Kokesh has replaced his previously announced armed march on Washington D.C. with planned armed marches on state capitols – and he plans on calling for the overthrow of the federal government. http://mm4a.org/ZeU7Q2

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Fox Can’t See Who Is Right In Front Of Their Eyes

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Watch ABC News’ Reporting Unravel

05/29/2013 Nativegrl77

When ABC News hyped its false report that the administration’s Benghazi emails showed evidence of a political cover-up, it kicked off a media frenzy. Suddenly, after eight months of dismissing conservatives’ claims that Benghazi was a secret scandal, the networks were now featuring it as headline news.
After the report aired, the Benghazi “cover-up” led the Sunday shows not only on Fox News, but also on ABC, NBC, and CBS. On the May 10 edition of Fox News’ Special Report, Chris Wallace crowed, “The Benghazi story finally hit the mainstream media with a vengeance today…[because] of ABC.”
Click here to watch a short video of the unraveling of ABC’s false Benghazi story.

When the actual Benghazi emails were released, ABC News’ so-called “exclusive” was thoroughly debunked. However, according to ABC’s own poll from May 21, the false reporting stuck: a majority of Americans now think that the Obama administration is trying to cover up the facts about Benghazi.
ABC News has yet to address or correct its false report on the air. Coincidence? Doubtful.
Where are the corrections? Sign our letter to ABC News executives asking ABC to live up to its reputation and correct its false report:
http://action.mediamatters.org/tell_abc_news_correct_false_benghazi_report
More than 12,000 of you have already weighed in, stating that ABC News needs to acknowledge that it misinformed the American people. Urge ABC News to do the right thing by correcting its false report.
The letter will be delivered this week. So, be sure to sign it while you still can!Cynthia Padera Campaigns Manager Media Matters for America