Thursday, April 28, 2005
Conservatives cite fake research again
On a recent Daily Show I saw an unbelievable (yet believable) example of:
a) conservative lies
b) mainstream media letting it go by as part of the "He Said, She Said" problem I mentioned the other day
I thought I'd have to try to recap it from memory. But amazingly, someone in the mainstream media picked up on the story this morning. Not just any ol' liberal outlet, either: today's Wall Street Journal! Wonders never cease. Anyway, this excellent piece discusses this shining example of a problem we know goes on every day.
The gist: A rigged right-wing study claims that children adopted by gay couples are 11 times more likely to be sexually abused than other kids. The study, from a discredited guy at a gay-bashing "Institute" gets published on the phony news site WorldNetDaily. From there it's cited by a gay-bashing woman on CNN, who's using it to push the Texas bill that would keep gays from being foster parents.
During this typical "He Said, She Said" segment on CNN, Anchor Kyra Phillips doesn't bother to ask a basic question like, "Where are you getting this study?" It went unchallenged except for the gay advocate on the other side who was so taken aback he could only say he'd never heard of such a finding. Afterwards, Phillips says it's an "interesting debate." (Watch the clip here at the Daily Show site -- click on the "GayWatch" icon!)
Unfortunately, conservatives have hundreds of wonderully-funded think tanks and "Institutes" -- all funded by the same few people -- that churn out troubling stuff like this every day. And while the WSJ points out that the media rightly ignores the discredited guy who authored this study most of the time, stuff like it not only gets through all the time, but becomes the accepted argument on the right that liberals are forced to respond to.
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a) conservative lies
b) mainstream media letting it go by as part of the "He Said, She Said" problem I mentioned the other day
I thought I'd have to try to recap it from memory. But amazingly, someone in the mainstream media picked up on the story this morning. Not just any ol' liberal outlet, either: today's Wall Street Journal! Wonders never cease. Anyway, this excellent piece discusses this shining example of a problem we know goes on every day.
The gist: A rigged right-wing study claims that children adopted by gay couples are 11 times more likely to be sexually abused than other kids. The study, from a discredited guy at a gay-bashing "Institute" gets published on the phony news site WorldNetDaily. From there it's cited by a gay-bashing woman on CNN, who's using it to push the Texas bill that would keep gays from being foster parents.
During this typical "He Said, She Said" segment on CNN, Anchor Kyra Phillips doesn't bother to ask a basic question like, "Where are you getting this study?" It went unchallenged except for the gay advocate on the other side who was so taken aback he could only say he'd never heard of such a finding. Afterwards, Phillips says it's an "interesting debate." (Watch the clip here at the Daily Show site -- click on the "GayWatch" icon!)
Unfortunately, conservatives have hundreds of wonderully-funded think tanks and "Institutes" -- all funded by the same few people -- that churn out troubling stuff like this every day. And while the WSJ points out that the media rightly ignores the discredited guy who authored this study most of the time, stuff like it not only gets through all the time, but becomes the accepted argument on the right that liberals are forced to respond to.
0 comments. Leave one!
