Mark Hyman (commentator): Difference between revisions

Controversy over Hyman began after the September 11 attacks{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}, when he attacked some journalists and news agencies - such as [[National Public Radio]], the [[New York Times]], and [[CNN]] - as "aiding and abetting the enemy"{{Cite quote|date=October 2011}} when they reported on civilians accidentally killed during the U.S. attack on [[Afghanistan]].

He later used the phrase "[[cheese-eating surrender monkeys]]"{{Cite quote}} to describe the [[France|French]] in one of his editorials. Other notable slurs include calling war protesters "whack-jobs" and "communists."{{Cite quote|date=October 2011}}

In late 2004, he took heavy criticism{{Examples|date=October 2011}} for the firing of [[Jon Lieberman]], Sinclair's [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] bureau chief and reporter, following the latter's public criticism of Sinclair's announced plan to air the controversial anti-[[John Kerry|Kerry]] film ''[[Stolen Honor]]'' as a news program in [[prime time]] on all of its stations.

Hyman called Lieberman a "disgruntled employee" and said the firing was because Lieberman had "[spoken] to the press about company business."{{Cite quote|date=October 2011}} Lieberman pointed to the fact that Sinclair had previously been pleased enough with him as an employee to promote him, and attributed his firing to his criticism of Sinclair's ''Stolen Honor'' plan, a plan he claims originated with Hyman.

On August 30, Hyman claimed that [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] discriminates against minorities;. in fact,Politically progressive media watchdog group [[Media Matters for America]] disputed this claim by saying that some minorities have longer life expectancies after retirement than whites[http://mediamatters.org/items/200508300006]. Even, though some minorities may have longer life expectancies than whites, the vast majority of minorities in the United States do in fact have shorter life expectancy than their caucasianCaucasian counterparts.

He also claimed spouses who worked for less than 10 years because they "gave up [their] career in order to raise a family... get diddly-squat"[http://www.newscentral.tv/uploads/franchise/point/point-20050830.shtml]. InMedia factMatters disputed this as well, saying that married Social Security recipients are eligible for all the benefits that they have earned for themselves, and, in addition, if those benefits are less than half of what their spouse receives, they also receive spousal benefits that increase their overall benefits to an amount equal to half their partner's benefit, plus survivor benefits.[http://mediamatters.org/items/200508310003]