MSM Bias

Dr. Marla Swings And Misses On Stem Cell Research. CTV Strikes Out.

Mulder

I guess we can now conclude that the CTV is pro-embryonic stem cell research.

Earlier this month, the CTV received Strike One and Strike Two on their understanding of stem cell research. Today, on Canada AM, they received Strike Three.

What bothers me most about this strike is that it was by their heavy hitter, Dr. Marla Shapiro. She visited a stem cell research clinic at the Ottawa Hospital here in my city and in the piece they showed a photo which they described as “EMBRYONIC stem cells that COULD lead to a cure for Parkinson’s” and then they immediately flip to a woman who has had her life dramatically change for the better due to ADULT stem cell therapy.

As this website has pointed out on several occasions, there has not been a single succesful therapy or cure discovered via EMBRYONIC stem cell research. The successes are all attributed to ADULT or UMBILICAL stem cell research which are two types of research I fully support.

Strike Two For CTV On Stem Cell Research Stories

Mulder

After reading Joel over at Proud To Be Canadian with regards to Kate Wheeler promoting stem cell research healing hearts, I have to also point out that this is strike two against the CTV. They continue to promote ADULT STEM CELL RESEARCH SUCCESS but do not differentiate that ADULT STEM CELLS are what were used and not Embryonic Stem Cells. This lack of perspective means that many who are not scientifically familiar believe that all stem cell research is successful and worth investigating. We know this is not the case but the CTV doesn’t help educate others of this fact.

I must point you to CTV’s Strike One where they did not differentiate between the different types.

I must also point you to my story (or Ann Coulter’s) outlining the successes of ADULT and UMBILICAL Stem Cells and the lack of success using embryonic stem cells.

Spread the gospel please. The world needs to know that there IS a difference between the three types of stem cell research and which are proven successes (ADULT AND UMBILICAL) and which are not (EMBRYONIC). It is obvious that the MSM has ignored the differences and that they are manipulating people’s views by leaving out a description of these differences. Shame on the CTV.

CBC WeatherBimbo Claire Martin Goes Too Far

Mulder

Tonight on The National, Claire Martin, the British accented weatherbimbo, not once, but twice, alluded to the Income Trust changes announced by the government. The first time, she even called it the Income Trust debacle.

For Claire’s information, the Income Trust debacle was when Ralph Goodale’s Ministry of Finance leaked the Liberal announcement in October of 2005. To call the current government’s decision to debaucle is just wrong. And weather reporting eye candy has no place commenting on the governments decision anymore than a sports caster.

The CBC has gone too far this time. No matter what your opinion on the governments decision, this was a further blatant attempt at the CBC trying to influence the viewers against the government and is simply wrong.

Claire Martin should apologize and the CBC needs to get their act together.

I highly urge you all to visit their ombudsman’s website and register a complaint.

The broadcast took place November 2nd, 2006 at approximately 10:55pm EST.

ADDENDUM I took the liberty of recording the rebroadcast from CBC Newsworld at 11pm to 12pm and got the clip on YouTube. You can see it by clicking the link below.

If the above image does not work for you, then you can try visiting the YouTube page by clicking the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brAjzoMW0xE

CTV Wrongly Goes Ambiguous In Defence Of A Canuck

Mulder

This morning on Canada AM, the crew I enjoy watching threw a curve ball out there when discussing the stem cell research position Michael J. Fox holds and the criticism Rush Limbaugh gave Mr. Fox. The conversation appeared to make Rush Limbaugh out to be a monster for criticizing Michael J. Fox’s promotion of candidates who support stem cell research.

I am one who thinks Rush may have crossed a line and I was glad to hear he apologized, but I must point out that CTV made Michael J. Fox sound like a hero without giving the story due diligence.

There are many types of stem cell research, as I have reported in the past. And for Michael J. Fox and the CTV to not differentiate which ones are being discussed is wrong. From Mr. Fox’s perspective, he has a vested interest in any research which may cure his Parkinson’s so he is biased. From the CTV’s perspective, they should report the differences.

These include the fact that Adult stem cell research has cured many things, as has umbilical cord stem cell research, whereas embryonic has not cured anything. The first two are legal in most western nations. It is the embryonic stem cell research that is in question.

I think both Mr. Fox and the CTV need to do a bit more homework.

Media Bias Blatant In Coverage Of Polls

Mulder

A few days ago, a poll came out announcing that the federal Liberals and federal Conservatives were neck and neck in the eyes of Canadian voters.  The press coverage of this poll was in every newspaper and on every news station I turned on.

Two days ago, Environics released a poll that indicates the Tories are 9 points ahead of the Liberals yet no one covered it.

This morning I heard about this poll on Lowell Green’s show and was simply shocked that no one covered this poll in the press.  Apparently this poll was over a three week period and the poll indicating a tie was over a two day period at the tail end of the Environics poll. I agree that two polls can have different results depending on the period of time and length of polling time, but for two polls so close together to have such different results is rare (albeit possible).

My main beef is that the press chose to cover the one that that puts the Liberals in a better light and ignore the one that has the Tories a full 3 percentage points better off than on election day last January!!

Environics Poll

Travel Propaganda Leans Left

Mulder

Last Wednesday I took off for San Jose, California on a work excursion. While travelling I began to notice the trend that left leaning MSM propaganda is everywhere.

Over the last three years, I have probably been on about 40 different business trips and stayed in dozens of different hotels. While on all these trips I can conclude the following.

1) The TV station of choice for displaying in American airports is CNN.

and

2) The newspaper that inevitably sits on my hotel room doorstep each morning is USA Today.

This doesn’t usually irk me until I sat down for my 3 hour layover in Toronto, looked up and saw that the Greater Toronto Airport Authority has partnered up with CBC to propagandize our travellers.

Maybe the fact that I saw as many people on laptops as I did watching the TVs was a good sign of the way things are moving in the world.

If anyone out there knows what is on other Canadian airport monitors, please feel free to comment. Since most of my travel was to the US, I am not as familiar with other Canadian airports outside of the TV in the smoking lounge at the Ottawa airport which was flexible. (I would consistently change the station to CTV newsnet whenever I had a chance)

As an aside, on this trip I got to run into Tim Powers, the Conservative pundit who is on Mike Duffy Live a couple of times a week and on CFRA weekly. I took a few minutes to say hi and let him know I enjoyed watching him spar with the other party pundits.

Why The Long Gun Registry Needs To Go

Mulder

Since the Dawson College tragedy, many people are questioning the current government’s plan to scrap the long gun registry. But I have noticed the press is quite one sided in this.

To date there is story after story outlining the tragedy and displaying a view from the pro gun control lobby, yet the flipside is only flippantly displayed. The only thing that I have heard in defence of the government plan is that the current gun laws did not prevent the Dawson college incident.

Stephen Taylor exposes the one sided reporting by Julie Van Dusen of the CBC.

What I find quite interesting is the lack of news coverage on what the long gun registry exactly is and what it is used for and how much it costs. I think a layman’s cost analysis is needed here.

The gun registry is a database with information on every gun, who owns it, their contact info and the serial numbers of said guns or gun components. It is used by the police to search to see if an address they may be approaching has guns.

a) The database portion of the gun registry could have been set up for less than $500,000 which would have included a full blown database with top notch internet or extranet security depending on what is desired. The bandwidth limitations could have been made such that thousands of police officers could have accessed it simultaneously without any problems.

b) The maintainance could have been managed by 5 to 10 workers to enter the paper registrations at a nice salary of $75K a year for a further $500K.

c) The advertising aspects could have been the biggest cost. But when it comes to paying Liberal ad agencies to sway the minds of people who do not want to spend a billion dollars, cost was apparently not a factor.

The bottom line is that this gun registry is a expensive joke. Most people have not registered their weapons, the cost to set it up and operate it have been ridiculous compared to what a business would pay for such a database. It makes me sick thinking of how many people’s pockets were lined for this program.

I have a simple solution to add fairness to the MSM stories. For each and every story that discusses the Tory plan to scrap the gun registry, please just repeat the following two points.

a) The Liberals said it would cost 2 Million to set up and then be self sufficient

b) Under Liberal majorities, cost increase after cost increase was approved so that the program has now cost tax payers between one and two BILLION dollars.

It’s as simple as that. Just add these two points when you get on your soapboxes defending this farce of a registry.

CBC=Chopping Block Central (and I'm all smiles)

Mulder
The following exchange took place in Question Period yesterday and all I can say is good riddance. Now I do have to ask the question. In light of his “resignation”, is Fournier going to pull a Dingwall and get a giant kiss off package? He is the one who made ridiculous remarks last weekend and he is the one who resigned. I certainly hope he just skulks away into the shadows to never return again.

Mr. Luc Harvey (Louis-Hébert, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women tell us whether Guy Fournier, the chairman of the board of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, still has the confidence of the government, given the statements he has recently made in the media?

Hon. Bev Oda (Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Fournier was appointed as chair of CBC Radio-Canada by the previous Liberal government. He has increasingly lost the confidence of Canada’s new government.

I would inform the House that I have received the voluntary resignation of Mr. Fournier effective today. This will enable this new government to make an appointment that reflects the importance that we put on the role of the chair of CBC Radio-Canada.

Gwynne Dyer's Pants On Fire After Substandard Research

Mulder

Ok, so I just continued the line started by Let It Bleed.

But this kind of shlocky journalism has to be stopped in it’s tracks.

Indeed, no other non-Muslim nation except Israel was a target for Islamist terrorist attacks until after the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. And the attacks since then have been aimed at the citizens of countries that were complicit in that invasion: Londoners, not Parisians; Spaniards, not Germans; Australians holidaying in Bali, not Japanese holidaying in Malaysia

Considering the bombing in Bali took place on October 12th, 2002, Gwynne should be apologizing to all his readers in all 45 countries he is published in for this bald faced attempt to lie.  Ironically, he even uses Bali in his list which makes it truly sad.

The public, if not already, should be very leery of what they read and see in the MSM.  The press today is not like it was 20 years ago.  The advent of quick exchanges via email and electronic data transfer has made it too easy for information to make it to print without the due diligence being done to make sure the information is accurate.

In their attempts to make their deadlines so they get the scoop before someone else, today’s reporters are starting to slack big time to be first and make the big bucks.

H/T to Let It Bleed.