The CNSNews.com (or Cybercast News Service) is an American news website owned by the Media Research Center. It was founded on June 16, 1998 under the name "Conservative News Service"^[1] ; "Conservative" was changed to "Cybercast" in 2000 after the MRC was unable to trademark the name "Conservative News Service."

Background

CNSNews.com sees its role as serving an audience which puts a "higher premium on balance than spin" by covering stories that mainstream news organizations ignore.

"In response to these shortcomings, MRC Chairman L. Brent Bozell III founded CNSNews.com in an effort to provide an alternative news source that would cover stories that are subject to the bias of omission and report on other news subject to bias by commission.

CNSNews.com endeavors to fairly present all legitimate sides of a story and debunk popular, albeit incorrect, myths about cultural and policy issues." ^[2]

CNSNews.com's leadership consists of president L. Brent Bozell III. Editor-in-chief David Thibault (deceased) became top editor in April 2005. He died on July 20, 2007.^[3] CNSNews.com's editor from 1998-2005 was Scott Hogenson, who also worked as the chief of radio operations for the Republican National Committee in 2004. CNSNews.com has staff in Washington, D.C., London, Jerusalem and the Pacific Rim.

Terence P. Jeffrey became editor-in-chief in September 2007. Jeffrey was and remains an editor-at-large for the conservative weekly newspaper Human Events. He wrote editorials for The Washington Times from 1987-1991 and was research director for the presidential campaign of Patrick J. Buchanan in 1992. Jeffrey was Buchanan's national campaign manager in his 1996 campaign.

CNSNews.com trumpets its focus on presenting news in a non-biased manner ^[4]. CNSNews.com's motto is "The Right News. Right now."^[5]

Washington, D.C. News Staff

• Terry Jeffrey Editor-in-Chief
• Michael Chapman Managing Editor
• Melanie Hunter Senior Editor
• Susan Jones Senior Editor
• Pete Winn Staff Writer/Senior Editor
• Randy Hall Staff Writer/Editor
• Penny Starr Senior Staff Writer
• Kevin Mooney Staff Writer
• Fred Lucas, Staff Writer
• Josiah Ryan Staff Writer
• Nicholas Ballasy Video Reporter
• Jonathan Schulter Video Producer

Controversies

A July 15, 2005, CNS article claimed that Democratic strategist Paul Begala said that Republicans wanted to kill him and his family. ^[6] Begala vehemently denied this, claiming that when he said, "They want to kill me and my children if they can," he was referring to terrorists, not Republicans. ^[7] CNS refused to retract the claim, insisting that "[t]here was nothing unclear about what Begala said."^[8] Then-CNS editor in chief David Thibault challenged Begala for his "unmistakable and outrageous coupling of terrorists and Republicans."^[9]

A January 13, 2006, CNS article assailed the military record of Democratic Rep. John Murtha, a former Marine who has heavily criticized the Iraq war. The article quoted people who were either former political opponents of Murtha or who were dead or incapacitated casting aspersions on the two Purple Hearts Murtha earned while serving in the Vietnam War.^[10] The next day, the Washington Post repeated the article's allegations.^[11] Critics likened the CNS article to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks on the war record of Democrat John Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign as another example of conservatives attempting to discredit the military credentials of Democrats in order to blunt their criticism of the Iraq war.^[12]

References

External links

• CNSNews.com
• Sourcewatch.org -- SourceWatch entry on CNSNews.com