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From the right, a new source of news
Activist says service will be objective in how it writes, not in what it writes about
Steve Marcus
Conservative activist Chuck Muth takes a phone call Friday in his home office. Muth says he will contribute to the new Nevada News Bureau, but as a reporter, not a commentator. The bureau will officially launch this week with conservative blogger Elizabeth Crum as editor and a former Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter as Carson City correspondent.
Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Coverage
When former state Sen. Joe Heck said last week he was “seriously considering” leaving the governor’s race to challenge Rep. Dina Titus, word came from an unlikely reporter: Chuck Muth.
The conservative activist and onetime executive director of the Nevada Republican Party broke the news through something called the Nevada News Bureau. It was one of more than a dozen political reports Muth has anonymously written in the past month, gearing up for the official launch of what he bills as “an independent news service.”
The bureau, however, will be run by Muth’s conservative nonprofit organization, Citizen Outreach, and overseen by a group with strong ties to the Sam Adams Alliance, another conservative nonprofit outfit, dedicated to “economic freedom and individual liberty.”
The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which is supporting several news services across the country, was established by the alliance to “promote journalism and the education of the public about corruption, incompetence, fraud or taxpayer abuse.” The group, though claiming to be nonpartisan, has drawn its leaders from conservative ranks.
President Jason Stverak, for instance, is a former executive director of the North Dakota Republican Party and headed Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani’s campaign in that state.
Political scientists said the move represents a strategic shift by the political right to counter the success of the Web-savvy left in getting its message out. And it comes at a time when the newspaper industry in particular has laid off droves of journalists as revenue plummets. The Franklin Center sees its news bureaus as plugging the hole, by providing content free of charge.
Some media outlets have snatched up the Nevada News Bureau’s reports. The Sun, for one, jumped on Muth’s story about Heck, posting the news online.
In addition to the economic trends at play, there’s the growing appetite for opinion-based media that has driven the success of cable news commentators such as Glenn Beck and Rachel Maddow. The news is presented in a certain ideological light and the audience tunes in to have its beliefs affirmed.
Writing in the Atlantic this month, Mark Bowden outlined the problem this way: “Work formerly done by reporters and producers is now routinely performed by political operatives and amateur ideologues of one stripe or another, whose goal is not to educate the public but to win. This is a trend not likely to change.”
Muth said his was one of many conservative nonprofit groups that sought funding and the Franklin Center’s help at a meeting in Chicago this year. The overriding feeling: “We’ve seen the left do this. Our side needs to do the same.”
Muth insists the Nevada News Bureau will be an objective, nonpartisan news service, but he concedes his conservatism could play a role in coverage.
“We may take a different perspective on some stories,” he said. “Others will look at how budget cuts will affect welfare moms. We might look at how tax hikes affect small businesses.”
He added: “It won’t be what’s written, but what’s written about.”
In Nevada, the writing will fall to a staff of three, beginning this week. Elizabeth Crum, a conservative blogger and Citizen Outreach contributor, will serve as editor. Sean Whaley, a former capital reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, will cover the statehouse from Carson City. Muth expects to hire a third reporter to cover political campaigns from Las Vegas.
Muth said he would contribute occasionally — as a reporter, not a commentator.
One of the service’s first initiatives, he said, would be to push Gov. Jim Gibbons on his promise to put the “state’s checkbook” online.
On its face, however, the Nevada News Bureau would seem to violate traditional mainstream media boundaries between an outlet’s news reporters and opinion writers.
Crum has to this point been known for her blog, “E!! The True Conservative Story.” For his part, Muth is best known as a conservative media commentator (“Unfair, Unbalanced, Always Right,” his Web site boasts) and for prodding political candidates to sign anti-tax pledges.
Yet Muth insists: “If I write, it will be news reporting — no adjectives, adverbs or bias.”
Discussion: 22 comments so far…
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WWI democrat war 150,000 killed
WWII democrat war 600,000 killed
Korea democrat war 50,000 killed
Nam democrat war 60,000 killed
Add to that, democrats brought the worlds problems to our door step by creating the UN.
If you want to stop all the dying, vote republican.
To lcdrmandingonamvet:
Your illiteracy is overwhelming. Not to mention your penchant to twist and distort the facts. Are you so delusional that you cannot see what is really going on in this government? Do you like the idea of the government overseeing every aspect of your life? Your rights and freedoms are being stripped away, little by little, by a radical left-wing party whose agenda is becoming clearer and clearer every day.
This government is the most corrupt we've ever had in our history, and that includes both democrats and republicans. Can you for one moment take a breath from spewing your radical ideology to look at what's really happening here? What is their agenda? Why are they so hell-bent on pushing through this healthcare reform? Ask yourself why? Do you realize all the money being spent by this government will burden future generations - your children, grandchildren, and possibly even your great grandchildren- i.e.: the "stimulus" which has not stimulized anything; the bailouts of GM and Chrysler, which, by the way, failed; AIG, major banks, Fanny & Freddie, and countless other large companies who were "too big to fail"... I could go on, but I fear you may not have read this far, so I will conclude:
When you say "Republicans are as phony and criminal as they come", I will agree that some are, but don't be so biased to think that that does not include Democrats as well. And I would disagree with you regarding Vietnam; wasn't it LBJ (democrat) who signed the bill sending thousands of American soldiers to their deaths for a "police action" that never should have happened? (It was 55,000 or so, if I remember correctly.) Last, but not least, you say GWB got "blank checks"? What's Obama getting? TRILLIONS OF OUR HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS.
Keep on drinking that Kool-aid, sir. It seems to be working for you, and when you wake up one day and find you are but a slave to your government, maybe then, just MAYBE you will realize that true patriots of this country were right all along, but alas, it will have been too late.
When the people fear government, that is called TYRANNY.
When the government fear the people, that is called LIBERTY.
The following link is to an article written by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/opinio...
Of the almost 400 comments, this one was the most intelligent and unbiased I read, and really hits home:
Mitesh Vashee
Dallas, TX.
September 30th, 2009
9:46 am
Thomas, you're right that we've lost the ability to have a serious debate on nationally important topics without it degrading into tirades and baseless character attacks from both sides. I moved here to the US 10 years ago because this was the land of dreams, where I could come to build a great life for myself and for future generations of my family.
While there is still much promise and reason for hope, there are also many worrying signs that our political and social systems are melting into something resembling a third world country, where the rich are very rich, and the poor keep on believing that the government is looking out for them.
Our country has been taken over by corporations that will stop at nothing, including buying political power, to pad bottom lines and leave the problems for the next generations to solve. Our government is run by people paid in most part by the corporations they're supposed to oversee, and the fact that everybody in our country is not on top of their roofs screaming bloody murder about this is frankly shocking. Somehow, the wool has been pulled over our eyes and continues to blind most people to the most obvious of facts, that our values have been overtaken by greed and that our politicians, who speak so passionately and eloquently about fighting for the everyman, turn their backs on us as soon as the corporations come calling.
While these may seem like thoughts of someone who has lost hope in our country, they are actually a call to action for our generation, the twenty-somethings. I believe that this is where our greatest hope is, and I hope that the generation is sufficiently angered by our current crop of 'leaders' that they take a different outlook to bear when they're running our country in a few years. An outlook that moves us back towards civility and actually caring about the single mom with two jobs, and not the CEO who's shopping for a second private jet.
I like to believe that with every new generation of leaders comes hope, and since the current lot have completely failed us, I'm looking to the younger ones to start to remind the world again why America holds so much promise, and why I came here 10 years ago excited by the possibilities.
Recommended by 37 Readers
"WWII democrat war 600,000 killed"
Interesting argument, 'planetearthcalling.' You effectively claim that the GOP would have been OK with the Japanese taking Hawaii and the GOP would have stood by and watched as the Nazis conquered Europe. So you feel Hitler was all good? Or just to the point where he killed or enslaved all non-Aryans in Europe? Never mind that we didn't actually enter the war until the United States was attacked. Or do you not count Hawaii as part of our country? Too many 'foreigners' there, eh?
For the record - I don't believe that a GOP president would have waited one second longer than FDR did to enter the war. But I am sick and tired of Republican crazies (which is increasingly a redundant term) who make mindless and hypocritical attacks against Dems.
The Japanese attacked at Pearl Harbor. FDR bombs Europe.
Sound familiar.
Had we gone after the Japanese instead of Germany our involvement in WWII would have been over in less than two years while saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of American soldiers.
Oh and we wouldn't have had to nuke Japan to end the war.
Anybody remember the local (liberal) web news service called "Nevada Today"? You don't?
"PolitickerNV"? That doesn't ring a bell, either?
Well, then I've made my point.
Boy, the R-J's bosses must be upset this morning. With all they have done to slant the news to the right and they still haven't done it well enough to keep Muth from trying to spread his garbage? Tsk tsk.
This is laughable. "independent" "...no adjectives, adverbs or bias." Why must the right wingnuts always try to portray themselves as unbiased. Can you say RepubliCONs?
only the 'onion' has ever got the nations pulse right on important issues.
What a joke! Chuck Muth couldn't be independent and un-biased if he had a gun to his head! Muth, who I refer to as: Chuckie "The Goofball" Moot, is one of the most polarizing figures in Nevada politics. Chuckie is a media whore, and uses his websites and e-mail newsletter to further a personal and political agenda. Chuckie "The Goofball" Moot, continues to attack politicians and other political operatives personally--the only reason why this "Goofball" is in the news is because he's entertaining! The word "Independent" should NOT be used to describe Chuckie Moot, but rather "Idiot"...read some of my articles on Chuckie "The Goofball" Moot at: http://www.nathan-taylor.com/blog/
Who are the big spenders? Go to: "The National debt", and form your own opinion. Who are the Fascists? Go to: "The 14 points of Fascism' by the Old American Century." Also read "the 12 Year Reich" by Grunberger and compare to the right wing in this country.
I'll betcha that the "Nevada News Bureau" will be the equivalent of der Spiegel under Adolph Hitler and his Nazi's-Propaganda, propaganda, and more propaganda. They will tell "The Big Lie" and keep repeating it over and over to brainwash the mentally lazy who will rush to the polls to vote against their own interest and against the interest of their children. These suicide voters need to do some serious thinking before they vote for the Fascist Republicans.
Funny thing about bias. One of the greatest works ever written on American history was Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s The Age of Jackson. I noticed that Jackson always declared or avowed, but his opponents growled, groused, complained, whined, that sort of thing. Muth talked about adjectives and adverbs, but he didn't say anything about verbs. Of course, too many right-wingers don't know the parts of speech anyway ....
Yes, Planet Earth, better to leave that guy Hitler alone. He was no problem.
"If you want to stop all the dying, vote republican."
Boy. talk about the dumbest thing I've read all day.
Iraq...
Afghanistan...
I consider Muth to be a fool/tool because of his affection for California GOP Chairman Ron Nehring, another notable fool/tool. Nevertheless, this article has succeeded in bringing all of the Vegas Valley Wannabe Bolshevists out from under their protective rocks: michaelgreengills, crackerjack, rejecko, ghostnost, mandingosquid, etc. Hendersonbill is a new name but I'm certain he's a fellow traveler of Saul Alinsky, Wade Rathke, and William Ayers.
Muth=Mouth (German Origin)...Yet, another rich fat white guy to be the mouth of the Republicans.
Let me add that Chuck Muth aka Chuckie "The Goofball" Muth is not a representative of the Republican Party. Muth is not a registered Republican in Nevada and does not represent the views and interests of Nevada GOP Conservatives like myself!
Thank you nathantayor for the edification that the esteemed Las Vegas Sun failed to provide.
Can't wait to read it. Will vote Republican,... for Food. I love getting all sides of an issue. Yesterday, I read about a spy,in the moscow times the same article in jpost,totally different story. What's this home office stuff? What kind of person,neocon or not, dresses up in suit and tie, to work in his home/office? If he needs an office, he can rent one at my place, I have a spare bedroom, now that the wife and kids, and dog have departed. And the pencil and phone,(where is your bluetooth) with his finger pointing to his head, like, he needs to hold it up, so it won't fall off. Great Photo.Headlines could have read" Man in his own home-office ordering pizza, all dressed up with no place to go." I love it. And his compassion really shows, when he minimizes, in my eyes some struggling mother,and maximizes, tax hikes on business. So he does have compassion.
After WWI many countries, including the USA, wanted to strengthen the League of Nations to prevent future wars. Guess or Research which political party in the USA prevented the Congress from doing so? Yes, my friends it was the republicans.