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{{Archivebox|] <small> Feb 2007 - Jan 2008 </small> </br> ] <small> Feb 2008 </small> }}


=="in its present state"==
==Importance of retaining NY Times references==
I removed this expression from the sentence about Obama's school. As far as I know no one is asserting that the school was different in the past. ] (]) 16:53, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
The link to the NY Times article are essential, so that readers can see the truth beyond this story. And the links are to keep wikipedia with verifiable documentation, otherwise, reference-less articles are no better than Insight's sourceless accusations. ] 13:23, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
:In fact multiple interviewees say things aren't much different. ] (]) 01:04, 11 February 2008 (UTC)


:And this quote is relevant, as well as bearing on the question of whether "madrassa" is a word used in Indonesia, as well as how it's understood there:<blockquote>Bandung said he had heard the rumor that Obama went to a radical Islamic school. He showed a picture of Obama with the Scout group.</br>"The girls wore miniskirts. There's no way miniskirts would be allowed at a madrassa," he said. Another photo of teachers at the school shows both males and females wearing Western-style clothing. The women are also wearing miniskirts.</br>Bandung said there was nothing to worry about in any case as Indonesian madrassa had been noted for teaching a moderate form of Islam.</blockquote>] (]) 23:32, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
{{discussion top}}
==Proposed merger of ] into this article==
{| class="wikitable"
| Copied from other article's talk page by ] 12:48, 9 February 2007 (UTC).
|}
I'm thinking that this page should be redirected to the page for ]. The ''Insight'' page isn't really large enough to warrant a controversy page of its own, this is just ''one'' controversy, all of this information is already being updated on the ''Insight'' page, you have to go to the ''Insight'' page to even find this one, etc. I'm going to redirect it within a few days if nobody objects.] 13:31, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
:I '''support''' your decision. I tried thinking of a way to standardize this article's format/content, and couldn't. I agree, this controversy can easily be covered within Insight Magazine's main article. To be honest, this controversy is the only reason Insight itself is notable for inclusion in Misplaced Pages. ] 00:38, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
:'''Support'''. --] 02:08, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
:'''Support'''. -] 02:16, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
:'''Strongly Against''' - This controversy is much more about Fox News picking it up (and refusing complete corrections and retractions) than about the original report in Insight magazine. I don't expect the article to stand alone, but '''an article about attempted Obama smears''' might be a more likely home. ] 15:46, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
::There are, however, descriptions of this incident both on the massive ] page, and on the ] page. I'm just not sure that this controversy is worthy of its own article, when it is already noted in detail on the other relevant pages. It seems that it'd be a lot easier to get the information if it was part of a larger article.] 21:20, 11 February 2007 (UTC)


More info:
Added merge discussion templates to both articles. --] 12:37, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
<blockquote>Submitted by Gandydancer (United States), Feb 7, 2008 at 19:28<br/>
...a question: Is the word "madrassa"/"madrasah"/etc. used in the Indonesian language(s)? My understanding is that it just means "school" in Arabic, but Insight magazine seemed to think it was equivalent to "seminary" and the article with the longer ABC news video( http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=2823943) actually wrote "Madrassas are conservative Islamic schools, many of which teach a virulent hatred of America." So, as an Indonesian, do you use the word, and what would it mean for you? ... </blockquote>
<blockquote>...Submitted by Muhammad (Indonesia), Feb 11, 2008 at 21:04<br/>...The word Madrasah is commonly used here in Indonesia to describe a conventional (not modernized) Schools (elementary, middle to high, mostly located at sub-urban areas) whose curriculum weighs more in Islamic teachings. Later, they are more modernized and secularized. I believe all of these schools are private and ussualy associate themself with the Nadhatul Ulama organization (formed by former President Abdulrahman Wahid's father). On the other hand, at rural areas they are usualy called Pesantren. Their tuitions are low so mostly affordable by low income families. I rerely use these words. ...</blockquote> ] (]) 23:44, 12 February 2008 (UTC)


Andyv, too bad '''''neither''''' ], nor the '''''anonymous''''' users ''"Gandydancer"'' or ''"Muhammad (Indonesia)"'', who post reader comments to his discredited stories, are reliable sources. Man, life must suck if one needs to scrape the barrel this far down to support the Insight take on "Madrassa". What a hoot! I'm ROTFLOL at the the way our "Gandydancer" (above) intentiononally and deceptively context-snipped ''"...actually wrote "Madrassas are conservative..."'', and then sourced his hack-job to a jan 25 2007 ABC piece!!! Gandydancer pulls an amateur Kuhner!!! Even funnier, check out the that our funnytroll "Gandydancer" was commenting on.
I know! Why don't you suggest merging ] into the ] article? It could certainly be contained within that, and after all it really doesn't rate it's own article.... ] 06:27, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
:Maybe the difference is that the "Plame affair" is much larger than the Insight Madrassa scandal. The Insight scandal doesn't involve perjury or grand jury trials, does it? My whole point is that this article is in '''3''' different places, and each is independently updated. The questions is, would you rather the information be removed from the Insight page, or would you rather the scandal page be merged with the Insight page?] 14:01, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
::The Plame scandal didn't start out as much of a 'scandal' either - the grand jury trial didn't start day one, now did it? (And if it hadn't been for Patrick Fitzgerald, it never would have.) If you prefer, we can use the ] as an example of how to link a 'scandal' with a source (in that case, ]). You're ignoring my suggestion of merging this article into a general 'Obama smears' sort of article, which could include the incessant repetition of his middle name, claims he never sponsored any legislation, and so forth. imo we should have such articles for every candidate, so we don't clog up their main Presidential campaign pages. Meanwhile, why are you so determined to remove any linkage of it from Fox News, when that's the main issue? No one's read that Moonie online Insight magazine since it went out of print in 2004 - at least no one did until so many Fox News people insisted on quoting that one article so much. Do you really expect anyone to believe that '''all''' those Fox 'news' people were 'confused' that they were supposed to actually check out stories they presented as 'news'? If only one of them had made the 'mistake', I'd buy ignorance and/or incompetence as an excuse - but '''all''' of them? At the same time? I don't think so. And nothing but a mild memo as a rebuke? With no direction to '''immediately''' take down the story from their websites? Or at least post a full retraction on their websites? No suspensions? Murdoch isn't that terminally stupid (or forgiving), and neither is Roger Ailes. ] 18:32, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
:::An "Obama smears" article as you suggest is commonly called a "POV fork" amongst editors here. ] 23:50, 14 February 2007 (UTC)


Good job A, I needed a couple of laughs, and I really do have to thank you for feeding me the material I need for expanding the "echo chamber" and "loaded question" aspects of this article. Pipes' 12/2007 "feeder story" headline is a grade school attempt at asking a ] , which brings to mind a classic ] phrase ''"What a maroon"'' that fits Pipes perfectly here!. Better yet, (I'm 'bout busting a gut here), Pipes the maroon '''''anwers his own question''''' in his very next headline . Thanks again A, and keep it coming, your stuff is ''classic''! ] (]) 19:07, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
*Flatterworld's argument is weak, and seems to be mostly based on a desire to over-emphasize the importance of this incidence in order to use it as an attack against FOX News. While I'm always up for criticizing FOX News (and for defending Obama) outside of Misplaced Pages, such POV advocacy is inappropriate for Misplaced Pages to promote in its own articles. Flatterworld argues that we should keep this article because it ''might'' become as important as the Plame affair; this is clearly a ] fallacy, as there is absolutely no reason to believe that this scandal will become remotely near to the Plame affair in importance. More importantly, however, it is a violation of ] for us to speculate that this might ever happen; until it ''does'' happen, Misplaced Pages policy is quite clear in stating that we should not have an article merely on the ''chance'' of this becoming a noteworthy stand-alone article. There is agreement that the contents of this article would be better-placed in other articles: ], ], and ]. There is also agreement that it does not merit its own article, which is a stub with very limited potential for growth. This merits its own Wikinews page, but not its own Misplaced Pages page. So, on the basis that this topic does not merit its own article in isolation, and that a page for "Obama smears" is an unacceptable and unambiguous violation of ], the merge proposal seems to be a clear "go". -] 14:22, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
:Couldn't have said it better myself. Wholeheartedly agree. ] 22:19, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
::Sorry - I always forget that Americans don't do irony. ;-) As to the point of "a page for "Obama smears" is an unacceptable and unambiguous violation of Misplaced Pages:Neutral point of view" - not true. The neutral point of view refers to how material is presented, not a requirement to censor such material altogether. Please reread the relevant sections in the ] and ] articles I pointed out earlier. I would now add ]. ] 02:08, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
::Another similar example: ].] 23:49, 13 March 2007 (UTC)


:Gandydancer is me, of course. And the identification of Muhammed as Indonesian is by the site, perhaps from the ip address as I am identified as from the "United States" despite not having supplied that information when I posted my question.
==Update on merge==
::Because the "media controversy" article had basically become an identical representation of the same section on the Insight page, I have gone ahead with the merge/redirect. The information regarding the controversy can be more easily found on this page anyway.] 17:10, 6 July 2007 (UTC)
{{discussion bottom}}


:Your comments are incoherent and gratuitously insulting. I asked a straightforward question and was given a straightforward and informative answer by someone who appears to be a real Indonesian, which answer I supplied here to be helpful to Redddog and such other editors as might actually be interested in the question of what "madrassa" means to an Indonesian. The idea that I violated WP:RS is this talk page post is ''fully'' as idiotic as the idea that Kuhner could violate WP:OR when writing in ''Insight''.
{{discussion top}}


:In the future I will, however, be able to refer to you as "the ", immediately identifying the quality and tenor of the editor I am dealing with. That should prove useful. ] (]) 22:54, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
Discussion topic moved to: ]. --] (]) 07:50, 5 December 2007 (UTC)


::Holy shit A, ...YOU are gandydancer? I had no idea...sorry, I was poking fun at gandydancer with no idea it was you. Had you made that clear when you posted the exchange you initiated, then I certainly would not have ridiculed gandydancer in quite the same way as I did. Suggest next time you start out with ''"Using the name gandydancer, I posted the following question and I got this answer from a user in Indonesia"''. Now that I know you and gandydancer are the same, please accept my apologies. Still, it ''was'' funny... ] (]) 00:31, 16 February 2008 (UTC)
==Merge ] into ]?==
*'''Oppose''' - As the other article (which I started) says, the rumor dates back to 2004. Insight magazine is mentioned but that is only one part of the story. ] (]) 16:16, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
*'''Support''' - ] (]) 02:18, 24 November 2007 (UTC)
*'''Oppose''' - Per Redddogg, the common theme is Obama, not Insight. And his article is long enough to justify keeping this a sub-article. ] (]) 08:51, 24 November 2007 (UTC)
*'''Comment''': This is purely a housekeeping/maintenance merge request on my part based on the previous consensus established ]. I have no interest in the outcome of this merge request, although one could argue that the latest incarnation, ], is a fork of the older merge. I made the merge request based on the following article history which includes past article creations, discussions, proposals, merges, redirects, and deletions:


]:"'''This guideline does not require that editors continue to assume good faith in the presence of evidence to the contrary.''' ... Assuming good faith also does not mean that no action by editors should be criticized, but instead that criticism should not be attributed to malice unless there is specific evidence of malice." The question posed to "Muhammad" by "Gandydancer" is perfectly staightforward and exhibits no particular POV that I can detect. Nor does "Muhammad"'s very informative answer. Your cackling derision was so wildly off the mark and inappropriate to itc cause as to indicate an hysterical state of combativeness. And malice. Rather pathetic malice, when expressed so childishly, but useful when so obvious. ] (]) 01:53, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
#]: Article first created on 07:48, 31 January 2007 by ]
#]: Moved to new article title on 15:06, 5 February 2007 by ]
##Merge request officially proposed on 13:31, 8 February 2007 (UTC) by ]
##Merge request to ] made 12:36, 9 February 2007 by ]
##Proposal copied to ] by ] at 12:48, 9 February 2007 (UTC). ] leading to consensus takes place from 13:31, 8 February 2007 (UTC) - 23:49, 13 March 2007 (UTC).
##Merge request removed 17:41, 26 March 2007 by ] (see reason in edit summary)
##Article redirected to Insight magazine at 17:08, 6 July 2007 by ]
##Old talk page (]) was deleted at 3:38, 28 September 2007 by ] as "unnecessary redirect"
#] created 06:26, 21 November 2007 ]


:AVP, if you will merely read again what you yourself posted here ( as "gandydancer") above...
&mdash;] | ] 07:09, 24 November 2007 (UTC)
*'''Support''' - Duplicates text and sources already included ] and ]. The argument against merger seems to hinge on the view that Andy Martin's remarks from 2004 are notable and should not be merged because they predate the ''Insight'' article. Why not? If reliable sources point to Martin as having launched the false rumor later popularized by ''Insight'', and this detail is deemed notable, then it merits the current inclusion at ]. --] (]) 19:06, 24 November 2007 (UTC)
::There is no RS showing any actual connection between rumors that Obama is or was a Muslim, dating back at least to 2004, and the ''Insight'' report. It does not require such a fertile imagination that it could not have originated independently many times. ] (]) 01:31, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
'''Delete for now''' The article ] seems to be mainly a news item. I don't think WP should have articles on every rumor there is. How about the "Hillary Clinton lesbian rumor", or the "George H. W. Bush adultery rumor", or the "John Travolta gay rumor", or even the "Queen Elizabeth II alien lizard from outer space rumor"? If it turns out that Senator Obama doesn't get the nomination and reliable sources say the rumor was partly to blame, then it should be mentioned in his article and the articles on the campaign. As for the Insight article, about half of it is taken up by this one incident now. ] (]) 20:16, 24 November 2007 (UTC)


::*Submitted by Gandydancer (United States, aka andyvphil)''"...a question: Is the word "madrassa"/"madrasah"/etc. used in the Indonesian language(s)? My understanding is that it just means "school" in Arabic, but Insight magazine seemed to think it was equivalent to "seminary" and the article with the longer ABC news video actually wrote 'Madrassas are conservative Islamic schools, many of which teach a virulent hatred of America.' So, as an Indonesian, do you use the word, and what would it mean for you?"''
::The story is big already. One story I read said that "Obama Muslim" is one of the top searches on Google. Are people looking for the truth about the rumors going to look for the article on Insight Magazine? ] (]) 01:39, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
*'''Oppose''' - Didn't start with Insight and has appeared elsewhere. (] (]) 03:22, 25 November 2007 (UTC))
*I don't like articles about rumors in general so merge or delete is fine by me.--] (]) 16:59, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
*Yet, it is worth being covering how the media can try spread misinformation - generally that is. And this if true is a valid example of it. <small>—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 20:13, 25 November 2007 (UTC)</small><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
*'''Oppose'''&mdash;I agree it is too short to deserve it's own article but merge with ] instead (which isn't ''that'' long). &mdash;] ] ] 23:36, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
::It's mentioned in one sentence on that article. ] (]) 06:22, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
:::I noticed. It is two sentences (plus one about negative campaigning generally) actually. I think all the ''substance'' from ] could be added into those sentences to make a separate not too long paragraph in ], and anything specifically about the quality of Insight's reporting and later handling can go here with along with a summary of the incident (which already seems to exist).
:::] ] ] 15:50, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
*'''Support the merge''', ain't nothing at this new fork that can't be covered at articles we already have. ]<sup>]</sup> 02:56, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
:"Fork" has a specific meaning on Misplaced Pages, i.e. as part of "POV fork". Which this is not, since the treatment of the material does not differ in point of view, but is merely more extensive than would be desirable in its parent article(s). There is no basis in policy for shoehorning this material into other articles where its development will be constrained by considerations of undue weight and relative importance so long as the subject is "notable", i.e. the subject of coverage in multiple "reliable sources". Which it is. ] (]) 07:46, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
::I still have a problem with an article on any rumor. Almost any public person is going to be the subject of some rumor or other. ] (]) 07:53, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
:::But all rumors are not ]. And it's not like we don't say it's false. ] (]) 08:50, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
*'''Oppose'''. I didn't realize at the time of the Insight article how long and how constant this false rumor was. The article does a fairly good job of treating its entire history, not just the Insight portion of it. —] ] ] 20:29, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
*'''Oppose''' This false rumor predates and is much more widespread than just the insight magazine article. --] (]) 17:12, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
*'''Oppose Merge''' - This subject is important enough to warrant an article of its own. Senator Obama is a U.S presidential candidate, and this matter was and is a component of this elections. <b><i>]</i></b> 20:08, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
*'''Oppose Merge''' This story is much larger than Insight. ] 01:11, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
Discussion topic moved to: ]. --] (]) 07:50, 5 December 2007 (UTC)


:...and now review ], you'll see that "gandydancer"'s leading question was designed specifically for the answer that he (you) wanted. The fact that gandydancer snipped the ABC text out of context, and then snipped "Muhammad"'s answer in a similarly deceptive way, well...that is the crux of my criticism of your entirely misleading presentation here. That and the fact that all of this is useless here on Misplaced Pages per ]. ] (]) 01:35, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
{{discussion bottom}}


::Your "criticism" doesn't have a detectable "crux". "So, as an Indonesian, do you use the word, and what would it mean for you?" is in no way a ]. The assertion that it is is idiotic. I explained why I was asking the question, but didn't suggest the answer, and indeed Muhammad's answer is in no way something that I suggested to him. And while its content cannot be inserted directly in a Misplaced Pages article it is rich in specifics which can be further researched and then cited to the RS found. And what is the information from ABC or Muhammed that I have supposedly concealed by artful "snipping"? Go ahead. You don't have an answer -- change the subject again. Veer off into another silly assertion. You have such a threadbare bag of tricks. It's pathetic. ] (]) 14:33, 22 February 2008 (UTC)
==Edits by Publishtruth and Jkuhner==
At the ] article, a user named Jkuhner edited the page. Shortly after this user was notifited about ], a new user named ] joined and began to make similar edits. I have asked this editor to stop making edits until we can build a consensus on the articles. The editor is not making an effort to follow Misplaced Pages editing standards, and is merely adding information or making changes without regard to standards. Maybe it's time we should temporarily disable editing on this article. ] (]) 17:07, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


:::Here is the '''''stuff you snipped''''' from the post from . Whether it was concealed by "artful", snipping as you assert, is a matter for others to debate, but you certainly did snip the post. I'll >>illustrate<< the most important snips '''''>>like this<<'''''. ] (]) 21:57, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
The article posted on Insight on the News is a mess. There is no clear distinction between the past employees of the previous print publication and the current web magazine. There is no clear distinction between the past controversies related to the print publication and those related to the web version of Insight (Obama).
The article is tilted in the direction of trying to smear Insight on the News and destroying its credibility. The same is true of much of the manner in which information is discussed in the bio of Jeffrey T. Kuhner. Why are you putting more emphasis on information from the New York Times than on information from other sources which bolsters both Mr. Kuhner and Insight on the News?


----
This message is from username publishtruth, December 7th, 2007 ( I don't know where the four tildes are) <small>—Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 17:24, 7 December 2007 (UTC)</small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->


::::<blockquote>Submitted by Muhammad (Indonesia), Feb 11, 2008 at 21:04 --
::If you would like to add information to this article, it can't be self-researched. You need to provide cited sources that easily lead editors to verifiable facts. Please make proposed changes here in the Talk section.] (]) 17:43, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


First, I should thank you for straightening up that my intention is only to submit info about situation in Indonesia. And also for the splendid link. Nice work. --


I think the clip we refer to >>was not from middle eastern 'seminary'<< but >>from the sub continent areas (maybe Kurdistan, Afghanistan or Pakistan)<<. Anyways, as shown from your link, in his book Mr. Obama was saying "In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell my mother that I made faces during Koranic studies" so clearly he was admitting openly that he did learn (practised if you will) Islam in some point of his life. So even Mr Obama was confusing his public school as a Muslim school. Mustn't have been the highlights of his life. --
Dear Editors: I wish to apologize for the misunderstanding earlier. Both publishtruth and jkuhner were first-time users and did not know how Misplaced Pages works. We will respect the process and did not mean to disrupt the site; we thought we just had to keep loading the information until it got through. We will provide verifiable links in the next while to a great deal of information your readers need in order to form their own judgements on these vital matters. However, we will be on our guard to prevent the text from giving credence to many of the smears and distortions which have been propagated by both the liberal press and supporters of Hillary due to a blockbuster story which we produced which unveiled her use of investigative reporters in an attempt to dig up dirt on Obama and derail his campaign. We will not tolerate a biased representation of either Mr. Kuhner's name (he has an outstanding reputation) nor of Insight whose reporting has NOT been disproven. In fact, the debate has now reemerged with the piece published in the front page of the Washington Post this week which has caused an uproar among its editors (see Politico.com) because again the reporting on Obama appears to be driven not by facts but by a political agenda. I assure you Insight will be vindicated. And I repeat, we will be respectful of the process but are not going to accept being undermined if you persist in presenting information which attempts to smear us but does not give equal weight to our side of this vital story. What is at stake here are the very standards with which the press does its job and both CNN and The New York Times chose to cover up for Hillary rather than expose the truth. So just give us a fair representation and don't tilt the information in favor of the attacks against us. If you are even-handed, we are confident your readers will get the full story and will realize how right we are. Best wishes, publishtruth Dec. 7, 2007 <small>—Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 20:42, 7 December 2007 (UTC)</small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->


'''''>>In my opinion, it is evident that what mr Obama said was that he was never a Muslim in heart and to me, that means that he never was a believer. And it is his right to do so.<<''''' --
:::Just be cautious with your editing. It is now not only clear that your organization supports a specific, non-neutral point of view, but also that your organization intends to change the tone of these articles to support your non-neutral point of view. If you wish to make changes, please bear in mind that there are several people who actively monitor these articles, and that the content is judged by consensus, not your definition of "reputation" or "vindication. If you continue to make disruptive edits, your organization could be banned from editing Misplaced Pages.] (]) 21:58, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


Like many people, I was curious to know whether Sen Obama was ever a Muslim or not. That curiosity brought me to Mr. Pipes's articles and I think I've got me the answer. --
First, read ]. Second, get over any confidence you have that our readers will, if they get the "full story" realize how right you are. People's opinions aren't that malleable and about half the readers will want to edit the article to say you lied about Obama no matter what information you give them. Third, probably nothing much is going to happen fast. You are not allowed to edit this article and no one else has turned up who is strongly motivated to put a lot of work into it. So... pick one thing that you think is egregiously wrong and that won't take a lot of effort to fix and tell me, and maybe I'll fix it. Or maybe I'll tell you that's a bad choice (and why) and ask you to tell me another. Let the process work and maybe you'll get a feel for it, ok? ] (]) 11:20, 8 December 2007 (UTC)


>>The reporters and analists must have their own agendas.<< We haven't seen the last of the crossfire specially when the campaign will come to the next level. --
:I went ahead and nominated ] for deletion as non-notable. Hopefully that will take care of some of their objections. ] (]) 12:51, 10 December 2007 (UTC)


Btw, i think the core of terrorism is 'hatred' and that can only be defeated by 'love'. But that's another issue.</blockquote>
::I also made some changes to this article. Before some of it was cut and pasted from the NYT story, with possible copyright issues. ] (]) 13:15, 10 December 2007 (UTC)


----
:The belief that you have to keep loading the information until it got through is a common mistake. Even a Misplaced Pages old-timer like me has fallen prey to the lure of "keep on slamming it in". Please learn from my mistake and "build consensus" instead. --] (]) 23:58, 11 December 2007 (UTC)


::So...the comments of the user look very different from what you posted, no? Now, since none of this can be used as a reliable source for a Misplaced Pages article, nothing posted in this thread is useful here anyway. Please give it a rest. ] (]) 21:57, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
Help Requested: Insight Needs to be Updated
I made more suggestions recently but what I wrote doesn't appear anywhere so I will try again:
1) Print controversies should be placed beneath web controversies since they have nothing to do with the current Insight (invert order)
2)Spat over how much Insight pays or doesn't pay per article is completely irrelevant and should be omitted. Mr. Kirkpatrick got his facts wrong.
3) The section on Obama needs to be updated:
*article in washington post on Obama rumors
*dissension among Washington Post editors chronicled in Politico. com
*Ombudswoman for Post makes a statement to correct blunders
*Insight issues statement setting record straight (current Washington Watch: Our Focus was Hillary, Not Obama)) and asking for a correction from Washington Post, CNN and New York Times
*Mr. Kuhner published article on subject in New York Sun, Wednesday Dec. 13 with all of these latest facts on the Obama controversy: "The Fifth Estate"


== Journalistic POV overview removed...please discuss here ==
Since we are barred from making edits, we need help to ensure there is an update.


The following overview was removed, I think it's essential for journalistic context:
Best wishes,
] (]) 23:04, 13 December 2007 (UTC)publish truth December 13


"Journalistic analysis of the Insight story began by examining the first sentence of the report, which asked the loaded question of whether the "American people were ready" for a candidate who was "educated in a Madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?" The second sentence alleged "This is the question Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp is asking about Sen. Barack Obama." No basis was found for Insight's question and allegation, and throughout the ensuing controversy Insight steadfastly refused to present evidence or qualify it's sources."
== Conversation moved from talk:Publishtruth ==


This is an absolutely 100% spot on overview of the "essence" of every journalistic critique. I can see no good reason for taking it out. let's discuss any issues with the presentation here. ] (]) 20:36, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
Dear Editors:


:I didn't remove it, since I'm giving you your head to write in as "loaded" a fashion as you desire. Which is what you've done. ] (]) 22:47, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
There are improvements in the manner in which Insight is being presented. I have an objection to "Employees" and the listing of David Brock. Mr. Brock has nothing to do with the current web version of Insight. Why is he given such prominence? Just list Mr. Brock somewhere in the print magazine controversy section. To give an old employee of a magazine such importance appears like you are trying to tarnish the current activities of Insight with the actions of this man. We don't know Mr. Brock, have never met him and don't want any association with him. His record has nothing to do with Insight since it was revived in 2005. "Employees" is not at all an accurate or objective category and it makes no sense that this appears as the top category after Insight is introduced.


Next topic, why was the extremely notable reference to Fox V.P. John Moody removed? First time in history (afaik) that Fox has apologized for picking up garbage and reporting it, so why is his name and title out? ] (]) 20:52, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
What is the relevance of including a discussion on how much money Insight does or does not pay per article? Mr. Kirkpatrick's article on Insight was full of errors. there is no proof--or even any value in this debate. I suggest you eliminate that--it is nonsensical. Would you include a false statement made about any other magazine or publication just because someone makes it?


:I removed the paragraph. For one thing it was uncited. For another it was basically repeating what the paragraph before it just said. The article on Obama's campaign and the one on him himself give the basic information on his school days in Indonesia. That is where people who want to find out about him will go. This article should be about Insight. Just the basic facts about the story given one time should be enough, and then of course the opinions of RS's about it. I also put back the link to Insight's story itself. I think that if we don't do that people would feel it is unfair. ] (]) 04:23, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
Also, why are all the controversies related to the print Insight listed before the controversies related to Obama and the web version? The categories should be inverted: the current controversy should be placed first because they relate to the; the previous controversies should come second (if readers want to go back that far)


::Redddogg, I did a copyedit instead of a revert. I think I addressed your above concerns...how does it look to you now? ] (]) 04:34, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
Also, why do you have two sections on "controversies" but have not created any section for the accomplishments of Insight. To highlight the controversies without also including all the accomplishments--all the stories Insight broke which were confirmed by the rest of the press--also appears like a lop-sided description of the magazine.
] (]) 17:06, 10 December 2007 (UTC)publishtruth :::It is much better now. ] (]) 04:50, 12 February 2008 (UTC)


:::Whew...thanks. ] (]) 15:28, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
::It's up to you to make the article better. However, your first several efforts were clear attempts to bias the article in your favor, as opposed to improvement, and you even said as much in your apology statement: "liberal press," "Insight will be vindicated," etc. You have also indicated that you either are or you work for Insight magazine, so your edits are more likely to be scrutinized. Misplaced Pages operates on citations of reputable sources. If you can provide these things to support your claims, your edits will be constructive. If you are only going to manipulate the content without any kind of factual support, then your edits will not be accepted--by right-leaning, left-leaning, and neutral editors. Try making some suggestions (with citations) on the talk page for the Insight article. If you are careful with your edits, and you respect the process as you said that you would, there won't be any problems. Just remember that editing Misplaced Pages is not the same as writing an op-ed for a political opinion website.] (]) 22:00, 10 December 2007 (UTC)


== Third opinion ==
:Actually, it's ''not'' up to Publishtruth to make the article better. In large part he is forbidden to do so by the COI rules. He can provide information and suggestions, but he also needs to find some disinterested party who's interested in doing the work of adding the information and considering the suggestions. Hmm... ] is wrong. That's for disputes. What Publishtruth wants is volunteer help. Any suggestions?


Hey. I saw that there was a pending request for a third opinion on this page. 3O is meant for articles that only have two active editors, and since there are more than five users active on here, I've removed the request. If you guys need further help, I'd recommend opening an ]. If there's anything else I can do to help, please message me. Thanks. &mdash; ] <sup>]</sup> 19:56, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
:Anyway, the first thing Publishtruth needs to understand is that there is no real answer to his repeated question, "why?". I can tell you that the reason there are two sections on controversies is that there used to be one, but I split it in two because Jkuhner or Publishtruth complained that we were conflating the two incarnations, and it was an easy improvement. But there's no section on accomplishments because no one has been interested enough to find any and add them. Got no bosses here to detail flunkies to get things accomplished. If you want to see how it works, go to the "History" tab. ] (]) 02:55, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
:...oh, here's an example of what you ''can'' do under ]: . ] (]) 03:06, 11 December 2007 (UTC)


=="picked up" vs. "mentioned"==
::Thanks for your clarifications.] (]) 03:32, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
I see that this was just changed and then changed back. Did Fox really "pick up" the story, that is repeat it as if it were true? Or did they just "mention" it? I'm not sure myself. ] (]) 03:33, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
:I was the one who changed it to "mentioned." The NYT said that Fox and the others "devoted extensive discussion" to Insight's story, not that they repeated it as if it was true. ] (]) 13:45, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
::I will try some new wording and see how people like it. ] (]) 16:23, 14 February 2008 (UTC)


==Do not hide anything==


=== Echo chamber aspect ===
Steve, if you think you are "helping the cause", you are not. The church does not shy away from controversy but welcomes the attention that media exposure provides. And Misplaced Pages - rhymes with media - provides exposure.


:::Redddogg, like your recent edits! To answer this question, click and click and check it out, especially :
Insight (along with World&I and Washington Times) was founded by Unification Church members. I believe it is part of a media corporation owned by the Unification Church; see ]. It serves no one here and no on in the church to conceal this relationship.


Now, don't take this too hard. I know that church members sometimes disagree with each other, just as Wikipedians do. But I've been a Wikipedian for 6 years, and I have a reputation for fair play that a little thing like probation has not quite erased from the memories of old-timers, anyway.


::::"In today’s New York Times, FOX News senior vice president John Moody criticized FOX & Friends hosts for reporting on the now-discredited Obama/madrassah story. “The hosts violated one of our general rules, which is know what you are talking about,” Mr. Moody said. “They reported information from a publication whose accuracy we didn’t know.” '''''Evidently, Sean Hannity didn’t get that message or else he chose to ignore it on his personal website. Hannity.com continues to showcase this false report as truth.''''' While Hannity’s site is not officially connected to FOX News (as far as I can tell), '''''FOXNews.com does promote it with a link and a suggestion that readers visit the page."'''''
If they want to write an article on the current editor of ''Insight'' why not let them? --] (]) 23:43, 11 December 2007 (UTC)


:::Recently I found a report that Fox commentators last week have revived the Obama-madrassah stink-bomb. Seems now that Insight's "double splatter" achieved it's primary goal feeding the wing-nut media with malarky for harming Sen. Clinton, the shit-bomb has backfired by creating record turnout among the opposition and propelling Obama. '''''' Now the "madrassah" smear is being revived to re-smear the (now dangerous) Sen. Obama.
::BTW Ed, I did start the article on ]. :-) ] (]) 22:59, 12 December 2007 (UTC)


:::Classic Sun Myung Moon black propaganda. Use the "echo chamber".
:Still, by the strict rules of WP editing, Mr. Kuhner is not notable. I would be surprised if 100 people around the country would recognize his name. ] (]) 22:40, 12 December 2007 (UTC)
::"Household name" and "notable" are not necessarily synonyms.] (]) 22:46, 12 December 2007 (UTC)
:::If the New York Times had not interviewed him there would be no sources at all for his bio. I didn't notice that any of the other news stories about the Insight/Obama affair bothered to mention his name. ] (]) 22:55, 12 December 2007 (UTC)
::::I am going to try to improve the article.] (]) 22:59, 12 December 2007 (UTC)
:::::I withdrew the nomination for deletion on Kuhner's article. Maybe the information from the Croation article linked there could be added to this article. ] (]) 21:13, 13 December 2007 (UTC)


:::See "The American Right achieved its political dominance in Washington over the past quarter century with the help of more than $3 billion spent by Korean cult leader Sun Myung Moon...according to a 21-year veteran...George Archibald, who describes himself "as the first reporter hired at the Washington Times outside the founding group"...has now joined a long line of disillusioned conservative writers who departed and warned the public..." ] (]) 18:03, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
==Coverage of Obama & Hillary==


::::Here's the diff and the link to the recent revival ] (]) 18:05, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
I glanced briefly at the first ref, which said:


Ok...as it seems clear that it's still ''unclear'' (even among us ''editors'') that the "echo chamber" effect was in play big time, I'm putting back a portion of the MediaWeek criticism that was earlier stripped -- specifically the "amplified by Fox, etc..." Hope we can agree now why it was necessary in the first place. I still see no reason to censor Grossberger's use of the word "lies" to characterize the report, but I'm hoping to avoid an overly contentious edit for now. ] (]) 18:28, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
*An investigation of Mr. Obama by political opponents within the Democratic Party has discovered that Mr. Obama was raised as a Muslim by his stepfather in Indonesia.


:Just added this to flesh out the "Echo chamber" aaspect.
This would seem to make ''Insight'' endorse the "discovery" that Obama's stepfather raised him an a Muslim. --] (]) 23:29, 15 December 2007 (UTC)


::Ten days after the Insight story broke, ABC News quoted ] of the conservative ] ] saying "There's now almost a predictable process here. People have learned how to get things covered, even when they shouldn't be covered...You either start with a revelation in the ] or Insight magazine, then that gets picked up by the New York Post or The Wall Street Journal and Fox News and by the blogs, and before long there's enough noise out there and enough buzz that comes from it that everybody from The New York Times to The Washington Post to the network news broadcasts decide they have to cover it. And it doesn't matter if it's true or not."
However, the Obama campaign said:
*Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian ... ]http://obama.senate.gov/press/070123-debunked_insigh/]


:I like it because it adds a conservative voice to the topic. I'm glad I took a few minutes to read the Daniel Pipes nonsense...gave me a reason to check the context of the stuff that was quote farmed from ABC... ] (]) 20:00, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
So it looks like Insight either
==Kuhner in first sentence==
#Got the story wrong (they thought they had a scoop about a "stealth Muslim" candidate; or,
I don't think it's really a problem but it does seem a little odd that Kuhner's name is just about the first thing stated in the article. I don't think that articles about other publications, or even websites, would have the name of the editor in the first sentence. He is mentioned 4 or 5 times later on in the article, so there is not much chance that the reader would miss his name. ] (]) 03:14, 22 February 2008 (UTC)
#Worded the story poorly (they meant to say that Hillary's campaign was spreading this dirt)


:From what we know, Kuhner is not only the managing editor (reporting directly to Rev. Moon's BOD at Insight), but is the ''only known source'' for the anonymous reports "Insight" publishes. It's an arrangement that is unique (as is widely reported) among outfits like Insight. That's why it's notable, IMO
Either way, I think they blundered (if my sketchy research is any good). Did they ever print a clarification or retraction? --] (]) 23:36, 15 December 2007 (UTC)


== Stating ownership in the lead ==
::There's a third possibility, which is that the Obama statement you quote is at least as misleading as ''Insight'' 's. Did you see the ''Baltimore Sun'' 's comment about their revision of it to "Obama has never been a practicing Muslim."? And ''all'' the articles reporting that his stepfather took him to Friday prayers at the mosque? (Even Barker's tendentious "debunking" admits that.) I don't see anything in the ''Insight'' article to indicate they thought Obams ''is'' a Muslim, but I'm having a hard time understanding the denial that his stepfather was raising him as one, albeit maybe not very assiduously. ] (]) 09:54, 17 December 2007 (UTC)


In the specific case of Insight, and in the context of Insight's history, describing the ownership chain is essential from a journalism standpoint. ] ownership is (as demonstrated elsewhere) indeed the single MOST notable thing about Insight. ] (]) 15:40, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
:Mr. Kuhner wrote a couple of later editorials in which he tried to make it clear that the purpose of the original article was to expose what Clinton's people were doing, not to spread rumors against Obama. For one thing he seems to have an almost irrational dislike of Senator Clinton, which is beyond politics -- Obama is more liberal after all. For another he should have waited to get a response from Obama before running the first story. He said he called them but they didn't return the calls. So I agree with the critics that it was bad reporting. If there was really an "informant" from the Clinton camp or not is another question. ] (]) 06:48, 16 December 2007 (UTC)


==Insight's influence==
::Here is a quote from July which makes a point of saying the Senator Obama is a Christian:
Checking out this article again I was amazed to read that Insight's stories about President Clinton had lead directly to his impeachment. When the New York Times tried to do the same thing to Senator McCain they were laughed out of the room. :-) ] (]) 18:18, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
*Indeed, Barack Obama has exceptional qualities and deserves kudos for his achievement. He is genteel, articulate, poised and charming. He is a Harvard-educated lawyer, yet he remains accessible to the common man. He has been married since 1992, has two lovely daughters and is by all accounts a devoted family man. He is a pious Christian and a member of the United Church of Christ. He has virtually sky-rocketed into the national spotlight—winning a landslide victory in his Senate race in 2004; he became the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history and the only current African American Senator. His fame has been enhanced by the publication of two-bestsellers, Dreams from My Father (1995) and The Audacity of Hope (2006). He now trails only behind Hillary in his bid to secure the nomination of his party. And he has done all of this even before he celebrates his forty-sixth birthday later this summer. ] (]) 06:55, 16 December 2007 (UTC)


:Steve, the article '''''actually''''' says that the Insight stories ''"...became '''enmeshed with''' the '''Independent Counsel's investigation''' of Whitewater scandal and '''eventually led to the impeachment''' of the president."'', so you are reading the article incorrectly.
Well, if Mr. Kuhner wasn't '''endorsing''' the Islam rumor about Obama, then it looks like he was trying to pin it on the Clinton campaign (but bungling the attribution rather badly). All the more reason to consider him "notable". When a magazine editor (1) makes a mistake and "stands by his story" even when everyone else "proves him wrong", it kind of makes that editor stand out. Even if it's only "]". Or if the editor (2) tries to cause trouble by accusing a major politician's campaign staff of negative campaigning, but fails to make his csae.


:Now, the comments in the article are (a) sourced to an ex-employee of Insight and (b) supported by dozens of other sources (how many do you think are necessary) and (c) worded properly in accordance with ]. Steve you have been reminded by very many users and admins here that your membership in the ], combined with the long-established ] nature of your edits means that you have a ] issue. Your COI has been a topic of discussion on Misplaced Pages for a very long time.
I'm sorry that Kuhner is an embarassment, but I stopped reading ''Insight'' years ago. Its quality of reporting dropped when its management changed (according to "church sources") and I've paid it no attention since then. I personally regard it as a rogue operation, but as this is an enyclopedia and not a blog my opinions don't count. ;-) --] (]) 13:51, 16 December 2007 (UTC)


:I've made the arguement that the church should get out of the media business altogether, maybe selling the Times to Rush Limbaugh. :-) ] (]) 17:29, 16 December 2007 (UTC) :Please don't continue attempting to mitigate the facts or de-controversialize the media properties of the ] of Rev. ], ok? ] (]) 21:30, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
::I stand corrected. They ''indirectly'' led to Clinton's impeachment, according to the article that is. ] (]) 21:49, 3 March 2008 (UTC)


Heh, heh, doesn't seem likely any time soon. But unloading ''Insight'' might be a good idea - or perhaps hiring me to manage it? I've had 6 years experience with anonymous writers here ... --] (]) 02:23, 20 December 2007 (UTC) :::Hi again Steve, nice hearing from you again! Do you think it needs better sources that what's there? Now...fair notice...when I spend more time on sources, I generally find "better" ways to word things.. Cheers! ] (]) 22:04, 3 March 2008 (UTC)


== Madrassa again ==
==Katie Couric paragraphs==
There seems to be a lot of detail in this section. Maybe it could be replaced with one sentence saying that she denounced Insight's story. ] (]) 07:26, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
:Indeed. Couric's blog entry is relevant mostly because it's a case of a prominent news media personality who reacted publicly to the ''Insight'' article. However, attempts to analyze or compare her statements to the article itself need reliable sources making such a comparison or argument, otherwise it qualifies as ] of published material.
: I further find that the last two quotes in that section, of ''Insight'' defending its Hillary/Obama story in July and December 2007, are rather superfluous. The preceding quote, from February 2007, is sufficient to recount that ''Insight'' says the article was about Democratic Party rivalry instead of Obama's background. There's no need to repeat the attacks on Clinton and the "liberal media" (which Kuhner already named in his January response to ''The New York TImes''). - ] <sup>]</sup> 03:49, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
::I went ahead, I hope not too boldly, and took out the section on Ms Couric and the one about Fox. This article is about Insight, not them. There is a whole other article, linked at the top of this section, that focuses on media coverage of Obama rumors. I also took out the extra 2 quotes of Insight defending itself, as you suggested, leaving only 1. ] (]) 06:08, 17 December 2007 (UTC)


RE parag: "Insight's report falsely characterized State Elementary School Menteng 01, an Indonesian public school which Obama attended as a child, as an Islamic "madrassa". Although the Arabic word "madrassa" literally means any kind of school, in post 9/11 United States political contexts it has often been used to refer singularly to Islamic madrassas - especially in the context of anti-Americanism and radical extremism. In the wake of the Insight story, the New York Times has publically apologised for misusing the word "madrassa" in this way."
==Iraq invasion==


I am explaining my changes in the above paragraph. Anti-Americanism and radical extremism are different things, so have used both. The subtle way "madrassa" has been used makes it wrong to simplify the line on it. We must avoid making it look like it is acceptable and in current use! I've included the NYT apology, which was actually in the wake of the story.
Deleted from intro:


Regarding the negative use of madrassa being "primarily" used - the Yale article is not enough to back that word up (it strongly refers to the Obama story and offers too little proof). I've said it "literally means" school, as "refers too" is too weak alongside the other 'meanings' of the word. --] (]) 23:24, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
:''Insight'' was founded in the 1980s as a conservative print magazine called ''Insight on the News''. It was noted for its reports about alleged scandals in the ] administration <s>and for its support of ]'s invasion of ]</s>.


:Matt, I'm not arguing what you say is true or not true, but the criteria for inclusion on Misplaced Pages is verifyability, not truth, so it does not matter what you or I ''think''. Now, I spent a ''lot'' of time finding, reading and citing that source. I cannot find ''any support whatsoever'' in the document for either "singularly" or...oops, looks like you just revised it again...looks good to me...debate over...thanks for bringing it to talk. ] (]) 00:34, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
I deleted the struck out portion of the sentence above, because I couldn't find support for it in the NY Times article referenced. Possibly they DID support tho invasion. If so, a quote from the NY Times (or better yet, Insight itself) would demonstrate this. --] (]) 02:21, 20 December 2007 (UTC)


::"Singularly" was just meant to highlight the word "Islamic" - it doesn't need it though, and it wasn't the best word. Current version is this:
==Controversies section==


::"Insight's report falsely characterized State Elementary School Menteng 01, an Indonesian public school which Obama attended as a child, as an Islamic "madrassa". Although the Arabic word "madrassa" literally means any kind of school, in post 9/11 United States political contexts it has often been used to define Islamic madrassas - especially in the negative context of anti-Americanism and radical extremism. In the wake of the Insight story, the New York Times has publically apologised for misusing the word "madrassa" in this way."--] (]) 00:54, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
I don't see how David Brock leaving is a "]". Where are the two sides?


=== Linking to a locked page ===
The story about the "non-military" burial also shows only one side, i.e., the government moved the remains out after a report by ''Insight''. Again, where are the two sides? Is there anyone who says Clinton was right in what he did? Or who says Insight coverage was inaccurate?


Bad form in my opinion. Can you explain why the link to a "scandals list" is needed? Why put it in place of the Obama 2008 link? I don't understand.
I would say only the "pin dirt on Hillary" thing (i.e., ]) is an authentic controversy. The two sides are the Democrats, who all deny the story; and Insight, which still stands by its story in some way.


I intend to move the first two paragraphs out of this section, and also to rename "controversies" to something like "Obama controversy". (could use a little help on the wording here :-) --] (]) 18:54, 20 December 2007 (UTC) In my opinion the "US journalism scandals" page should have been deleted in the AfD (and surely would have been deleted if anyone knew about it). There is no place for these hotbeds of POV junk on Misplaced Pages.--] (]) 03:22, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
:I put the Paula Jones thing back. The problem is that the only time Insight gets mentioned by the mainstream is when it gets something wrong or stirs up a "controversy". I <s>would not object if you</s> ''went ahead and'' took out the word "controversy" and replaced it with "notable events" or "notable stories" etc. ] (]) 17:21, 27 January 2008 (UTC)


:Appreciate your opinions. That the page is locked has nothing to do with anything.
::Obviously, leaving 'Barrack Obama' as a heading can't be right. I've tried "Unsourced report of alleged Hillary Clinton plan to attack Obama". I thought of adding '(on since disproven grounds)' but it's long and complicated enough! It's about Insight first and foremost as the story remains notoriously unsourced (and it's the Insight page) - and then it's about Clinton - the alleged attack plan for Obama - and then it's about the fact that the basis for the alleged attack has been disproven. --] (]) 21:38, 30 January 2008 (UTC)
:Good points. You might take out "alleged" since "unsourced" kind of gives the reader the same info. ] (]) 01:40, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


:As for your question, here's why. As Insight started this '''''"journalism scandal"''''', and the '''''"scandal"''''' is covered from the '''''journalistic''''' angle at ''''']''''', that's why it's linked. The "Obama 2008 election" link is about Obama, not Insight, right? The logic seems clear to me.
I prefer "alleged Hillary Clinton plan to attack Obama". This lets the reader decide for himself whether ''Insight'' had any sort of source for the alleged plan. This has a bearing on the type of magazine which has succeeded the print version. --] (]) 12:50, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


:Excuse me...you want to use Misplaced Pages to parrot the unfounded, unsourced and discredited Insight story for the purpose of leaving Misplaced Pages's readers to "decide" whether Insight "had a source"? Kuhner may not need to ], but Misplaced Pages does. This encyclopedia DOES exist for them (our readers) and not for us...and oh-by-the-way, ] applies to this article too. ] (]) 05:59, 3 February 2008 (UTC) :Now, if you insist on also linking to Obama, I don't really care, but I still don't for the life of me understand your issue. ] (]) 01:04, 7 March 2008 (UTC)


::I personally think the ] should be deleted: 'list articles' like that end up as hotbeds for POV pushers who have often failed to make headway in the main articles, imo. I don't insist on linking to the Obama 2008 article at all - it just seems clearly the better link to me.
::At the moment the heading reads ''Insight identified as source of "anonymous smears"'' - but it's totally unspecific, and being so, kind of makes it look they it's an unusual event for Insight (and whether it is or it isn't, that's a POV impression). I'll try appending "surrounding Obama" to it. It's the type of heading that requires some kind of focus. --] (]) 16:12, 3 February 2008 (UTC)


:::Matt, the point is that it is absolutely not "unusual" for Insight, see my post below for proof via ]] (]) 16:55, 3 February 2008 (UTC) ::As for the page being locked baving "nothing to do with anything" - hmmm! If it was locked in a state that you didn't support would you still be so keen to link to it? --] (]) 12:07, 7 March 2008 (UTC)


::It looks very long now. Surely the older headings were better? Such as ''Unsourced allegations against 2008 Presidential candidates'', or one of the varients such as ''Allegations against Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign''?--] (]) 16:19, 3 February 2008 (UTC) :::Can you answer this before you put the link in again WNDL? And as for your other new "further reading" link - "Black Propaganda" - I'm more than tired of you playing Misplaced Pages entirely by your ''own'' rules. If every article linked in your manner Misplaced Pages would collapse under the weight of millions of those kind of "related" links! Why won't you listen? --] (]) 18:49, 10 March 2008 (UTC)


==My recent change to Obama section==
:::Again, see ] (]) 16:55, 3 February 2008 (UTC)
I just changed the opening of the Obama/Clinton section. I thought it was better to just say what it was about in the opening sentence rather than repeat what Insight said. Sorry that I pushed save before finishing my edit summary comment. ] (]) 16:23, 10 March 2008 (UTC)


==Clinton and Obama== ==David Brock==
The source given for the information about Brock does not mention Insight at all. The article about Hill was published in the American Spectator. Why should he have a section in this article? ] (]) 21:11, 14 March 2008 (UTC)


:I will try taking the section out and see what happens. It seems a bit coat-racky to me since Brock's notable stories were not published in Insight. ] (]) 06:21, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
Perhaps we should rewrite the section on the Clinton campaign's approach to Senator Obama.


==Section removed==
Kuhner wrote:
* What we did claim—and stand behind 100 percent—is that the Hillary Clinton camp had conducted an investigation into Obama's Muslim background, and they had concluded he had been raised and educated as a Muslim. In fact, our sources close to the Hillary camp confirmed that the investigators were planning to leak this information to their media allies later this fall—just before the '08 primary campaign. Moreover, our sources also confirmed that the Hillary camp was going to make the issue not so much Obama's Muslim background, but the fact that he had concealed or downplayed it.


I took out:
I would recast the section as follows:
=== CIA leak scandal ===
*''Insight'' claims Clinton campaign was investigating Obama's background.
On February 5, 2004, ''Insight'' teamed up with ] sister company ] to publish the first anonymously sourced reports from "Federal Law Enforcement officials" of "hard evidence" against Vice President ] staffers ] and ] as the guilty parties in "]". Hannah subsequently testified, and Libby was convicted. Questions about who the "Federal Law Enforcement officials" were, and what "hard evidence" might have existed at the time of the scoop have fueled wide speculation that Libby was chosen as a "fall guy" <ref name=google1></ref> to take the rap for higher-ups in the Bush Administration, with speculation focused primarily on Cheney.{{Fact|date=February 2008}} Some journalists and bloggers commented that if a media outlet were needed to set up Libby for the fall, ''Insight'' would have been a logical first choice.<ref>{{cite news | first=Richard | last=Sale | coauthors= | title=Cheney's Staff Focus of Probe | date=] | publisher=] | url =http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0205-12.htm | work =Insight Magazine and United Press International | pages = | accessdate = 2008-02-04 | language = Straussian }}</ref><ref name=google2></ref>
*It claims they were planning a sort of ] (?) in which they would hurt Obama's election chances by accusing him of hiding his "Muslim background"
#:(Obviously playing on fears of Christians about "Muslims, foreigners and ]".)


{{reflist}}
The question is whether Hillary would ever stoop so low. Let's not try to answer that!


The only references were to the story itself and to two Google searches. ] (]) 03:09, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
What remains is the chronology of events.
#Kuhner publishes his article online.
#The "Madrassa" is proclaimed secular or multi-religious.
#Obama clarifies his religious background
#Clinton camp denies any scurrilous plans.


== "Islamic school" is not an attack in itself. ==
An interesting point of speculation is whether Kuhner helped or hurt the Democrats by publishing his report. If it helped Obama, by preventing Hillary from attacking him? (But this speculation is probably beyond the scope of the article.) --] (]) 13:06, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


The problem with removing all reference to "madrassa" in the perjorative "extremist" sense is that merely saying Obama went to an "Islamic school" can hardly be described as "another attack" by Clinton! I've put in the first line of the article in italics (you can't beat a quote):
::It is what it is, a "double <s>smear</s> splatter", "black propaganda" "hit job" on both candidates.] (]) 16:07, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


On January 17, 2007, ''Insight'' published a story that claimed the campaign staff of presidential candidate Senator ] had leaked a report to ''Insight'' falsely claiming that Senator ] had attended a solely-Islamic school during his childhood in ]. <ref> ''Insight'' January 11, 2007.</ref> The article began, "''Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?''" In the American political climate of the time, the word "]" (which means only 'school') was often used in a pejoritive sense that suggested Islamic extremism. Soon after ''Insight's'' story, ] reporter ] visited ], which Obama had attended for one year after attending a ] school for three, and found that each student received two hours of religious instruction per week in his or her own faith.<ref>{{
:::That sounds like a reasonable opinion. Now all you need is a source, and you can turn your personal speculation into a well-referenced point. --] (]) 16:34, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
cite news
| url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-070325obama-islam-story,0,7180545.story
| title=www.chicagotribune.com}}</ref>
He was told, "This is a public school. We don't focus on religion."<ref>{{
cite news
| url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/index.html
| title=CNN debunks false report about Obama
| publisher=]
| date=January 22, 2007
| first=
| last=
| accessdate = 2007-01-26}}</ref> Interviews by ] of the ] found that students of all faiths have been welcome there since before Obama's attendance.<ref>{{cite news |title=Obama challenges allegation about Islamic school |first=Nedra |last=Pickler |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070124-1317-obama-2008.html |work=San Diego Union-Tribune |date=2007-01-24 |accessdate=2008-02-10}}</ref> In July 2007, ''Insight'' published a column which repeated the allegations and predicted more alleged Clinton attacks on Obama.<ref> ''Insight'' July 2, 2007 "As Insight has reported, Hillary established a team of investigators whose goal was to attempt to discredit Obama by investigating his Muslim background. In the backlash that resulted from our expose, she has learned to be more circumspect in the use of nasty little tricks. But, if we know Hillary–and we do–she will descend into the gutter once again. Obama will have to be on guard and must find creative ways to outpace her on the campaign trail as he has on the money trail."</ref>


As publications such as the NYT since apologised over their negative use of "madrassa" I assume it's fair to place it in the climate at the time. --] (]) 00:21, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
::::Was the sufficient? C'mon Ed...do you really think of me as someone who would make such a "personal speculation" if I didn't have a reliablesource? Please don't get me going by implying such things, when you get ] and ], it's not ],


:The words "solely-Islamic school" was recently changed to just "madrassa". I've changed this to "so-called ], or Muslim ] (Insight's words)", which is another direct quote. Insight didn't falsely claim he went to merely a 'madrassa' - as in literal terms it just means 'school', he actually did! Insight claimed he went to a Muslim seminary. The direct quote here should clear it up. --] (]) 15:13, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
::::FYI, I'm farming now, just not sure which article to put it in yet as I haven't cross-checked the references to Rev. Moon yet. Man, I love Google Scholar!!! ] (]) 20:24, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


{{reflist-talk}}
:::I have no idea why you say I'm in ]. That's one part of China I've never visited. I do all my Misplaced Pages contributions right here in that great Democratic bastion, ]. Next month, however, I'm planning an excursion to ]; shall I bring you back some ]? ;-) --] (]) 21:12, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


==Controversy section==
::::Hi Ed...sorry if I misunderestimated you, and thanks for the chuckle...I needed that, and I appreciate the ]. ] (]) 00:21, 1 February 2008 (UTC)
According to policy it's better if an artice does not have a controversy section. I will go ahead and merge the items there into the body of the article and see how people like that. ] (]) 15:58, 24 July 2010 (UTC)


== External links modified ==
==Triple smear==


Hello fellow Wikipedians,
*
Soon after, Mediaweek described the report as a ''"double smear"'', and reported ''"The lies, amplified not only by Fox but by Headline News' Glenn Beck, originated with a Web site blandly called Insight. Allegedly owned by the Moonies, the Web site purportedly was once part of the ostensibly right-wing Washington Times which is reportedly also owned by (some say—though off the record—and only in the sense of "proprietorship") the Moonies."'' -- Mediaweek reports "Double smear" by Insight
http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Insight_(magazine)&diff=prev&oldid=188167147


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Why use words like ''allegedly'', ''purportedly'', and ''reportedly'' to describe the relationship of the web site to the Unification Movement? Can there be any question in anyone's mind about whether the movement owned the monthly ] magazine, the weekly ], and the daily ] newspaper?
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101116024343/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/09/politics/washingtonpost/main6379181.shtml to http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/09/politics/washingtonpost/main6379181.shtml
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080517100058/http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070124-1317-obama-2008.html to http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070124-1317-obama-2008.html


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Is someone trying to smear Rev. Moon indirectly, by portraying the media he founded as so obscure that even ''MediaWeek'' can't keep track of their ownership? Sheesh. --] (]) 16:33, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


{{sourcecheck|checked=false|needhelp=}}
:Pen is mightier than the sword. Live by the pen, die by the pen???? But yeah, I caught that...given the business that MediaWeek is in, I chalk it up to their lawyers suggesting an extremely conservative approach... ] (]) 19:20, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


Cheers.—] <span style="color:green;font-family:Rockwell">(])</span> 22:36, 24 May 2017 (UTC)
:::The quote leaves off the final sentence of the paragraph: "Media Person is taking no chances with his accuracy." And if you want to get an idea of the tone of this '''opinion column''' consider this earlier paragraph: <blockquote>Didja hear? Obama went to one of them mattress schools where the Muslimofascists turn kids into terrorists! Yeah, he was in Indochina then. And guess what his middle name is? Hussein! Same as Saddam. No, really, Hillary's dirt-diggers dug it up to use against him. The bitch.</blockquote>


== External links modified ==
:::Wndl42 wants to use this column as the basis for asserting that MediaWeek is a RS for the "fact" that the ''Insight'' report was a "double splatter smear". No, this column is a RS for the fact that Lewis Grossberger adopted the Clinton campaign talking point as his own, a fact hardly remarkable enough to merit mention. It's not as if Grossberger claims to have done any digging. And if you look at to the same article you will note that it is clearly labeled "Opinion". ] (]) 06:41, 3 February 2008 (UTC)


Hello fellow Wikipedians,
::::...your argument ''"Insight identified as source of "anonymous smears" - same article, different url. note heading "columns/opinions". Grossberger doesn't claim to have done any reporting"'' is purely not relevant...the point is that MediaWeek is a ] for commentary on MEDIA, and if they picked up Grossberger's "opinion" and decided to publish it as a "commentary" on Insight, it's still MediaWeek publishing Grossberg and MediaWeek is a reliable source for the subject of the article, which is a '''''MEDIA''''' organization, ok? ] (]) 06:30, 3 February 2008 (UTC) <small>(preceding copied from my talk page)] (]) 06:45, 3 February 2008 (UTC)</small>


I have just modified one external link on ]. Please take a moment to review ]. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit ] for additional information. I made the following changes:
::<s>Of course, the job of a responsible journalist is made extremely difficult by Rev. Moon, given an almost incomprehensible ownership and complex subsidization chain (that sucks $300 million/year out of Unification Movement), I wonder why it's not just called "Unification News World"??? UNW is a catchy name, no? By the way, in contexts like this, does headquarters prefer "Unification Church", "Unification Movement" or some other variant...what is the preferred name for entity that owns News World Communications? Or is it just that the stockholders all belong to the Church? I share the journalists frustration..., can you blame the writer for treading gingerly? ] (]) 19:18, 31 January 2008 (UTC)</s>
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080704190311/http://www.thomasaquinas.edu/news/pressroom/college_guides/insight.htm to http://www.thomasaquinas.edu/news/pressroom/college_guides/insight.htm


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:::Have you ever tried ]? Here is the result of nearly 30 seconds of searching:
:::::*] is a newspaper publishing company owned by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's ]. The company publishes "The Washington Times," which reaches more than 100,000 readers in the Washington, DC, area. It also produces the news magazine Insight Magazine, as well as international publications "The Middle East Times" (Cairo) and "Tiempos del Mundo" (weekly Spanish-language newspaper distributed in Latin America and the US). In 2000 the company added struggling news service United Press International to its portfolio. <small>—Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 03:10, 1 February 2008 (UTC)</small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->


{{sourcecheck|checked=false|needhelp=}}
:::Touche Ed, you made your point better than I made mine. The MediaWeek author has no legitimate journalistic excuse for using that kind of characterization, he clearly did it to make a point. Columbia Journalism review says it straight up, ''"News World Communications is the media arm of Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church."'', that characterization has been there for at least two years before you personally took the lead in creating the clear article above, to your credit. '''''My characterization of "obfucsation of ownership" on the part of Rev. Moon is unwarranted'''''. Thank you for pointing this out.


Cheers.—] <span style="color:green;font-family:Rockwell">(])</span> 06:31, 14 November 2017 (UTC)
===MediaWeek article a "smear" of Moon?===

:::But was the MediaWeek piece a "smear" of Rev. Moon? If I got a little testy above it was perhaps for the same reason the MediaWeek guy was. In responding to well warranted allegations that Kuhner perpetrated yet another politically biased, factually incorrect and irresponsibly published "double splatter smear", Kuhner's response to NYT is to cry "foul", ''"It is a form of religious bigotry that tries to smear our credibility by implying that we are owned by religious zealots."'' Credibility? What credibility??? You gotta have some credibility before claiming "smear". And why did Kuhner use the word "implying" to refer to a statement of fact? And Kuhner's whining about "religious bigotry" in the context of his own religious bigotry as he smeared Obama...well, whoever said ''"hypocracy is the only unforgiveable sin"'' could have been describing behavior like this. Now...wrt "zealots", from a journalist's perspective, certainly the UC's flushing $300million per year into subsidizing politically and ideologically driven media (including garbage like Insight) is pretty "zealous", so ''if'' NYT characterized Unificationists as "zealots" (as Kuhner claims), and ''if'' NYT they implied by association that Kuhner is the journalistic equivalent of a ''religious zealot'' then this is (especially in the context of this story and Insight's long history) ''totally'' fair criticism. As I've commented before in private space, I allow room for the interpretation that Rev. Moon is benevolent at heart...but '''if''' that's true then where is HIS (or NWC's, or the UC's) criticism of Kuhner, and why does this clown still have a job? The questions of critics...is this the UC's idea of "heavenly deception" as "advocacy journalism" are fair. Couldn't Kuhner get with the Board of News World, show them his sources and say "I've shown my sources to x, x has made a statement, I still have my job and that's all I need to say". Where is Preston Moon? The Unification Church's '''silence is deafening''', even Fox News came out against Kuhner's story!! My issue, and the real question that is "obfuscated" by the Unification Church is; Where does the "buck" stop at News World? There is not a single instance I can find of anyone on the board of ] ever returning a a phone call on this topic, please correct me if I'm wrong, but for a story this big, when Fox News Sr. Execs will comment publically, NWS silence is just too ''wierd'', and if it fuels well founded speculation...well, that's the Church's big problem...would you agree?

:::As for Kuhner's weasle-whiney excuse...''"we weren't guilty of implying that X was a madrassa trained muslim and closet islamofacist, we were just reporting that the EVIL Y was plotting to say that about X."'', wow...I struggle for a wiki-appropriate word for Kuhner's "explanation", even in the context of ].

:::Last point. Another media "owner" abuse of power for comparison. Once upon a time, ] was so frustrated with Gov. ] for opposing a profitable (to Annenberg) railroad merger, that Annenberg had one of his employees plant a question in a press conference...'''''"Have you ever been in a mental institution?"'''''. The stunned but unflappable target ] replied simply "no" to Annenberg's filthy lying ''implication by proxy of one of Annenberg's employees''. Next day, Annenberg's paper ran the front page headline and five column story , destroying Shapp's political career. ] was, by almost any standard, an american hero, and whatever minor human flaws he may have had don't erase that. Later in life, Annenberg became disgusted with his behavior, or perhaps began thinking about his legacy. He founded the ], and Annenberg's legacy now also includes and (one of my favorites) . Annenberg's legacy now speaks volumes, in stark contrast to the he once practiced. Insight's tactics are the modern '''''internet-equivalent''''' of Annenberg's, but Insight has been doing it for 25 years, according to very reliable sources. What will Moon do on behalf of his (and his Church's)

:::Anyway, I am working from this perspective on expanding the article. Looking for comments from others on how to portray criticism of Insight. Specifically, I am concerned about ] weight to the criticism, but from what I can see, reliably sourced criticism is all over the place and I am seeing very little in the way of praise for Insight or Kuhner. ] (]) 18:22, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

I showed my edits to the Insight article to a church official, and he had no objection. I refer to the part where I described Insight's "she said he said" as unfounded. I stand by my characterization, and I think you agree with me.

By the way, if NYT were ever to characterize me as "zealous", '''please''' let me know. I haven't had a really good pat on the back in over two months. :-) --] (]) 02:07, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

:Ed, case in point...(deleting my only-partially-sensible-but-mostly-unnessecary comment) ] (]) 21:11, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

== Looks like we need a "criticism" section here? ==

Bordering on an edit war over the language used by journalists to describe Insight's tactics...

Let's discuss, OK? ] (]) 07:16, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

:Re this edit:. You disimproved the cite, changing from a version which clearly identified Media Person as editorial content to one which did not, for no other evident purpose except to warn me I was approaching 3RR, which is pretty rich as you thereby violated approximately 5RR...

::Have to start counting reverts with the first revert, and then apply the "count" from the beginning. If you'd like, I could take the time to comb through your , publish the revert count beginning with your first revert, point out the fact that you didn't make a single comment on the talk page, nor did you seem to be even aware of the discussions here. I mentioned 3rr twice, once to gently direct you to the talk page (thanks for joining us) as after I began restoring your first round, and a second time after you began reverting my content restorations. Now that we're all here, let's talk. ] (]) 14:49, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

:::You're not up on 3RR policy, either. Consecutive edits by one editor count as one edit/one revert. Keep that in mind, go back 24 hours from the edit I specified, and start with your first block of edits that restored previous text. You violated 3RR by a bunch and someone less tolerant than I (or maybe even I, depending on whether you prove educable) is going to use it as a club if you keep it up. ] (]) 22:41, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

::::* (Dude, an '''''edit''''' is not a , an edit doesn't ''revert'' anything. Read ], specifically...''"An editor must not perform more than three reverts, in whole or in part, on a single page within a 24-hour period. '''''A revert means undoing the actions of another editor''''', whether involving the same or different material each time."'' I tagged you for it because you weren't discussing my edits here before you reverted them.) ] (]) 01:25, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

:Re this edit:. You are replacing an NPOV description of ''Insight'' 's article ("Allegations against 2008 Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign") with an unattributed POV characterization ("Insight identified as source of 'anonymous smears'") on the grounds that the former "propagate the Insight smear", which is nonsense. The former doesn't endorse the allegations, the latter ''does'' adopt a partisan interpretation of the facts.

:::* (Stuffing Google's search indices with Misplaced Pages articles headings containing ''"foo's plan to attack fee"'' does, in fact, propagate. Misplaced Pages's policies (including BLP "do no harm") make this quite clear, and again...this article is about Insight and it's journalistic practice) ] (]) 01:25, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

::No, I am undoing your revert, which has the effect of using the article's heading structure get the words "Hillary Clinton's campaign" into the act, as a means of "headlining" the discredited Insight allegations. Not withstanding your ] for highlighting the charges against Clinton, '''''This article''''' is about Insight and it's journalistic practice, it's NOT about "foo's presitential campaign". I have made this point in my edit summaries several times now. Please don't use the '''''article on Insight''''' as a ] for airing your ] (]) 14:37, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

::The facts are that the Insight piece was widely reported by reliable sources to be an "anonymous smear", in the context of a long history of such behavior. Try a google search on your choice of keywords and "smear" -- it's not NPOV to characterize Insight as the overwhelming majority of reliable journalistic commentator's do, in fact to use a weaker word would be NPOV. ] (])
:::Claims of consensus must be attributed, and a citation in a header is a MOS violation, as the header you insist on is on other grounds. (All the newly itialicized quotes are also a MOS violation, btw.) Your assertion that my insistance -- that the header not be a POV attack on Insight (but instead suggest it accurately and neutrally describe what Insight wrote) -- has some partisan motive is an AGF violation, as well as being wrong. (I do in fact believe that it is probable that some Clinton flunky was tasked with doing opposition research on Obama and self-importantly gossiped to some "reporter" - maybe Kuhner himself - and Kuhner rushed the half-baked buzz into print, where it sucessfully produced a lot of buzz for Insight. Kuhner has no reason to "burn" his source, obviously, but I don't see any reason to think he lied.) ] (]) 23:04, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

:::* (a) I just checked . Unless I missed something, the MOS says nothing to contradict a heading using the phrase "anonymous smears". If you caught something in the Manual of Style that I missed, please direct us to it. (b) Let's get the article right and then we can work on style points. Right now the discussion is about content and basic structure. ] (]) 01:25, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

:Re this edit: The verb "reported" is an inappropriate characterization of "Media Person"'s statement of opinion. The ''NY Times'' is at least as much a RS as AdWeek, but even though they published Nicholas Kristoff today calling Pat Robertson a "self-rightious zealot" you cannot write that "The ''NT Times'' reported that Pat Robertson is a self-righteous zealot." The ''NY Times'' is ''not'' a RS for that statement. Your assertion that it is "purely not relevant" that the Media Person column is identified a "columns/opinions" and that Grossberger doesn't claim to have done any reporting is absolute nonsense. An outlet that is generally considered a reliable source ''because it has a responsible fact checking process'' is nonetheless not a reliable source for statements that are not subject to that process. Grossberger may believe that Kuhner lied in order to construct a "double spatter smear" but barring a documentary discovery that has not taken place neither he nor anyone else is in a position to fact check that belief. There is therefor no RS, anywhere, for that assertion (except Kuhner, should he confess). ] (]) 09:51, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

:::This article is about Insight. Insight is not a "living person", this is not a BLP, so your comparison to Pat Robertson is irrelevant here. ] (]) 14:37, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

::::You are utterly missing the point. I'm not making a BLP argument. I am attempting to educate you about what "reliable source" means. Try. Reading. It. Again. ] (]) 14:18, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

:::::* (Ok..but '''''why''''' did you use a BLP ''as an example?'', and the madrassa story was reported to be a lie by CNN and several others, and and attributing the lie to someone else is a smear.) ] (]) 01:25, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

:::WRT your concern over "The verb 'reported' is an inappropriate characterization", lets see if "characterized" looks better in context. If so, I'll go for that, but FYI, MediaWeek and Columbia Journalism Review are non-partisan sources. ] (]) 14:49, 3 February 2008 (UTC)
:What is your authority for the assertion that Grossberger is "non-partisan" in his "opinion" pieces? ] (]) 14:18, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

::My assertion was/is that ''Mediaweek'' is nonpartisan. But since you mention it, allow me to oblige you with the evidence on Lewis Grossberger. Per ], a search of the '''''Google News Archive''''' (note, ''not'' a "web" search) yields the following from the Google News archives, demonstrating that (a) Grossberger's publication history since the 1970's makes him an expert on Media, and (b) shows clearly that not a single article he's written can be characterized as "partisan" based on the summaries provided by the Google News Archive. So, any assertion that either or both of Mediaweek or Grossberger has a partisan bias is unsupported. Grossberger is among those rare examples of media critics who writes purely from the perspective of criticising media and journalism on their merits solely, and is clearly notable per ]. Sure his piece has satirical elements, but ] is a valid vehicle for criticism (especially criticism of media), and Grossberger's piece is 100% accurate in the facts he cites. Grossberger's use of to chastise Insight, Fox, etc. is a tradition as old as Socrates. Does this evidence in support of my argument suffice? ] (]) 15:32, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

:::I didn't assert that Grossberger was partisan. ''You'' asserted that ''MediaWeek'' is nonpartisan, and since you've insisted that the article read <blockquote>''Mediaweek'' described the report as a 'double splatter' smear, and said 'The lies, amplified not only by Fox but by Headline News' Glenn Beck, originated with a Web site blandly called ''Insight''. '</blockquote>without distinguishing between Grossberger's opinion piece and ''MediaWeek'' it's a bit late to assert that it was only ''MediaWeek'', not Grossberger, that you were asserting is nonpartisan. You've also reverted a longer version of the quote that would make it clear that Grossberger is a humorist, leaving no evidence that irony is being deployed. Next, ''partisan'' is the ''default'' assumption for an opinion piece. That's why its called opinion. Lastly, you still haven't grasped the basic concept of "reliable source". Grossberger's opinions on the media may be "expert" (it's the wrong word, but it's the word used in Misplaced Pages policy, and "notable" is already misused for something else) and quotable as such, but it is not a reliable source for a factual assertion (that Kuhner lied) that Grossberger cannot possibly know to be a fact. ] (]) 22:41, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

:::* (Huh?? What?? '''''You''''' asked (above), ''"What is your authority for the assertion that Grossberger is "non-partisan"''. I answered '''''your''''' question, even though I'd made '''''no such assertion''''' about Grossberger. After I demonstrated Grossberger is non-partisan, in response to your rhetorical assertion that he was, you now come back with ''"I didn't assert that Grossberger was partisan."'' Nice ], but do you care to address the points I actually raised and talk to the actual ] I provided? And as I said, Grossberger's use of irony does not negate the reliability of his facts, nor his expertise in the subject. There are plenty of facts in Grossberger's piece (it is, as I said, 100% based on established fact), so...do you care to address the factual accuracy of Grossberger's criticism?) ] (]) 01:25, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

::While I was at it, I thought I'd also check ], and I note that Grossberger's work is also in a number of university textbooks on media and journalism. ] (]) 15:47, 4 February 2008 (UTC)
:::Doesn't mean he can consult his navel and produce "facts". ] (]) 23:08, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

Ok, I've taken Louis Grossberger "double splatter" and "lies" quotes out for now, pending a little more discussion and some cooling off. I still think the quote is appropriate to describe Insight's brand of journalism, but want to turn down the heat so we can discuss it more... ] (]) 01:25, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

== Another "scoop" ==

"The Clinton-Obama article followed... a widely discussed report on the Insight Web site that President Bush’s relationship with his father was so strained that they were no longer speaking to each other about politics..." Sounds vaguely familiar. RS for this? ] (]) 12:13, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

:Dunno, because you have to "subscribe" to Insight, and their "subscription only" stuff is not in google's index or cache, but Colombia Journalism Review is generally impeccable. Meanwhile here's a domain specific search, which works fantastic for CJR but sucks with Insight

:Maybe look here too...I found a reference to the "strife" buried in the "story" that Cheney was set to retire in 2007. That's Insight for ya! ] (]) 16:17, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

== Heading accurately characterizes Insight as a historical source of smears? ==

This Google Search (per ]), which excludes the word "Obama" yields over . When I get some time I will begin farming the hits for additional examples, but in the meantime I think it's somewhat disingenuous to try to characterize Insight's behavior as an "isolated" event. ] (]) 16:42, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

:Also, The Google News archive timeline may also be helpful -- and should help narrow down the hits, by limiting the search to Google's archive of ] ] (]) 16:49, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

::My comment on my edit was is the 'Controversy section' above - where I've been posting. I've seen a few title versions, made plenty of successful edits on the issue (esp on the linked-to Obama page) and have been part of the AfD on the Obama fork - so I'm not new to the argument as your edit note suggests.

::There being a 'disingenuous' nature to the title is my very problem - your own version of the title ''Insight identified as source of "anonymous smears"'' does make it seem to me like it's a rather isolated event for Insight as a whole (and hence a POV assumption)! Your Google stats are irrelevant to the point I'm making - that a WP heading like this needs a focus! It's a simple style matter. Think of new people reading through the contents. I don't understand why you want the detail out of the heading - some of the older ones were fine.--] (]) 17:10, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

:::Sorry Matt, I understand your point a little better now, and I was moving too fast when I mistook your argument as another effort to use the headline to say ''"criticism of Insight's report's on Sen. Foo's evil plan to expose that evil Sen. Fee is a closet muslim"'', and I assert that "Foo and Fee" should remain out of the headline altogether. I'd suggest that a separate section for "Criticism", and a subsection under that heading for "Smears" would be the wiki-way, and would yield nice, clean, one word encyclopedic headings. Maybe that's already in the section above, if so count me among supporters. Thanks for slowing me down, sorry if I mischaracterized you or your edits. ] (]) 21:06, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

::::A Criticisms or even 'Notable events' section would be better I agree, but currently the article has virtually no content other than stuff that would move under that! The 'print era' and 'internet era' sections would then either need filling out (if there is anything to fill them out with - they don't even have intros at the moment), or even removed, with a line added to the main introduction (or background section) on the magazine having a print/internet history. Looking at it, the article has virtually nothing on Insight itself at all (its history etc) - its like a stub with a few scandals thrown in! I'm not following the non-Obama issues here - maybe they are better dealt with elsewhere too(?) (if they have ay validity). More or better sections or headings are sometimes the key when things get bogged down, validity allowing.--] (]) 22:53, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

:::::To your first point Matt, I think we're in agreement on need for a better structure. Kuhner's complaints notwithstanding, I see no reason to sectionalize the article into "magazine era" and "internet era", it was/is the same journalistic model in both "eras", and all of the controversies and criticisms were the same then and now, and the era-wise stuff seems only to serve the purpose of distancing Kuhner from the previous EIC, which suits him but not the article.

:::::To your second point...I don't know how we can be NPOV without accurately reflecting the overwhelming consensus of non-partisan authorities on journalism. To create an article that looks like more than a "stub with a few scandals thrown in", one would have to balance the negative with ] that have anything good or even interesting to say about Insight, other than Insight itself. Insight is ''notable'' because it is ''notorious'', and NPOV requires us to present the topic as the world of reliable sources does, not through any 'lenses' that we would invent to present a 'balanced' view on Insight, a view that does not exist in the real world. If we do our jobs here, this article will reflect the "consensus" POV of reliable sources, and if that POV looks "ugly", well...so be it. Any "softening" of our presentation would violate ], which cuts ''both'' ways.

:::::That said...an idea or two. Supposedly Insight has gotten "scoops" that were not smears, so..."Notable Scoops" would be a good one, and as long at those "scoops" were not smears, then we will have some balancing content. I have an idea, I'll add it and see what you think.] (]) 23:38, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

::::::I can see that Insight is clearly gutter press, I meant more that it was lacking the usual biog filler, rather than needing any positive stories to counterweigh the scandals with. I'd be amazed if there were any. If no one's interested in filling it out then we should get rid of the 'era' headings, and create a kind of 'notable release history' or something like that (I'm tired, so cant think of better name!) --] (]) 00:07, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

:::::::More ;-) <small>—Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 13:19, 4 February 2008 (UTC)</small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

::::::::The '"Anonymous smears"' part is looking a bit of a narrative at he moment, rather than the unambiguous facts - you're doing good stuff, though I think the first few lines of this were better phrased before. I'm going to try and stick to a single article today(!) - one I seriously need to catch up on, but will look at this soon. It seems Insight may be a 'tad' better than 'gutter' - my main interest is in the Insight/Clinton/Obama smear, to be honest.

::::::::Remember we don't know if Insight really gave the unsourced 'story' (made up?) actual ''credit'' themselves (so should it be 'later ''discredited''?' And when later? - it's a bit ambo at the moment - simpler, like before, is sometimes better). My point of title-focus still seems to stand. What if you find other 'anonymous smears'?--] (]) 13:59, 4 February 2008 (UTC)


Just a few quick points..

These following 2 lines are simply not as useful as the ones they replaced;
<blockquote>
''"In January 2007, Insight published unsourced allegations that presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign team were investigating rival candidate Senator Barak Obama's early childhood schooling at a madrassa in Indonesia, which Insight falsely characterized as an Islamic religious school.

Though the story would be quickly discredited, it was picked up and repeated by Fox News Channel, ..."''
</blockquote>

the better previous lines were;

<blockquote>
''In January 2007, Insight published unsourced allegations that presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign team were planning to attack rival candidate Senator Barack Obama for concealing that he was educated in an Islamic religious school (]) during his youth in Indonesia.

Insight's story was initially taken seriously by Fox News Channel, and other media outlets, leading to criticism of their journalistic practices.''
</blockquote>

The madrassa line (which at one point I had changed to 'a madrassa') can be removed, or changed to '(a religious "]")'. (I had worked on the muddled madrassa page to make the meaning clear - the wiki-link will properly explain it).

My 3 points on your newer version again:

1. Insight are claiming that ''Clinton's'' campaign team had found out the madrassa was a religious seminary - it's not Insight's definition as such (and we can't prove they up 'made up' the story, remember).

2. The 'quickly discredited' line needs a citation (is there one?) - the CNN story wasn't until after the Fox report, so it can't refer to that.

3. It's not a good idea to use the word 'discredited' at this point anyway, as it implies Insight originally felt it had credit (and as it's unsourced we just don't know that they did).

4. Also - I can see that you have since changed 'attack' to 'investigating' which i can now see is clearly pro-Clinton misreporting of the article!

Some other points;

* The "see also" line is supposed to be at the top where it was (per WP style), not at the bottom.

* Clinton's name should be back in the heading, and Obamas too arguably (though less so - and it can get a bit long, of course)

* Also, where's the 'double splatter' quote gone? - it's at the heart of it.

This section was looking fine at one point, it's gone backwards now.. I propose returning to this , and using the earlier heading ''"Allegations against 2008 Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign"''. I can see now that you changed all of these! I felt that they had all settled (even if just for a day or two - nobody made immediate changes to them), and I can't agree with your edit notes for changing them as you have;

* The above '2008' title didn't 'propagate' the smear on Clinton (it's just a title! - about allegations on Clinton!)

* I don't see the need for 'simplification' (it isn't simpler now anyway).

* I don't see how the 'double splatter' line is suddenly a bone of contention to the degree that it has to be 'temporarily removed'. (scanning the other arguments above - I can't see why you'd want to remove it based on them. It is certainly worth including as a valid take on the Insight report - which IMO was a pretty obvious 'double smear' too.)

I'd like to see good reasons for all of the above changes, otherwise I'd like to see the stuff I and others have spent time working to consensus on back. My earlier point (made at the top) was simply about the rest of the article being like a stub (and you've found more stuff, and improved the layout which is great) - but I was personally pretty happy with the Obama-related parts as they were, as I've said.--] (]) 05:16, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
::::Why can't the title of the Barack Obama controversy section be ''Barack Obama controversy''? Why does it have to keep changing? Let the reader ''read the section'' to find out the rest.] (]) 05:37, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
:::::I've decided Wndl42 is a time waster, pushing a clear POV agenda (a pro-Clinton 'softening' agenda, taken to extremes now) - so I'm removing his/her changes and adding the proposed change to 'madrassa' (to 'a religeous "madrass"') that I mentioned above.--] (]) 05:49, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

I've got the Insight/Clinton/Obama introduction and title back to where it was yesterday. Can I have support that this is a better place to work from? It seems simple and unbiased to me.--] (]) 06:26, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

:Sorry Matt, you are way off base. Your charges of "POV pushing" on behalf of a political candidate are (a) blatantly false (as you would see if you took a moment to check my overall ), (b) a '''''personal attack''''', for which I will report if you if you continue.

:If you so badly need to attribute a POV to me, then examine the facts, get them right, or simply ask me rather than '''''assuming'''''. I am interested in Sun Myung Moon's media properties in the context of "Straussian lies" and "heavenly deceptions", please see (a) George Mason University's article on Straussian lies at , and how that topic is related to . I am a critic of Sen. Clinton's on the basis of her failure to "speak truth to power", and on her acceptance of corporate funds for her campaign, but I see the real problem '''''here on Misplaced Pages''''' in the editorial focus by ] on "perpetuating the myths" that have been so successfully propagated through the moonie media machinery. I am a "Cato institute style" libertarian-(paleo)conservative and an ardent critic of post-Reagan neoconservatism, just like ] is. Matt, by posting personal attacks on my talk page, you are being a ], please stop. <small>—Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 11:08, 5 February 2008 (UTC)</small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

==Notable "scoops"==
I deleted the Scoops section and moved the content to the Events section. First, I'm not sure why we're defining the journalism term "scoop" in an Insight article. Not only is it a commonly used term that everyone should know, but the section defining the term was full of bad grammar and unnecessary quotation marks. Plus, there is only one item listed. Has Insight only had one notable scoop? Probably not. I don't see any reason why it can't be included in the events section, or why the events section can't be renamed to include all items currently listed below it.] (]) 20:38, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

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Archives

Archive 1 Feb 2007 - Jan 2008
Archive 2 Feb 2008


"in its present state"

I removed this expression from the sentence about Obama's school. As far as I know no one is asserting that the school was different in the past. Redddogg (talk) 16:53, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

In fact multiple interviewees say things aren't much different. Andyvphil (talk) 01:04, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
And this quote is relevant, as well as bearing on the question of whether "madrassa" is a word used in Indonesia, as well as how it's understood there:

Bandung said he had heard the rumor that Obama went to a radical Islamic school. He showed a picture of Obama with the Scout group.
"The girls wore miniskirts. There's no way miniskirts would be allowed at a madrassa," he said. Another photo of teachers at the school shows both males and females wearing Western-style clothing. The women are also wearing miniskirts.
Bandung said there was nothing to worry about in any case as Indonesian madrassa had been noted for teaching a moderate form of Islam.

Andyvphil (talk) 23:32, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

More info:

Submitted by Gandydancer (United States), Feb 7, 2008 at 19:28
...a question: Is the word "madrassa"/"madrasah"/etc. used in the Indonesian language(s)? My understanding is that it just means "school" in Arabic, but Insight magazine seemed to think it was equivalent to "seminary" and the article with the longer ABC news video( http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=2823943) actually wrote "Madrassas are conservative Islamic schools, many of which teach a virulent hatred of America." So, as an Indonesian, do you use the word, and what would it mean for you? ...

...Submitted by Muhammad (Indonesia), Feb 11, 2008 at 21:04
...The word Madrasah is commonly used here in Indonesia to describe a conventional (not modernized) Schools (elementary, middle to high, mostly located at sub-urban areas) whose curriculum weighs more in Islamic teachings. Later, they are more modernized and secularized. I believe all of these schools are private and ussualy associate themself with the Nadhatul Ulama organization (formed by former President Abdulrahman Wahid's father). On the other hand, at rural areas they are usualy called Pesantren. Their tuitions are low so mostly affordable by low income families. I rerely use these words. ...

Andyvphil (talk) 23:44, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Andyv, too bad neither Daniel Pipes, nor the anonymous users "Gandydancer" or "Muhammad (Indonesia)", who post reader comments to his discredited stories, are reliable sources. Man, life must suck if one needs to scrape the barrel this far down to support the Insight take on "Madrassa". What a hoot! I'm ROTFLOL at the the way our "Gandydancer" (above) intentiononally and deceptively context-snipped "...actually wrote "Madrassas are conservative...", and then sourced his hack-job to a jan 25 2007 ABC piece!!! Gandydancer pulls an amateur Kuhner!!! Even funnier, check out the story that our funnytroll "Gandydancer" was commenting on.

Good job A, I needed a couple of laughs, and I really do have to thank you for feeding me the material I need for expanding the "echo chamber" and "loaded question" aspects of this article. Pipes' 12/2007 "feeder story" headline is a grade school attempt at asking a loaded question Was Barak Obama a Muslim?, which brings to mind a classic Bugs Bunny phrase "What a maroon" that fits Pipes perfectly here!. Better yet, (I'm 'bout busting a gut here), Pipes the maroon anwers his own question in his very next headline "Confirmed: Barack Obama Practiced Islam". Thanks again A, and keep it coming, your stuff is classic! WNDL42 (talk) 19:07, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Gandydancer is me, of course. And the identification of Muhammed as Indonesian is by the site, perhaps from the ip address as I am identified as from the "United States" despite not having supplied that information when I posted my question.
Your comments are incoherent and gratuitously insulting. I asked a straightforward question and was given a straightforward and informative answer by someone who appears to be a real Indonesian, which answer I supplied here to be helpful to Redddog and such other editors as might actually be interested in the question of what "madrassa" means to an Indonesian. The idea that I violated WP:RS is this talk page post is fully as idiotic as the idea that Kuhner could violate WP:OR when writing in Insight.
In the future I will, however, be able to refer to you as "the troll", immediately identifying the quality and tenor of the editor I am dealing with. That should prove useful. Andyvphil (talk) 22:54, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
Holy shit A, ...YOU are gandydancer? I had no idea...sorry, I was poking fun at gandydancer with no idea it was you. Had you made that clear when you posted the exchange you initiated, then I certainly would not have ridiculed gandydancer in quite the same way as I did. Suggest next time you start out with "Using the name gandydancer, I posted the following question and I got this answer from a user in Indonesia". Now that I know you and gandydancer are the same, please accept my apologies. Still, it was funny... WNDL42 (talk) 00:31, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

WP:AGF:"This guideline does not require that editors continue to assume good faith in the presence of evidence to the contrary. ... Assuming good faith also does not mean that no action by editors should be criticized, but instead that criticism should not be attributed to malice unless there is specific evidence of malice." The question posed to "Muhammad" by "Gandydancer" is perfectly staightforward and exhibits no particular POV that I can detect. Nor does "Muhammad"'s very informative answer. Your cackling derision was so wildly off the mark and inappropriate to itc cause as to indicate an hysterical state of combativeness. And malice. Rather pathetic malice, when expressed so childishly, but useful when so obvious. Andyvphil (talk) 01:53, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

AVP, if you will merely read again what you yourself posted here (pseudonymously as "gandydancer") above...
  • Submitted by Gandydancer (United States, aka andyvphil)"...a question: Is the word "madrassa"/"madrasah"/etc. used in the Indonesian language(s)? My understanding is that it just means "school" in Arabic, but Insight magazine seemed to think it was equivalent to "seminary" and the article with the longer ABC news video actually wrote 'Madrassas are conservative Islamic schools, many of which teach a virulent hatred of America.' So, as an Indonesian, do you use the word, and what would it mean for you?"
...and now review Leading question, you'll see that "gandydancer"'s leading question was designed specifically for the answer that he (you) wanted. The fact that gandydancer snipped the ABC text out of context, and then snipped "Muhammad"'s answer in a similarly deceptive way, well...that is the crux of my criticism of your entirely misleading presentation here. That and the fact that all of this is useless here on Misplaced Pages per WP:RS. WNDL42 (talk) 01:35, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
Your "criticism" doesn't have a detectable "crux". "So, as an Indonesian, do you use the word, and what would it mean for you?" is in no way a leading question. The assertion that it is is idiotic. I explained why I was asking the question, but didn't suggest the answer, and indeed Muhammad's answer is in no way something that I suggested to him. And while its content cannot be inserted directly in a Misplaced Pages article it is rich in specifics which can be further researched and then cited to the RS found. And what is the information from ABC or Muhammed that I have supposedly concealed by artful "snipping"? Go ahead. You don't have an answer -- change the subject again. Veer off into another silly assertion. You have such a threadbare bag of tricks. It's pathetic. Andyvphil (talk) 14:33, 22 February 2008 (UTC)
Here is the stuff you snipped from the post from Muhammad. Whether it was concealed by "artful", snipping as you assert, is a matter for others to debate, but you certainly did snip the post. I'll >>illustrate<< the most important snips >>like this<<. WNDL42 (talk) 21:57, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Submitted by Muhammad (Indonesia), Feb 11, 2008 at 21:04 --

First, I should thank you for straightening up that my intention is only to submit info about situation in Indonesia. And also for the splendid link. Nice work. --

I think the clip we refer to >>was not from middle eastern 'seminary'<< but >>from the sub continent areas (maybe Kurdistan, Afghanistan or Pakistan)<<. Anyways, as shown from your link, in his book Mr. Obama was saying "In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell my mother that I made faces during Koranic studies" so clearly he was admitting openly that he did learn (practised if you will) Islam in some point of his life. So even Mr Obama was confusing his public school as a Muslim school. Mustn't have been the highlights of his life. --

>>In my opinion, it is evident that what mr Obama said was that he was never a Muslim in heart and to me, that means that he never was a believer. And it is his right to do so.<< --

Like many people, I was curious to know whether Sen Obama was ever a Muslim or not. That curiosity brought me to Mr. Pipes's articles and I think I've got me the answer. --

>>The reporters and analists must have their own agendas.<< We haven't seen the last of the crossfire specially when the campaign will come to the next level. --

Btw, i think the core of terrorism is 'hatred' and that can only be defeated by 'love'. But that's another issue.


So...the comments of the user look very different from what you posted, no? Now, since none of this can be used as a reliable source for a Misplaced Pages article, nothing posted in this thread is useful here anyway. Please give it a rest. WNDL42 (talk) 21:57, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Journalistic POV overview removed...please discuss here

The following overview was removed, I think it's essential for journalistic context:

"Journalistic analysis of the Insight story began by examining the first sentence of the report, which asked the loaded question of whether the "American people were ready" for a candidate who was "educated in a Madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?" The second sentence alleged "This is the question Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp is asking about Sen. Barack Obama." No basis was found for Insight's question and allegation, and throughout the ensuing controversy Insight steadfastly refused to present evidence or qualify it's sources."

This is an absolutely 100% spot on overview of the "essence" of every journalistic critique. I can see no good reason for taking it out. let's discuss any issues with the presentation here. WNDL42 (talk) 20:36, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

I didn't remove it, since I'm giving you your head to write in as "loaded" a fashion as you desire. Which is what you've done. Andyvphil (talk) 22:47, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Next topic, why was the extremely notable reference to Fox V.P. John Moody removed? First time in history (afaik) that Fox has apologized for picking up garbage and reporting it, so why is his name and title out? WNDL42 (talk) 20:52, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

I removed the paragraph. For one thing it was uncited. For another it was basically repeating what the paragraph before it just said. The article on Obama's campaign and the one on him himself give the basic information on his school days in Indonesia. That is where people who want to find out about him will go. This article should be about Insight. Just the basic facts about the story given one time should be enough, and then of course the opinions of RS's about it. I also put back the link to Insight's story itself. I think that if we don't do that people would feel it is unfair. Redddogg (talk) 04:23, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
Redddogg, I did a copyedit instead of a revert. I think I addressed your above concerns...how does it look to you now? WNDL42 (talk) 04:34, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
It is much better now. Redddogg (talk) 04:50, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
Whew...thanks. WNDL42 (talk) 15:28, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Third opinion

Hey. I saw that there was a pending request for a third opinion on this page. 3O is meant for articles that only have two active editors, and since there are more than five users active on here, I've removed the request. If you guys need further help, I'd recommend opening an WP:RFC. If there's anything else I can do to help, please message me. Thanks. — HelloAnnyong 19:56, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

"picked up" vs. "mentioned"

I see that this was just changed and then changed back. Did Fox really "pick up" the story, that is repeat it as if it were true? Or did they just "mention" it? I'm not sure myself. Redddogg (talk) 03:33, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

I was the one who changed it to "mentioned." The NYT said that Fox and the others "devoted extensive discussion" to Insight's story, not that they repeated it as if it was true. Borock (talk) 13:45, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
I will try some new wording and see how people like it. Redddogg (talk) 16:23, 14 February 2008 (UTC)


Echo chamber aspect

Redddogg, like your recent edits! To answer this question, click here and click here and check it out, especially here:


"In today’s New York Times, FOX News senior vice president John Moody criticized FOX & Friends hosts for reporting on the now-discredited Obama/madrassah story. “The hosts violated one of our general rules, which is know what you are talking about,” Mr. Moody said. “They reported information from a publication whose accuracy we didn’t know.” Evidently, Sean Hannity didn’t get that message or else he chose to ignore it on his personal website. Hannity.com continues to showcase this false report as truth. While Hannity’s site is not officially connected to FOX News (as far as I can tell), FOXNews.com does promote it with a link and a suggestion that readers visit the page."
Recently I found a report that Fox commentators last week have revived the Obama-madrassah stink-bomb. Seems now that Insight's "double splatter" achieved it's primary goal feeding the wing-nut media with malarky for harming Sen. Clinton, the shit-bomb has backfired by creating record turnout among the opposition and propelling Obama. Now the "madrassah" smear is being revived to re-smear the (now dangerous) Sen. Obama.
Classic Sun Myung Moon black propaganda. Use the "echo chamber".
See here especially "The American Right achieved its political dominance in Washington over the past quarter century with the help of more than $3 billion spent by Korean cult leader Sun Myung Moon...according to a 21-year veteran...George Archibald, who describes himself "as the first reporter hired at the Washington Times outside the founding group"...has now joined a long line of disillusioned conservative writers who departed and warned the public..." WNDL42 (talk) 18:03, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
Here's the diff and the link to the recent revival here WNDL42 (talk) 18:05, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Ok...as it seems clear that it's still unclear (even among us editors) that the "echo chamber" effect was in play big time, I'm putting back a portion of the MediaWeek criticism that was earlier stripped -- specifically the "amplified by Fox, etc..." Hope we can agree now why it was necessary in the first place. I still see no reason to censor Grossberger's use of the word "lies" to characterize the report, but I'm hoping to avoid an overly contentious edit for now. WNDL42 (talk) 18:28, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Just added this to flesh out the "Echo chamber" aaspect.
Ten days after the Insight story broke, ABC News quoted Norman Ornstein of the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute saying "There's now almost a predictable process here. People have learned how to get things covered, even when they shouldn't be covered...You either start with a revelation in the Drudge Report or Insight magazine, then that gets picked up by the New York Post or The Wall Street Journal and Fox News and by the blogs, and before long there's enough noise out there and enough buzz that comes from it that everybody from The New York Times to The Washington Post to the network news broadcasts decide they have to cover it. And it doesn't matter if it's true or not."
I like it because it adds a conservative voice to the topic. I'm glad I took a few minutes to read the Daniel Pipes nonsense...gave me a reason to check the context of the stuff that was quote farmed from ABC... WNDL42 (talk) 20:00, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Kuhner in first sentence

I don't think it's really a problem but it does seem a little odd that Kuhner's name is just about the first thing stated in the article. I don't think that articles about other publications, or even websites, would have the name of the editor in the first sentence. He is mentioned 4 or 5 times later on in the article, so there is not much chance that the reader would miss his name. Redddogg (talk) 03:14, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

From what we know, Kuhner is not only the managing editor (reporting directly to Rev. Moon's BOD at Insight), but is the only known source for the anonymous reports "Insight" publishes. It's an arrangement that is unique (as is widely reported) among outfits like Insight. That's why it's notable, IMO

Stating ownership in the lead

In the specific case of Insight, and in the context of Insight's history, describing the ownership chain is essential from a journalism standpoint. Unification Church ownership is (as demonstrated elsewhere) indeed the single MOST notable thing about Insight. WNDL42 (talk) 15:40, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Insight's influence

Checking out this article again I was amazed to read that Insight's stories about President Clinton had lead directly to his impeachment. When the New York Times tried to do the same thing to Senator McCain they were laughed out of the room. :-) Steve Dufour (talk) 18:18, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Steve, the article actually says that the Insight stories "...became enmeshed with the Independent Counsel's investigation of Whitewater scandal and eventually led to the impeachment of the president.", so you are reading the article incorrectly.
Now, the comments in the article are (a) sourced to an ex-employee of Insight and (b) supported by dozens of other sources (how many do you think are necessary) and (c) worded properly in accordance with reliable sources. Steve you have been reminded by very many users and admins here that your membership in the Unification Church, combined with the long-established WP:Single purpose account nature of your edits means that you have a WP:COI issue. Your COI has been a topic of discussion on Misplaced Pages for a very long time.
Please don't continue attempting to mitigate the facts or de-controversialize the media properties of the Unification Church of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, ok? WNDL42 (talk) 21:30, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
I stand corrected. They indirectly led to Clinton's impeachment, according to the article that is. Steve Dufour (talk) 21:49, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
Hi again Steve, nice hearing from you again! Do you think it needs better sources that what's there? Now...fair notice...when I spend more time on sources, I generally find "better" ways to word things.. Cheers! WNDL42 (talk) 22:04, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Madrassa again

RE parag: "Insight's report falsely characterized State Elementary School Menteng 01, an Indonesian public school which Obama attended as a child, as an Islamic "madrassa". Although the Arabic word "madrassa" literally means any kind of school, in post 9/11 United States political contexts it has often been used to refer singularly to Islamic madrassas - especially in the context of anti-Americanism and radical extremism. In the wake of the Insight story, the New York Times has publically apologised for misusing the word "madrassa" in this way."

I am explaining my changes in the above paragraph. Anti-Americanism and radical extremism are different things, so have used both. The subtle way "madrassa" has been used makes it wrong to simplify the line on it. We must avoid making it look like it is acceptable and in current use! I've included the NYT apology, which was actually in the wake of the story.

Regarding the negative use of madrassa being "primarily" used - the Yale article is not enough to back that word up (it strongly refers to the Obama story and offers too little proof). I've said it "literally means" school, as "refers too" is too weak alongside the other 'meanings' of the word. --Matt Lewis (talk) 23:24, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Matt, I'm not arguing what you say is true or not true, but the criteria for inclusion on Misplaced Pages is verifyability, not truth, so it does not matter what you or I think. Now, I spent a lot of time finding, reading and citing that source. I cannot find any support whatsoever in the document for either "singularly" or...oops, looks like you just revised it again...looks good to me...debate over...thanks for bringing it to talk. WNDL42 (talk) 00:34, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
"Singularly" was just meant to highlight the word "Islamic" - it doesn't need it though, and it wasn't the best word. Current version is this:
"Insight's report falsely characterized State Elementary School Menteng 01, an Indonesian public school which Obama attended as a child, as an Islamic "madrassa". Although the Arabic word "madrassa" literally means any kind of school, in post 9/11 United States political contexts it has often been used to define Islamic madrassas - especially in the negative context of anti-Americanism and radical extremism. In the wake of the Insight story, the New York Times has publically apologised for misusing the word "madrassa" in this way."--Matt Lewis (talk) 00:54, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Linking to a locked page

Bad form in my opinion. Can you explain why the link to a "scandals list" is needed? Why put it in place of the Obama 2008 link? I don't understand.

In my opinion the "US journalism scandals" page should have been deleted in the AfD (and surely would have been deleted if anyone knew about it). There is no place for these hotbeds of POV junk on Misplaced Pages.--Matt Lewis (talk) 03:22, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Appreciate your opinions. That the page is locked has nothing to do with anything.
As for your question, here's why. As Insight started this "journalism scandal", and the "scandal" is covered from the journalistic angle at United States journalism scandals, that's why it's linked. The "Obama 2008 election" link is about Obama, not Insight, right? The logic seems clear to me.
Now, if you insist on also linking to Obama, I don't really care, but I still don't for the life of me understand your issue. WNDL42 (talk) 01:04, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
I personally think the United States journalism scandals should be deleted: 'list articles' like that end up as hotbeds for POV pushers who have often failed to make headway in the main articles, imo. I don't insist on linking to the Obama 2008 article at all - it just seems clearly the better link to me.
As for the page being locked baving "nothing to do with anything" - hmmm! If it was locked in a state that you didn't support would you still be so keen to link to it? --Matt Lewis (talk) 12:07, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
Can you answer this before you put the link in again WNDL? And as for your other new "further reading" link - "Black Propaganda" - I'm more than tired of you playing Misplaced Pages entirely by your own rules. If every article linked in your manner Misplaced Pages would collapse under the weight of millions of those kind of "related" links! Why won't you listen? --Matt Lewis (talk) 18:49, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

My recent change to Obama section

I just changed the opening of the Obama/Clinton section. I thought it was better to just say what it was about in the opening sentence rather than repeat what Insight said. Sorry that I pushed save before finishing my edit summary comment. Redddogg (talk) 16:23, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

David Brock

The source given for the information about Brock does not mention Insight at all. The article about Hill was published in the American Spectator. Why should he have a section in this article? Redddogg (talk) 21:11, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

I will try taking the section out and see what happens. It seems a bit coat-racky to me since Brock's notable stories were not published in Insight. Redddogg (talk) 06:21, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Section removed

I took out:

CIA leak scandal

On February 5, 2004, Insight teamed up with News World's sister company United Press International to publish the first anonymously sourced reports from "Federal Law Enforcement officials" of "hard evidence" against Vice President Dick Cheney's staffers John Hannah and Lewis "Scooter" Libby as the guilty parties in "Plamegate". Hannah subsequently testified, and Libby was convicted. Questions about who the "Federal Law Enforcement officials" were, and what "hard evidence" might have existed at the time of the scoop have fueled wide speculation that Libby was chosen as a "fall guy" to take the rap for higher-ups in the Bush Administration, with speculation focused primarily on Cheney. Some journalists and bloggers commented that if a media outlet were needed to set up Libby for the fall, Insight would have been a logical first choice.

  1. Google News Search - Libby "Fall Guy"
  2. Sale, Richard (2004-02-05). "Cheney's Staff Focus of Probe". Insight Magazine and United Press International (in Straussian). News World Communications. Retrieved 2008-02-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  3. Google News Search - Libby Hannah Plame Leak

The only references were to the story itself and to two Google searches. Borock (talk) 03:09, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

"Islamic school" is not an attack in itself.

The problem with removing all reference to "madrassa" in the perjorative "extremist" sense is that merely saying Obama went to an "Islamic school" can hardly be described as "another attack" by Clinton! I've put in the first line of the article in italics (you can't beat a quote):

On January 17, 2007, Insight published a story that claimed the campaign staff of presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton had leaked a report to Insight falsely claiming that Senator Barack Obama had attended a solely-Islamic school during his childhood in Indonesia. The article began, "Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?" In the American political climate of the time, the word "madrassa" (which means only 'school') was often used in a pejoritive sense that suggested Islamic extremism. Soon after Insight's story, CNN reporter John Vause visited State Elementary School Menteng 01, which Obama had attended for one year after attending a Roman Catholic school for three, and found that each student received two hours of religious instruction per week in his or her own faith. He was told, "This is a public school. We don't focus on religion." Interviews by Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press found that students of all faiths have been welcome there since before Obama's attendance. In July 2007, Insight published a column which repeated the allegations and predicted more alleged Clinton attacks on Obama.

As publications such as the NYT since apologised over their negative use of "madrassa" I assume it's fair to place it in the climate at the time. --Matt Lewis (talk) 00:21, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

The words "solely-Islamic school" was recently changed to just "madrassa". I've changed this to "so-called Madrassa, or Muslim seminary (Insight's words)", which is another direct quote. Insight didn't falsely claim he went to merely a 'madrassa' - as in literal terms it just means 'school', he actually did! Insight claimed he went to a Muslim seminary. The direct quote here should clear it up. --Matt Lewis (talk) 15:13, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

References

  1. Hillary's team has questions about Obama's Muslim background Insight January 11, 2007.
  2. "www.chicagotribune.com".
  3. "CNN debunks false report about Obama". CNN. January 22, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
  4. Pickler, Nedra (2007-01-24). "Obama challenges allegation about Islamic school". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
  5. Washington Watch: Obama's fund-raising record reveals weakness of Hillary's campaign Insight July 2, 2007 "As Insight has reported, Hillary established a team of investigators whose goal was to attempt to discredit Obama by investigating his Muslim background. In the backlash that resulted from our expose, she has learned to be more circumspect in the use of nasty little tricks. But, if we know Hillary–and we do–she will descend into the gutter once again. Obama will have to be on guard and must find creative ways to outpace her on the campaign trail as he has on the money trail."

Controversy section

According to policy it's better if an artice does not have a controversy section. I will go ahead and merge the items there into the body of the article and see how people like that. Steve Dufour (talk) 15:58, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

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