Palin wins tough fight to be named ‘Misinformer of the Year’

In a year of stiff competition, former half-term Alaska Governor and current Faux “News” contributor Sarah Palin was chosen as “Misinformer of the Year” by the media watchdog group Media Matters.

The rightwing has had a great year misinforming, lying and spinning, and it culminated in the November elections, but Palin stood head and shoulders above the usual crowed. Past “winners” include Faux “news” madman Glenn Beck and Faux “News” hatemonger Sean Hannity.

“This year, Palin stood out for her sheer ability to dominate our national conversation and draw the attention of the entire news media to her factually challenged claims and vicious attacks. She has blurred the line completely between media figure and political activist.”

“From spreading lies about "death panels" to cropping Obama's comments about "American exceptionalism," from her comfortable perch at Fox News to her self-promoting books and reality show, Palin has truly broken new ground in misinformation.”

To show how her misinformation has taken hold, just last night I got into a “debate” with a trio of vicious right-wingers on Facebook where “death panels” and health care rationing was claimed.

Last month the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that new evidence suggests the risks outweigh the benefits of Avastin for treating metastatic breast cancer, and the FDA has now begun the process of withdrawal of the popular advanced breast cancer treatment.

One right-winger used that as proof of death panels and rationing. But that’s not surprising, based on a recent study by scholars at the University of Maryland. They conducted a survey on the impact of the news business on good citizenship, and they found that viewers of Faux “news” were the most misinformed. Right-wingers prove that every day.

One reason they are so misinformed may be how Faux spins the news, and in fact they just got caught at it. Earlier this month the Fox News Washington managing editor was caught trying to slant the news in emails to staffers. It just happens it was two subjects right-wingers are the most misinformed on, health care and climate change.

Right is spinning out of control over oil leak

Republicans have been spinning out of control trying to blame the explosion of the giant BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and the resulting oil spill on President Obama.

Shortly after the explosion on April 20, Drug addled gas bag Rush Limbaugh said the President was rushing in to play the hero. Shortly after that, he and other conservatives were saying he had not done enough, and it was his Hurricane Katrina.

Limbaugh even said there is no need to do a clean up of some 4 million gallons of oil There is no tragedy that Limbaugh will not use to bash Democrats. But, this is not about the drug addled one.

Discredited Right-wing tools from Sean Hannnity to Karl Rove have been spinning hard to try and sell it as President Obama’s Katrina, despite the fact that the Obama Administration was there from day one. Apparently, this will now be Hanity’s version of “where were the buses.”

I hate to go back to the drug addled gas bag, but he and others are even trying to push the myth that it was the work of environmentalists who sabotaged it to make their point that off-shore drilling is unsafe.

Stay tuned because the spin from the right is far from over.

Deranged Beck named 2009 Misinformer of the Year

In perhaps the easier pick in years, Faux “news” madman Glenn Beck was named Media Matters' 2009 Misinformer of the Year.

Media Matters always has a lot to choose from in picking its annual award - just from the Faux line up alone - from cable news to right-wing radio, from online publications to major newspapers. But, the former Morning Zoo shock jock's unique brand of vitriol, stage theatrics, and hyperbolic fright, make him an easy choice for Media Matters’ 2009 Misinformer of the Year.

When he wasn’t crying, going off on demented rants telling people to get off his phone or whipping up the corporate-funded tea-baggers he was calling the President of the United States a racist, saying he was a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred of white people.”

I would say the guy needs a straightjacket, but the reality is he may just have hit on the rightwing formula for success: say the most outrageous, false smears against any non-extremist tea bagger, and you can rake in the millions and be assured of success. It has worked well for the likes of Hanity, Coulter, O’Reily and Limbaugh.

Media Matters dug deep through the more than 3,500 detailed research items they released this year to select Beck as the annual "Misinformer of the Year.” He joins other past winners Bill O'Reilly, Chris Matthews, ABC, and Sean Hannity

Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. They have earned the wrath of the likes of O’Reily for daring to smear him by putting the actual unedited, video of him up smearing himself.

False smears earn hatemonger Hannity the 2008 Misinformer of the Year dishonor

With all the smears and misinformation put out by the conservative media against President Barack Obama and the Democrats in 2008, it would seem to be hard to choose just one person who has conveyed the most misinformation and smears. Not so says media watchdog Media Matters, and it chose Faux News talking head Sean Hannity as the 2008 Misinformer of the Year.

Hannity won the award hands down, despite many people to choose from; including numerous right-wing radio hosts, cable news pundits, major daily newspapers and online publications. Month after month, Media Matters shone the light of accountability on the media, which all too often pass along conservative spin, smears and distortions as fact. They did so by posting the actual video of misinformation and a transcript, defeating the claim that it took things out of contest.

It also documented the many lied and smears of fellow Faux talking head Bill O'Reilly's misinformation by actually posting the video, and it earned them his ire, calling them "the most dishonest website in the country." And how do they do that? By actually posting the audio and video of O'Reilly's misinformation.

Media Matters dug deep through the more than 3,500 detailed research items they released this year to select the annual "Misinformer of the Year." But Hannity's tactics left little doubt that the blow dried talking head deserved the dishonor. He left no smear of a progressive leader or issue unspoken, turning both of his cable television programs and his nationally syndicated radio show into cesspools of conservative misinformation.

His nightly show on Faux News was filled with examples of taking what Obama said and distorting it. His constant refrain was Obama'a alleged "radical associations," and that means if Obama and the alleged radical were in the same place at the same time once. Almost every long, convoluted question that was really a statement put out by Hannity always included the words, "Bill Ayers, Rev. Wright, Louis Farrakhan and Rezko." Even Obama's family have not been off-limits.

In addition to simply mouthing Republican talking points, Hannity has continued to use debunked smears against Obama and Democrats in general, give a platform to the most despicable smear merchants, defending Republicans and even raising money for them and failing to disclose that little fact.

Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.