Infomaniac: WeBlog

Overheard on the Web, and other Web links From The Herald's Research Editor

Setting the record straight 

I'm glad I finally figured out how to activate comments in Blogger for this blog (I turned them on when I first switched to Blogger but it never worked), because it gives readers a chance to set me straight if I report something without checking it.
Today there's a comment on yesterday's posting about the Men's News report on Russell Mokhiber, the "Scottie and Me" blogger, that says Mokhiber has been a legitimate reporter for many years.
Sure enough, his recent work is with left-oriented news sites, but he's been writing books and reporting on corporate misdoing in the 'mainstream media' for many years, as evidenced by this Washington Monthly article from 1986. According to Nexis, he's contributed stories and columns to many major newspapers, although as far back as Nexis goes, he's usually described as something like 'an attorney with the Washington-based Corporate Accountability Research Group' (in a 1986 op-ed piece in the LA Times, for example), not as a staff writer. Here's a 2003 interview with Mokhiber on NPR's On the Media.
Note also the comment stating that Men's News Daily is connected to Talon News/GOPUSA. The sites are very similar, even though the domain registrations don't show anything in common. But Mens News Daily has all the Gannon columns deleted from Talon News online, and carries other Talon news reports, including some by Bobby Eberle, a pretty strong indication. And, strangely, there's an ad on the site for 'ultimate fitness' with photos of a man who resembles Gannon/Guckert.
This just all seems to be another case of muddying the waters.

posted by liz at 5:26 PM